Bypass "to begin click user name"

Hi, with any luck my pc will be back to the way it was if this little annoyance can get fixed. Before it would boot up and a nice welcome screen would pop up then go right to my desktop. Now it boots the same but it says "to begin click user name" with my name and a picture. Is there a way to bypass that? (control userpasswords2) did'nt seem to work. Only my wife and I use this machine. Any thoughts on this?
rgds



amd
xp home
1gig ram

 

Here's a MSKB article that should help:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315231

 

Thanks for replying PLansdowne. (fellow Canadian) I'll give that regedit tweek a try when I get home.

 

Is there an easier way to accomplish this? I'm leary of messing with the registry.
Rgds

 

If you follow the instructions, you will not have a problem. Your hesitance is understanderable as changes in the registery (esp with REGEDIT) are not easily undone.

 

You can try using Tweakui to do it. Using Tweakui, look in the left pane for logon. Click the plus on it and then click on autologon.

 

I believe that you can do this by going to Control Panel/User Accounts/Change the Way Users Log On or Off. Make sure that the top box, Use the Welcome Screen, is UNchecked. You will probably still have to go back to control userpasswords2, and then uncheck Users Must Enter a User Name.... One more thing. Make sure that the account that you want to log in automatically, is shaded in this window (they all might be, but I think its possible for only one to be also). If I recall, when the wrong account has been "selected/shaded," that account will try to log in to Windows.

 

Hi psaulm119 & Zander: I saw Zander's message first and tried Tweek UI. It worked nicely, Thank you. Great little program. Also got rid of silly little arrows on the icons on the desktop.

Take care guys

 

Glad to hear it worked for you and yes, Tweakui is a nice little program. IMHO, everybody should have it.

 

Just for the record, TweakUI 1.33 also works with XP, and 1.33 and TweakUI 2.10 (XP), work very well together. As it happens, each provides a couple of tweaks in XP that the other doesn't.

FWIW, Microsoft's warning on the XP PowerToys page about uninstalling an older version before installing the newer one does not apply to TweakUI, but the note about having SP1 installed to use TweakUI 2.10 does.

 

Recovery from a mistake

When using Tweak UI I accidentally removed my username from the logon screen. It was the only name there and now I cannot get past the instruction, "To begin, click your username "

I did this by unchecking the box beside "Show ____Name____on welcome screen under logon.

Would appreciate any assistance in getting to the point of being able to boot again.

Bob, VE3SRD

 

Boot to safe mode and at the logon screen choose the administrator account. Once you're in, run Tweakui and change it back. Reboot and you should have it back.

To boot to safe mode, continuously tap on the f8 key while the computer is booting. When the boot process gets to the proper place it'll stop at a menu.

 

Follow-Up- All's well. On the second boot attempt I was able to go into Safe Mode and boot, and was able to open Tweak UI and backtrack.

 

VE3SRD ...

Welcome to the BBS.

Obviously, you and Zander both type faster than I do. I was going to suggest Safe Mode, as well, but I wonder if choosing "Last Known Good Configuration" from the Advanced Options menu (where you select Safe Mode) might not also have worked.

 

Possibly but I kind of doubt it.

I'm not sure how the last known thing gets updated but if it updates it after each good shutdown, there would be nothing wrong with the configuration as the OS is fine, just no username on the welcome screen. I don't know if you're understanding what I'm saying but that's about the best I can do.

How does that last known good configuration get reset anyway? Anybody know? Something for Google maybe.

 

VE3SRD
Glad to hear you got it straightened out. Welcome to the board also. Stick around, I'm sure you'll find it quite friendly here.

 

I'll bet Arie does.

 

Well, maybe I was wrong. From what it says on this web page it sounds like it might have worked. Guess I could experiment to find out.

VE3SRD hadn't logged on yet so.....

What is the Last Known Good configuration and what can it do to help me?

 

Well, it wasn't hard to find. First in the list when I Googled it.