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Author Topic: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot  (Read 4173 times)

questorfla

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This is a "Real Question" though it may not sound like one.

I have a User whose Surface Pro has two user accounts. One is her Microsoft Account, one is a "local account".
The purpose for the local account is to provide her with a way to open Windows in the event she cannot get her normal Microsoft account to open. This usually happens due to password problems, (she forgets what it currently is). So I gave her a local account with no password so she could access the Web to contact me for help with accessing her Microsoft Account when needed.

I have seen plenty of of methods for "By Passing" the login screen but in her case I need the opposite. When the Login screen is bypassed, Windows opens to her Local Account y default since it has no password. 

The 'fix' for this (once it happens) is to Right click START, Choose "Sign out", which takes her to the normal Sign In screen where she can choose her Microsoft Account.  Te problem with that is she cant handle "right click" very well.  The other "fix" would be to give the local account a "password" but she would forget it since she seldom ever uses it but when she need to, it must work.

The Best "fix" would be a way to get Windows 10 to always display the Login Screen at Start even if her Local Account has no password?  Today. she probably accidentally logged in as "Local" and afterward it became the default login. Is there a key somewhere in the registry or setting in SecPol to make the login screen appear every time the system starts even if the previous user was one with no password?
The option for turning on CTRL+ALT+DEL on every boot wont help for this because the same thing happens.  Once she ends up in the "Local/no pw account", it becomes the default on every reboot until hse goes to the login screen and choose her normal MS account.

I think one of Murphy's Corollaries states that "The road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions" . Having that local account has saved her in the past when she forgot her Microsoft password many times but now it has become a problem in its own right. Giving a password to that Local Account would defeat the usefulness as she simply cannot remember it no matter what I make it.

PS: As a possible partial help, is there a one-step command that would take her directly to the login screen from desktop without having to use right click on Start?. I could make a Desktop Shortcut for it f so which would solve the issues with her figuring out Right click as opposed to Left click on START?

questorfla

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2016, 12:26 PM »
OK, i have a work-around for how to get back to the sign in screen (if you have the latest version of windows 10, clicking Start and then clicking the 'Universal Blob' in the left hand column that represents  your user, you can sign out from there with no right click needed and then you are taken to the sign in screen.

But I am still puzzled by the default action locking you to the user with no password as the default login if you ever use it.  Which then requires that you somehow go back to the login screen to be able to choose to login with the correct user which HAS a password.   Otherwise rebooting takes you directly into the user wit No Password until you do that.

Stoic Joker

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2016, 03:31 PM »
It's a bit counterintuitive (and untested), but if you use one of the auto logon utilities out there and configure it with the wrong password. It  should - in theory - cause it to stop and ask for the right one allowing the user to switch accounts.

Shades

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2016, 08:29 PM »
You really should not want to do this, but I'll give you another undesirable work-around: Allow the local user account to have a single character password. Even if she does forget, it shouldn't take her long to find it.

There was always a Dutch saying for indicating how useless a person is perceived (for a task) by the person stating: "Je hebt mensen en potloden, maar jij bent de gum!". Translation would be: "You have people and pencils, but you are just the eraser!"    It was a popular one with ranked soldiers/officers to show discontent when I was doing my obligatory military service. And unfortunately, during my stint of almost 38 months I have met many soldiers that would even fail being the proverbial 'eraser'.

Anyway, seems like that saying applies for your user. And essentially also for the person that would enable the work-around I suggested. 

Deozaan

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2016, 10:06 PM »
She can also press the Win+L hotkey to go to the lock/login screen. Different users can be selected from the bottom-left corner.

Or for the local account she can use a simple password, and display the actual password in the password hint. This is obviously insecure if anyone else has access to her computer that she doesn't trust, but it is worth mentioning as a "workaround" to this issue.

questorfla

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2016, 01:02 AM »
Thanks All.
Yes, I 100% agree to this being the most worthless waste of time possible.  ANd the only reaso i am even looking now at all is just to see if there is a direct to the login screeen otion anywhere and when did this change happen.   
As best as I can tell, this was a recent change that actually locks the system in what would be considered and UN-Safe mode as the user has no password  That non-pass worded user stays as the default user on every subsequent reboot unless you take the tie to do one of the sign out processes.  Til then, for all intents, any one would think there was no other user.  Turning the system completely OFF, rebooting, etc.  You got straight to the desktop for that Local User.  Only Sign Out gets you to the Sign In screen.

I am sure there is some logic at work here but it eludes me for the moment

She was OK with my normal LEFT click on the "blob" that looks like the old TV show Image for Alfred Hitchcock.  Choosing Sign out which takes her to the sign in screen but i honestly would not have even looked at that "Hitchcock" icon until i read that it works.  Just seem there would be a simple CTRL+L or some such to reach the login screen.  I could put that  in a Desktop  shortcut explaining what to do.

Some people DO need more help that others.  :(

Thanks for al the tips but I can cal lthis one off now as she is OK with the Left click Option. :Thmbsup:

Deozaan

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Re: How can i force Windows 10 to ALWAYS go to the login screen on Boot
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2016, 04:13 AM »
Just seem there would be a simple CTRL+L or some such to reach the login screen.

She can also press the Win+L hotkey to go to the lock/login screen. Different users can be selected from the bottom-left corner.