.NET Framework makes me logon

[John Blaustein]

Hi,

Windows XP Home SP1, all patches and updates applied.

I am the only user of this PC, so there is only one User Account set up
(me).

Today, I installed .NET Framework 1.1 because a small utility program I
wanted to use requires it. Now, when I boot my PC, I get the blue logon
screen and it requires that I click on my Username to get to the desktop. I
do not use a password. When I look at Control Panel>User Accounts, I now
see another account: ASP.NET Machine A...

Is there a way to get XP to boot and go directly to my desktop without
stopping for me to click my Username on the logon screen? If not, will
uninstalling .NET Framework get me back to the behavior I am used to? (I
can live without the small utility which got me started with .NET Framework
in the first place.)

Thank you.

John

 

[Scott M.]

The ASPNET user account is required by IIS. It is the account that is used
to run your ASP.NET applications. FYI, this account should be placed into
the Debugger Users group (it is not done automatically).

To your question, simply go to control panel and click users, then "change
how users log on to this computer".

 

[Jason Haynes]

At the run prompt type control userpasswords2. Clear the check box requiring
users to enter username and password. When you ok out, you will be given a
prompt to enter the username to automatically log on. You can do the same
thing a little quicker if you have tweakui.

 

[John Blaustein]

Scott,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I'm not sure what IIS is. What do you mean "this account should be placed
into the Debugger Users group (it is not done automatically).?"

Going to Control Panel>Users, it wasn't clear to me how to do what I wanted,
but Run:control userpasswords2 did the trick.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Jason,

Thanks for your quick reply.

control userpasswords2 did the trick!

John

 

[John Blaustein]

jmatt,

Thank you!

I used control userpasswords2 and unchecked the use password box. So now I
can boot to my desktop.

However, now another issue: If I leave the PC unattended for 15-20 minutes,
when I get back, I see the blue screen with the "To begin, click your
Username" prompt. Can I get rid of this?

If I delete the ASP.NET account, will my small app that got me started here
continue to work? (Fact is, it's not working now, but I've posted a message
trying to get some help for it.)

Lastly, if I use Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs and uninstall .NET
Framework, will that get me back to where I was before installing it? In
other words, does it really get uninstalled? (My experience is that some
apps don't get fully uninstalled.)

Again, thanks to everyone who responded to my call for help.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Jason,

Is there a way to get to the User Account window other than "RUN:control
userpasswords2"? Control Panel>User Accounts brings up a User Account
window, but it's not the same as the one that control userpasswords2 brings
up. In other words, is there some route to User Accounts that a novice like
myself might have found? (The two User Account windows are diferent. I
hope I'm being clear.)

Thanks.

John

 

[Scott M.]

If you don't know what IIS is (Internet Information Server), then you really
need to do some basic reading on what a web server is and how web pages are
"served" to web clients.

If you don't know about Users and Groups in Windows, you need to read up on
"User Accounts" and "User Groups" in Windows as well.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, it's just that these are 2 very fundamental
topics to understand before you can really get into any serious web
development.

Glad you got your logon problem solved though.

Good luck!

 

[Scott M.]

John,

As I mentioned in my first message, in Control Panel, when you choose "User
Accounts", a dialog box will come up with all the accounts that are created
for your machine. There is a second tab on the top of that dialog called
"Advanced". If you click that tab, you will be looking at the same screen
that typing "control userpasswords2" into a run dialog box would have taken
you to.

 

[Scott M.]

However, now another issue: If I leave the PC unattended for 15-20
minutes,

when I get back, I see the blue screen with the "To begin, click your
Username" prompt. Can I get rid of this?

Right click the desktop and choose "Properties". When the dialog box comes
up, click the "Screen Saver" tab. If the checkbox that says "On resume,
password protect" is checked, clear it.

If I delete the ASP.NET account, will my small app that got me started here
continue to work? (Fact is, it's not working now, but I've posted a message
trying to get some help for it.)

If you delete this account, then you will no longer be able to run or
develop ASP.NET applications.

Lastly, if I use Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs and uninstall .NET
Framework, will that get me back to where I was before installing it? In
other words, does it really get uninstalled? (My experience is that some
apps don't get fully uninstalled.)

You can choose that option, but that is not the same thing as uninstalling
the .NET application that is using the .NET Framework. Besides, even if you
choose this, it won't fully uninstall the Framework anyway, since the
Framework is now part of the operating system.

 

[Bruiser]

It should. I have two apps that require the .NET framework and they both run
fine after having deleted the .NET user account.


<SNIP>

 

[Bruiser]

Scott, I'm assuming this is for XP Pro, correct? I don't see that tab on my
XP Home system.

Bruce

<SNIP>

 

[Scott M.]

Are you logged on as an Administrator when you look for this tab?

 

[John Blaustein]

Scott,

I'm an end-user, not a software or web developer (although I do use
FrontPage for my personal Web site). Over the years, I've tried to learn as
much about Windows as I could and always appreciate the help offered in
these MS NGs. I know you weren't being sarcastic, and I didn't take it that
way.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Bruiser,

Good to know that, although Scott M. said my app might not work if I delete
the ASP.NET account. So far, I can't get the app to work anyway, so I may
just abandon the whole thing.

I can't see what the ASP.NET account does, so I may just leave it there for
now.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

See replies inline below...

Right click the desktop and choose "Properties". When the dialog box comes
up, click the "Screen Saver" tab. If the checkbox that says "On resume,
password protect" is checked, clear it.

OK. Did that. Thanks!

If you delete this account, then you will no longer be able to run or
develop ASP.NET applications.

I am an end-user, not a developer, so I have no need to develop ASP.NET
applications. There is one small app I'm trying to run -- which is why I
installed .NET Framework yesterday -- but so far, I can't get it to run.

You can choose that option, but that is not the same thing as uninstalling
the .NET application that is using the .NET Framework. Besides, even if you
choose this, it won't fully uninstall the Framework anyway, since the
Framework is now part of the operating system.

OK. I may as well leave it alone. With your help, I've now been able to
"fix" the logon and screen saver issues.

Thanks again!

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Scott,

For some reason, I'm not seeing what you're seeing. When I click
Start>Control Panel>User Accounts, I see a white XP-style window with "Pick
a task" and "or pick an account to change." This window has a "Learn About"
section on the left, and Back, Forward and Home buttons at the top. When I
access User Accounts from Control Panel, I don't get the window with the two
tabs.

Now, when I RUN:control userpasswords2, then I get the "standard" window
with the Users tab and Advanced Tab.

I'm running XP Home. I am logged on as John Blaustein. I am the only user
of this PC, so I assume that means I'm the administrator as well. When I
click Start>Log Off and select to switch users, the only user presented is
me (John Blaustein).

John

 

[John Blaustein]

I can only log in to my user account (John Blaustein), but since I'm the
only user of the PC, I am the administrator. When I look at User Accounts
(RUN control userpasswords2), I see four accounts -- Administrator, ASPNET,
Guest, John Blaustein (Administrators Group). When I click
Start>Logoff>Switch User, then I only see one Account (John Blaustein).

John

 

[Scott M.]

Hi John,

Sounds like most of your issues are resolved (except that .NET application
not running).

The ASP.NET user account is required by Internet Information Server to be
there. It is the account that IIS uses to be the account that "asks" IIS to
run web based applications. If you ever need to run an ASP.NET application
from your own machine (which would mean that your copy of IIS would be
running the applicacation, you WILL NEED this account. Since most web based
application aren't run locally, you may find that you could remove the
account without causing problems. It all depends on whether you will ever
"run" an ASP.NET application from "your" machine.

Good luck!

 

[John Blaustein]

Scott,

Yes, thanks to you (and others) all of my issues are resolved. Thank you
much!

The .NET app not running isn't something that will or needs to be solved
here. I'm hoping to hear back from the author -- he's an Outlook Express
MVP, I think -- and I imagine it's just some small setting I need to change.

It would seem there is no problem leaving the ASP.NET User Account on my
machine.

One last item... why am I not getting the same User Account window when I
use Start>CPL>User Accts and RUN:control userpasswords2? I just don't get
it since it sounds like both commands should bring up the same window.

John