Switch from no logon to logon

W

W. eWatson

One PC I have has nologon. When it's booted up, no logon msg appears.
How do I change that?
 
J

John John MVP

One PC I have has nologon. When it's booted up, no logon msg appears.
How do I change that?

Enter control userpasswords2 in the Start Menu Run box and select the
"Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer."
option. You can click on the Advanced Tab at the same screen to enable
the Secure Attention Sequence logon (Ctrl+Alt+Del). If you don't want
to use the SAS logon and if you want to use the Welcome screen you can
change the Welcome screen option in the Control Panel User Accounts
applet at the "Change the way users log on or off" option.

John
 
Z

Zaphod Beeblebrox

John John MVP said:
Enter control userpasswords2 in the Start Menu Run box and select
the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer." option. You can click on the Advanced Tab at the same
screen to enable the Secure Attention Sequence logon (Ctrl+Alt+Del).
If you don't want to use the SAS logon and if you want to use the
Welcome screen you can change the Welcome screen option in the
Control Panel User Accounts applet at the "Change the way users log
on or off" option.

And make sure you know the password for at least one account on the
system before doing this...

Just sayin'!
 
W

W. eWatson

And make sure you know the password for at least one account on the
system before doing this...

Just sayin'!
Hmmm, it's possible I set a pwd at one time. I'm on a LAN with this PC,
if that might help me get out of any predicament.
 
J

John John MVP

Hmmm, it's possible I set a pwd at one time. I'm on a LAN with this PC,
if that might help me get out of any predicament.

You can change your password anytime while you are logged on. There is
always the built-in Administrator account that can be used when you are
locked out of other administrator accounts.

John
 
Z

Zaphod Beeblebrox

John John MVP said:
You can change your password anytime while you are logged on.

Probably the best / easiest approach - that is, do this before you
follow the steps above to change the system to require a password at
logon.
There is always the built-in Administrator account that can be used
when you are locked out of other administrator accounts.

Assuming you know the password to the Administrator account...

--
Zaphod

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's
something big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the
universe gets that.
 
W

W. eWatson

One PC I have has nologon. When it's booted up, no logon msg appears.
How do I change that?

OK,I more or less succeeded. I thought I was making 2 accounts, one as
owner and one as Admin. Somehow I got three. I think they are all in the
Power Group. In any case, I used the same name in all 3, Bob Smith,
think it really just wanted my name. It really wanted a user id. Admin,
Bob Smith, Extra, say. How do I reset these and all the three (I think)
fields on the first setup screen?
 
J

John John MVP

OK,I more or less succeeded. I thought I was making 2 accounts, one as
owner and one as Admin. Somehow I got three. I think they are all in the
Power Group. In any case, I used the same name in all 3, Bob Smith,
think it really just wanted my name. It really wanted a user id. Admin,
Bob Smith, Extra, say. How do I reset these and all the three (I think)
fields on the first setup screen?

Enter lusrmgr.msc in the Start Menu Run box. The Lusrmgr.msc snap-in
is not available on Windows XP Home, but then neither is the Power Users
Group.

John
 
Z

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Don Phillipson said:
No: the built-in Admin. account has no password.
You may be right, I may be crazy (But it just may be a lunatic you're
looking for)

But seriously, it may be true that by default the Administrator
account has no password in XP, but not all systems are that way. In
fact, not all systems have the Administrator account enabled. Sure, I
imagine most home users have it enabled and un-protected but not all
by any means.

--
Zaphod

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's
something big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the
universe gets that.
 
J

John John MVP

You may be right, I may be crazy (But it just may be a lunatic you're
looking for)

But seriously, it may be true that by default the Administrator
account has no password in XP, but not all systems are that way. In
fact, not all systems have the Administrator account enabled. Sure, I
imagine most home users have it enabled and un-protected but not all
by any means.

By default it isn't password protected and it's a very bad idea to leave
it unprotected! The oldest trick in the book to try to gain control on
a box is to try the built-in Administrator account with a blank
password! Also, the built-in Administrator account is never completely
disabled, it is always available for Safe Mode logon.

John
 
B

Bert Hyman

Also, the built-in Administrator account is never completely
disabled, it is always available for Safe Mode logon.

Which requires physical access to the box, in which case all bets are
off anyway.
 
J

John John MVP

Which requires physical access to the box, in which case all bets are
off anyway.

Of course. But I meant it in the sense that as long as you know the
password for the built-in account you are never left or locked out
without an administrator account on an XP box...

John
 
W

W. eWatson

Enter lusrmgr.msc in the Start Menu Run box. The Lusrmgr.msc snap-in is
not available on Windows XP Home, but then neither is the Power Users
Group.

John
OK, but are Power Users the same as Admins? I would think I want one
Admin login.
 
J

John John MVP

OK, but are Power Users the same as Admins? I would think I want one
Admin login.

The old saying in security circles is that Power Users are
Administrators in waiting... or users who have not yet promoted
themselves to administrator. But no, Power Users are not the same as
administrators and yes in addition to the built-in Administrator account
you want to have at least one other administrator account available for
logon.

John
 
Z

Zaphod Beeblebrox

John John MVP said:
By default it isn't password protected and it's a very bad idea to
leave it unprotected!

I agree completely.
The oldest trick in the book to try to gain control on a box is to
try the built-in Administrator account with a blank password!
Exactly.

Also, the built-in Administrator account is never completely
disabled, it is always available for Safe Mode logon.

And all of the above is exactly why starting with Vista the
Administrator account is disabled, even in Safe Mode, unless there are
no other administrators in the system.
 
W

W. eWatson

Well, this is a bit confusing. I have 8 accounts. Five seem to be
pre-defined.

I added three (#6,7 and 8) users for more or less the fun of it.
Actually #7 might have only been changed. Basically, to see what would
happen.

Presently, upon boot, I see #1, #6 and #7. I really only need one.

I now have these eight users. I added the last three:

Names (not "Full Name". There are two headers in the main display. Name
and Full Name. Something of a mystery as why they are both needed. Full
Name seems to name in icon.)
1. (login icon) Administrator
member as Administrator
pwd does not expire
builtin
Full Name is Adminstrator1, but Full Name is Administrator


2. Guest
member as Guest
cannot change pwd
pwd does not expire

3. Help Assistant
not a member
pwd does not expire
account disabled

4. NTP
not a member
pwd does not expire

5. Support
forgot to write down properties or there weren't any properties

6. (login icon) John
member as Power
all check boxes unmarked

7. (login icon) John Doe (Full Name is Bebop)
Member as Administrator
all check boxes unmarked
pwd never expires
*it has no pwd!* I think this might have been the original no login rqd
account

8. John--Admin (Full Name is Administrator)
Member as Power
all check boxes unmarked
 
J

John John MVP

Well, this is a bit confusing. I have 8 accounts. Five seem to be
pre-defined.

I added three (#6,7 and 8) users for more or less the fun of it.
Actually #7 might have only been changed. Basically, to see what would
happen.

Presently, upon boot, I see #1, #6 and #7. I really only need one.

I now have these eight users. I added the last three:

Names (not "Full Name". There are two headers in the main display. Name
and Full Name. Something of a mystery as why they are both needed. Full
Name seems to name in icon.)
1. (login icon) Administrator
member as Administrator
pwd does not expire
builtin
Full Name is Adminstrator1, but Full Name is Administrator


2. Guest
member as Guest
cannot change pwd
pwd does not expire

3. Help Assistant
not a member
pwd does not expire
account disabled

4. NTP
not a member
pwd does not expire

5. Support
forgot to write down properties or there weren't any properties

6. (login icon) John
member as Power
all check boxes unmarked

7. (login icon) John Doe (Full Name is Bebop)
Member as Administrator
all check boxes unmarked
pwd never expires
*it has no pwd!* I think this might have been the original no login rqd
account

8. John--Admin (Full Name is Administrator)
Member as Power
all check boxes unmarked

What is it that you need to know? Run these commands at a command
prompt and post the results:

net localgroup >c:\groups.txt
net users >>c:\groups.txt
c:\groups.txt

Note that there is single redirector (>) in the first command and two
(>>) in the second command.

You can get group membership with the net localgroup command, example:

net localgroup administrators
net localgroup "power users"

John
 
W

W. eWatson

What is it that you need to know? Run these commands at a command prompt
and post the results:

net localgroup >c:\groups.txt
net users >>c:\groups.txt
c:\groups.txt

Note that there is single redirector (>) in the first command and two
(>>) in the second command.

You can get group membership with the net localgroup command, example:

net localgroup administrators
net localgroup "power users"

John
All I want to do is get one login account visible when I bootup. It
should probably an Administrator and have a pwd. That's it. Instead
I've got three. Two too many.
 

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