User Account Password Removal?

[Tom461]

Currently my user accounts have no passwords. Is it possible to set a
password for temporary use and then later return to having no password? Long
term, I want to be able to turn the computer on and walk away; my concern is
that setting a password for a temporary period will mean that I will from
then on have to minimally hit Enter on a window with a blank as its password,
even if I delete the password I used for a while.

 

[Leonard Grey]

User accounts either have a password or they do not.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Currently my user accounts have no passwords. Is it possible to set
a password for temporary use and then later return to having no
password? Long term, I want to be able to turn the computer on and
walk away; my concern is that setting a password for a temporary
period will mean that I will from then on have to minimally hit
Enter on a window with a blank as its password, even if I delete
the password I used for a while.

You already have a password - it's blank. All Windows XP users have
passwords - but those passwords *can be* blank.

So - to answer your question directly - yes - you can give yourself a
non-blank password and change back to a blank password as often as you
like - given your network administrator allows it.

You may have "automatic logon" now - but you can have that with *any*
password set. That is not 'having no password set' - that is just choosing
to bypass entering it in some way. Seems what you want to do is the
opposite of what I am about to show you - so just reverse engineer the
instructions appropriately...

Automatic Logons:
------
Microsoft method:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231
(Essentially the same... but different place:
http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/13/ )


Microsoft Method 2:
TweakUI from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx


control userpasswords2 method:
1) Go to the Start Menu and the Run box.
2) Type in the following:

control userpasswords2

now click OK
3) In the new Windows that appears select the account you wish to make the
primary logon.
Now uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password..." box.
4) Hit Apply and a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the selected
users password.
Click OK when you are done...
------

Hopefully that gets you where you are wanting to be.

It is a *good* thing in the user arena to:
1) Have strong passwords.
2) Have more than one administrator level account (with strong passwords).

 

[Tom461]

Great answer. Thanks.

You already have a password - it's blank. All Windows XP users have
passwords - but those passwords *can be* blank.

So - to answer your question directly - yes - you can give yourself a
non-blank password and change back to a blank password as often as you
like - given your network administrator allows it.

You may have "automatic logon" now - but you can have that with *any*
password set. That is not 'having no password set' - that is just choosing
to bypass entering it in some way. Seems what you want to do is the
opposite of what I am about to show you - so just reverse engineer the
instructions appropriately...

Automatic Logons:
------
Microsoft method:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231
(Essentially the same... but different place:
http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/13/ )


Microsoft Method 2:
TweakUI from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx


control userpasswords2 method:
1) Go to the Start Menu and the Run box.
2) Type in the following:

control userpasswords2

now click OK
3) In the new Windows that appears select the account you wish to make the
primary logon.
Now uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password..." box.
4) Hit Apply and a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the selected
users password.
Click OK when you are done...
------

Hopefully that gets you where you are wanting to be.

It is a *good* thing in the user arena to:
1) Have strong passwords.
2) Have more than one administrator level account (with strong passwords).

 

[Tom461]

So true. I teach logic at a university. This is the "law of excluded middle"
in logic.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Computers do not operate according to the rules of logic. They operate
the way they were programmed.