The CarPC Network - Automatic Login to Windows XP

Convenience is one of the major reasons this tweak has become so popular. However, with convenience there is a price, and in this case that price is a lack of security. Due to the way it is implemented, anyone with local or remote access to the computer can easily navigate to the registry key and find out your password since it's stored as a plain text string. You've been warned.

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Regsitry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.

Data Type: String Value // Value Name: DefaultUserName
Setting for Value Data: [Enter the account name to be automatically logged on]

Data Type: String Value // Value Name: DefaultPassword
Setting for Value Data: [Enter the account password]

Data Type: String Value // Value Name: AutoAdminLogon
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Disabled / 1 = Enabled]

Exit Registry and Reboot

To avoid the inherent danger of editing the registry, the same results may be obtained by using the procedure detailed below.

Rather than editing the registry and exposing the account password to such easy scrutiny, I'd suggest downloading a Microsoft utility called TweakUI and use it to enable automatic logon.

Automatic Login to Windows XP

Automatic Logon to Windows XP