Ezine 179 – Hide User Accounts on the Welcome Screen The main idea of this tip is to prevent a user account appearing on XP, Vista or Window 7’s Welcome screen, thus making the computer a little more secure and private. My sub-plot is to brush-up our registry editing skills, in general and check out the Winlogon section of the registry in particular. Incidentally, it’s a shame it’s not possible to hide certain users physically as easily as you can with regedit! See an update on How to Hide a User Account from the Welcome Screen Instructions to Hide a User Account from the Welcome Screen- Logon as an Administrator, then create a local account in the Control Panel, User Accounts. For example, I will call my user simply ‘Jo’.
- While not essential, it maybe an idea to test this account, or at least logoff and make sure that it appears on the Welcome Screen.
- Launch Regedit, while this registry editor does not appear on any menu, just type the word ‘regedit’ in the Start. right-click on regedit and ‘Run as administrator’.
- Navigate to the Winlogon section of the registry, to be precise:
*HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
*HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - Create a Key called SpecialAccounts (note plural)
Then create a sub-key called UserList (note singular no spaces) - You should have:
Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Now create a DWORD (32-bit) Value with the same name as the user that you wish to hide, if you remember I called mine ‘Jo’. - I now have Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList\Jo
With a RegDword Value (0)
Zero means hide, 1 would mean show. - Crucial question for any registry hack, ‘Do you logoff, or restart the computer to see the effect?’ I am afraid hiding the user account needs a restart, but it will be worth it!
 I thank Paul DeBrino for drawing my attention to this useful registry edit tip.  Guy Recommends: SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset v10
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- The good fortune to run into the ones that I do,
- And the eyesight to tell the difference.
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Windows 8 Features:• Windows 8 New Features • Windows 8 Metro UI • Windows 8 Tips • Windows 8 FAQ • Ezines •Free Netflow Traffic Analyzer • Windows 8 Home • E 179 Hide Accounts • E 187 Easy Transfer • E 186 Deprecated • E 184 Windows Phone • E 180 Godmode • Orion IP SLA Manager Download |
