Eric Niquette

But first, a quick word on when you shouldn't do this

It goes without saying that automatically unlocking your machine increases its vulnerability to local attacks. This setup is not recommended for devices that may leave your home or are used in shared environments, like laptops or other portable devices. However, if you're configuring this on a home desktop, it's generally safer, though there are still potential security risks to keep in mind.

Start by disabling the forced 'Windows Hello' sign-in restriction

To set up automatic sign-in, we'll need to disable a setting that restricts logins to 'Windows Hello' features. This will allow us to use a standard password for automatic sign-in instead.

  1. Press Win + i to open the Windows Settings panel.
  2. From the left-hand side menu, select Accounts.
  3. Select Sign-in options.
  4. Uncheck (turn off) the option labeled For improved security, only allow Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts on this device.
  5. Close the Settings panel. Your changes apply automatically.

Configure Windows to automatically sign-in with saved credentials

Now that Windows has been configured to allow plain, password-based sign-ins, we can provide a set of credentials to automatically use on startup.

  1. Open the the Run dialog by pressing Ctrl + R and enter netplwiz.
  2. Press OK to launch the User Accounts control panel.
  3. In the User Accounts panel, uncheck the box labeled Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. If the option isn't there, check the Troubleshooting section for possible solutions.
  4. Press Apply.
  5. When prompted to do so, enter your current Windows login information, typically your Microsoft account.
  6. Go ahead and press OK then reboot your PC to try it out.

Troubleshooting

I don't have the checkbox "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer"
I'm still prompted to enter my user ID or password on reboot
  • Check your credentials. You may have entered the wrong ID or password in the User Accounts panel. They should be the same as your Microsoft account if you're using one, or whatever ID and password you've set for your local account otherwise.
  • As far as I'm aware, you can't automatically login on machines configured to domain authentication without some registry changes.
I'm still using Windows XP

Open the Run dialog by pressing Ctrl + R and enter control userpasswords2 to open the User Accounts panel.