Disable the Welcome Screen in XP Pro

by Daniel Petri - January 8, 2009

How can I disable the Welcome Screen in Windows XP Pro?

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To turn the Welcome Screen on or off:

You must have a computer administrator account on a computer that is a member of a workgroup or is a stand-alone computer to turn on or turn off the Use the Welcome screen feature. Logging on at the Welcome screen is not available on computers that are members of a network domain.

  1. Open User Accounts in Control Panel.

  2. Click Change the way users log on or off.

Do one of the following:

Note: To open User Accounts, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click User Accounts. Fast User Switching is available only when the Welcome screen is turned on.

Note: To disable the Welcome screen you can also open the Registry editor and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\WinLogon

Change the value for LogonType, from a "1" to a "0". This is because a 0 specifies Classic Mode and a 1 specifies Welcome Screen.

Now, exit the Registry and Reboot your computer.

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