Windows 10 lock screen allows you to secure access to your personal files and programs. Normally, I do not recommend enabling automatic login. But under some circumstances, you might want to have Windows open directly to the desktop.
For example, in my case, I have one computer used for testing applications where it does not contain any sensitive information, in short, security is not a major issue. In addition, I want some applications to perform the task automatically, so enabling automatic login is a perfect workaround.
Difficulty level: Easy
Enable Automatic Login In Windows 10
Follow the steps below to enable automatic login. Good thing, this also works with older versions of Windows. Make sure you have administrative privileges or have Windows 10 username/password on your Windows 10 device otherwise you may not be able to do the steps below.
- Login to your Windows device.
- For Windows 10 users, type netplwiz in the search box on the taskbar and click netplwiz in the list of results.
For older versions of Windows, press WIN + R to show the Run dialogue and type netplwiz into the box then click OK. If prompted by UAC, enter an administrator username and password. - In the User Accounts window, uncheck the box before “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer” then click OK.
- In the automatic sign in within the dialogue box, enter the name of the user that you want Windows to use for automatic sign in. Type and confirm the password for the account. Click OK.
- Reboot the device and Windows will boot directly to the desktop of the selected user account.
Some considerations
If you are connecting to a device using Remote Desktop Connection, automatic login will not work. Automatic login does not disable the lock screen if the device is set to require a password when waking up from sleep. It also does not disable if the lock screen is set to activate after a period of inactivity.
In this article, you have learned how to skip the lock screen and enable automatic login in Windows 10.
Featured photo credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters /Unsplash.com