It's inevitable that sooner or later some Microsoft Windows update is going to undo one of your settings. In a recent batch of Vista updates, my automatic logon process was changed. Instead of booting up and automatically logging in my user account, Windows displayed all user icons on the screen, forcing me to make a selection. Here's how to change it back to automatically login to you account.
Automatic Login Setup
1) While holding down the Windows key on your keyboard, press the 'R' key to display the 'Run' window. If you dont have a Windows key on your keyboard, click the Start icon in lower left-hand corner of your screen, then select Run.
2) Type the command: netplwiz then click the OK button
3) The 'User Accounts' window will display. Find the account you want to have automatically login and click on it once to highlight it. (You can only select an account if the checkbox is checked in the following step.)
4) Above the box that displays all the user names is a checkbox that reads: "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer." Uncheck that box and click Apply.
5) The 'Automatically Log On' window will display the selected account username and password. Either enter a password and confirm it or leave it blank. If you entered one, write it down in a safe place so you won't forget it in case the box gets checked again. Click OK when finished and click OK again to accept the change on the 'User Accounts' window.
That's it. The next time you boot up, the system will automatically log into the selected desktop once again.
About The Checkbox
If the checkbox in step #4 is checked, it forces the user account icons to display on startup. If you click on an icon and that particular account has a password set, you'll need to enter it.
Conversely, by highlighting a user name in the list and unchecking the checkbox for that username, two things happen. 1) The system will automatically login for the selected username and it will bypass the password setting.
A Word of Caution
If you uncheck the checkbox, regardless of whether or not you set a password on the chosen account, the system will not prompt for a password, therefore you'll have an obvious security issue should someone else ever use the computer.
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