How To Auto-Logon To A User Account At Startup With Vista

One of the annoying features of Vista is that because you have to create an account and a password for every other PC or device that you want to share files with. Because of this, everytime Vista all of these accounts are displayed, even if you don’t actually use them on the PC, and you also have to login everytime.

I spent sometime yesterday looking for a way to auto-logon to Vista, as having to login was really getting annoying on my Vista Media Center PC where I just wanted the PC to boot straight into MCE so that I could access my media. Having to login, meant I had to keep getting the keyboard out just to type in a password . I eventually found a way to setup Vista to automatically login to a selected account at startup.

1. Click on the Start button and type in ‘netplwiz‘. This will open the Advanced User Accounts menu
2. In the Users tab, highlight the account you want to login to Vista automatically with, and then untick ‘must enter a username and password to use this computer’
3. Click on ‘Apply’. A new window will now popup asking you to enter the password of the account you’ve just highlighted. Do this, and then click ‘Ok’
4. Click ‘Ok’ on the Advanced User Accounts menu to finish

Now, whenever you boot up, Vista will login automatically to your chosen account which is great if you are using a HTPC like me.