Disable automatic log in to last user on Windows 8.1

[RainfallWithin]

Hi everyone,

 

Recently I discovered that if you create a new user account with no password on Windows 8.1 the operating system will automatically log into the last account used before shut down or restart. Here is a way to prevent that and make Windows 8.1 show the list of user accounts on startup.

 

1. Run 'regedit', without the apostrophes.

 

2. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\UserSwitch

 

3. Change ‘Enable’ value to 1

 

4. Press F5 to refresh the registry, then delete the ‘UserSwitch’ key

 

5. Right-click the parent key 'LogonUI' and click 'Permissions'

 

6. Click 'Advanced', click ‘Disable Inheritence’ and then click 'Remove'

 

7. Edit each user and click ‘Show advanced permissions’ and untick 'Create Subkey'. This stops the key being recreated.

 

8. Click 'OK' and exit all windows and restart to test it out.