This document explains how to configure automatic login on Windows so the system signs in automatically after startup or reboot, without requiring any user interaction.
On modern Windows systems — especially Windows 11 using Microsoft accounts — automatic login is only reliably possible using the Windows Registry. User-interface based methods are often unavailable or blocked by design.
This guide applies to:
It works with:
Enabling automatic login significantly reduces the physical security of the device.
When automatic login is enabled:
This configuration should be used only on personal devices located in trusted and private environments.
On many Windows 11 systems, Windows enforces the use of a PIN or other Windows Hello authentication method. In these cases:
netplwiz do not workThis behavior is expected and not a misconfiguration.
For this reason, the Registry-based AutoAdminLogon method is the only reliable way to enable automatic login on modern Windows systems.
Before starting, the following information is required:
The username required for automatic login is the local Windows account name, not the email address of the Microsoft account.
The correct username can be obtained by checking the current logged-in account name as reported by the system. It is usually a short name created during the initial Windows setup.
Only the username itself must be used, without the computer name prefix.
Automatic login requires the actual account password.
If a Microsoft account is used:
If the password is unknown, it must be reset through the Microsoft account management page before continuing.
The computer name is required when configuring automatic login with a Microsoft account.
It can be found in:
The value must be used exactly as shown.
Automatic login is configured by modifying the Windows Registry.
Open the Registry Editor with administrative privileges.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon
Create or edit the following String values (REG_SZ):
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| AutoAdminLogon | 1 |
| DefaultUserName | Windows username |
| DefaultPassword | Account password |
| DefaultDomainName | Computer name |
All values must be entered exactly. Any typo will prevent automatic login from working.
After applying the changes, restart the computer to verify the configuration.
This method is only available on some systems.
It typically works when:
Open the User Accounts dialog and locate the option that requires users to enter a username and password at startup.
If the checkbox “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer” is available, disabling it and confirming the account credentials will enable automatic login.
If the checkbox is missing or replaced by a message indicating that password settings must be changed in system settings, this method cannot be used on the current system.
In such cases, use the Registry method instead.
This behavior is normal.
If Windows does not log in automatically:
AutoAdminLogon is set to 1Automatic login on Windows is commonly used for: