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Last active April 21, 2022 14:30
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Enabling auto-login on Windows 10 using PowerShell
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win-autologin-powershell.md

Enabling auto-login on Windows 10 using PowerShell

On Windows 10, the auto-login feature is notoriously dangerous for general use. However, it can be useful in some specific and restricted environments, for instance a single-user virtual machine running on a desktop system.

Auto-login is normally enabled using the Windows Settings or the Control Panel. This option is available only when Windows is activated. On single-user virtual machines, Windows is not always activated and it is not possible to access this option.

To directly enable auto-login, even on an unactivated Windows system, open a PowerShell window as administrator and run the following commands:

$RegistryPath = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon'
Set-ItemProperty $RegistryPath 'AutoAdminLogon' -Value "1" -Type String 
Set-ItemProperty $RegistryPath 'DefaultUsername' -Value "(username)" -type String 
Set-ItemProperty $RegistryPath 'DefaultPassword' -Value "(password)" -type String

Of course, be sure to replace (username) and (password) with the actual user name and password.

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