All users appreciate that our computer starts in the shortest possible time
This section has improved dramatically after the replacement of hard drives by solid state drives, but it also depends on the configuration of the BIOS / UEFI or the loading of drivers and services in the beginning in a management performed by the operating system.
In Windows 10, Microsoft has added a lock screen - like the one we use on smart phones - that makes sense when thinking about small devices with touch screens, but is not as useful on a computer desktop. In addition, we must add the typical authentication of the user that in the case of classic uses such as the password method delays the start of the computer.
We will review several ways to accelerate the system boot, from canceling this lock screen, start faster from suspend modes or log in to Windows 10 automatically without wasting any time avoiding both the lock screen and the authentication task. It is worth remembering that this last method should only be used when we are the only user of a machine and it is not shared with other users. The reason is obvious. Without the task of authentication anyone who has access to the computer can access our files.
Login to Windows 10 automatically
It is the most radical method to avoid any delay in starting a computer off. It is not directly accessible in the configuration of the equipment and we have to go to the system registry. As always when we act in the registry, it is recommended to make a previous backup of it and / or create a system restore point to safeguard it from any error. From there we would perform the following step by step:
- Access the registry editor, for example by typing "regedit" in the search box.
- Navigate to the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon".
- Select the "Winlogon" folder and double-click on "DefaultUserName". Make sure that the name of the account with which you access the device appears in the value box.
- Close the above and look for a key called "Default Password". If you do not see it you will have to create it, clicking on the right mouse button- New- Chain value.
- Double click on the newly created chain (Default Password) and place your real access password as valuable information.
- Finally, double-click on "AutoAdminLogon" and change the value from "0" to "1"
You only have to restart the computer to start it automatically logged with your account and password, but without having to enter it every time on the computer. If you want to revert the use scenario simply re-set the value to "0".
Alternative without touching the registry
If you do not feel comfortable managing the registry, you can use a small tool Microsoft provides to administrators and basically do the same. It is called Autologon and allows to configure in a simpler way the integrated Windows login mechanism. Instead of waiting for a user to enter their name and password, Windows uses the credentials included in Autologon and encrypted in the registry, to automatically log in to the specified user. Very simple to use:
- Download Autologon from the Microsoft page.
- Run the tool and accept the license terms.
- You will see the user's name and password by default, so you only need to enable it.
Login to Windows 10 without a lock screen
We already said that the lock screen installed in Windows 10 does not make any sense in a computer desktop. And much less if, as is the case, Microsoft has taken advantage of it to include advertisements, video game promotion and link to the purchase in the Windows Store.
If you do not require an automatic login as we saw in the previous method, but you can skip the intermediate blocking screen without having to configure several sites of the configuration, it is done in the following way.
- Access the registry editor, for example by typing "regedit" in the search box.
- Navigate to the Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows path. Click on the right button and create a custom DWORD key with the name "NoLockScreen".
- Execute the newly created key and write "1" in the value information.
- Ready. After restarting the computer, the lock screen will disappear and you will see the login screen directly if you have an activated password or use a Microsoft ID account. If you want to use it again, simply put a value "0" in the key that we have created.
