Administrator and User Passwords in Windows XP

How to Hide the Logon Script Dialog Box on a Windows Client

Direct Bootup Without Typing Password

1. At a command prompt, type "control userpasswords2" and press Enter to open the Windows 2000-style User Accountsapplication.

2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer check box and thenclick OK.

3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name and password for the account you want to belogged on each time you start your computer.

Remove Login Password

Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Local Security Settings/Minimum Password Length/Reduce it to 0 (No password required). Control Panel/User
Account/Your Account/Remove Password.

Cannot Change the Administrator Password in Control Panel

After you log on as an administrator to a computer that is not a
member of a domain, when you double-click User Accounts in Control Panel to
change the password for the built-in Administrator account, the Administrator
account may not appear in the list of user accounts. Consequently, you cannot
change its password.

This behavior can occur because the Administrator
account logon option appears only in Safe mode if more than one account is
created on the system. The Administrator account is available in Normal mode
only if there are no other accounts on the system. To
work around this behavior:

- If you are running Windows XP Home Edition,
restart the computer and then use a power user account to log on to
the
computer in Safe mode.

- If you are running Windows XP
Professional, reset the password in the Local Users and Groups snap-in in
Microsoft
Management Console (MMC):

1. Click Start, and then
click Run.
2. In the Open box, type "mmc" (without the quotation marks), and
then click OK to start MMC.
3. Start the Local Users and Groups
snap-in.
4. Under Console Root, expand "Local Users and Groups", and then
click Users.
5. In the right pane, right-click Administrator, and then click
Set Password.
6. Click Proceed in the message box that appears.
7. Type
and confirm the new password in the appropriate boxes, and then click OK.

How to Change User Password at Command Prompt

How to use the net user command to change the user password at a
Windows command prompt. Only administrators can change domain passwords at the
Windows command prompt. To change a user's password at the command prompt,
log on as an administrator and type: "net user <user_name> *
/domain" (without the quotation marks)

When you are prompted to type a
password for the user, type the new password, not the existing password. After
you type the new password, the system prompts you to retype the password to
confirm. The password is now changed.

Alternatively, you can type the
following command: net user <user_name> <new_password>.
When you do so, the password changes without prompting you again. This command
also enables you to change passwords in a batch file.

Non-administrators
receive a "System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied" error message when
they attempt to change the password.

How to
Enable Automatic Logon in Windows

If you set a computer for auto logon, anyone who can physically
obtain access to the computer can gain access to all of the computer contents,
including any network or networks it is connected to. In addition, if you enable
autologon, the password is stored in the registry in plaintext. The specific
registry key that stores this value is remotely readable by the Authenticated
Users group.

As a result, this setting is only appropriate for cases where the
computer is physically secured, and steps have been taken to ensure that
untrusted users cannot remotely access the registry.

1. Start/Run/Regedit, and then locate the following registry
subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
2.
Using your account name and password, double-click the DefaultUserName entry,
type your user name, and then click
OK.
3. Double-click
the DefaultPassword entry, type your password, and then click
OK.

NOTE: The DefaultPassword value may not exist. If it does
not:

a. Click Add Value on the Edit menu.
b. In the Value Name box,
type DefaultPassword, and then click REG_SZ for the Data Type
c. Type your
password in the String box, and then save your changes.

Also, if no
DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of
the AutoAdminLogon key
from 1 (true) to 0 (false), thus disabling the
AutoAdminLogon feature.

4. Click Add Value on the Edit menu, enter
AutoAdminLogon in the Value Name box, and then click REG_SZ for the
Data
Type.
5. Type "1" (without the quotation marks) in
the String box, and then save your changes.
6. Quit Regedit.
7. Click
Start, click Shutdown, and then click OK to turn off your computer.
8.
Restart your computer and Windows. You are now able to log on
automatically.

NOTE: To bypass the AutoAdminLogon process, and to
log on as a different user, hold down the SHIFT key after you log off or after
Windows restarts.

Note that this procedure only applies to the first
logon. To enforce this setting for subsequent logoffs, the administrator must
set the following registry
key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Value:
ForceAutoLogon
Type: REG_SZ
Data: 1

Windows XP
Inherits Autologon Setting After Upgrade from Win2000

After you upgrade a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer, Windows
XP Professional may start directly to the desktop without stopping at the
Welcome screen or requiring you to type a username and password. If you then
create a new user account, you may not receive any option that allows you to log
on by using the new account.

This behavior can occur if Windows 2000 was configured for
automatic logon (Autologon). Windows XP inherits this configuration
setting.

To resolve this behavior, turn off the automatic logon feature and
require a username and password at logon:

1. Click Start on the Windows
taskbar, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type control userpasswords2,
and then click OK.
3. In the dialog box that appears, click to select the
"Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer"

check box, and then click OK.

To work around this
behavior, log off from the Autologon account, and then log on by using the new
account.