In Windows 10, how do I boot directly into the login screen?

Question

In Windows 7, booting up took you directly to the Login Screen where you could immediately start typing your password. By contrast, Windows 10 (or perhaps 8) introduced an intermediate Lock Screen that requires a keypress before you can actually go to the Login Screen to start typing your password. While aesthetically pleasing, I can see the Lock Screen getting tiring after a while when I just want to go straight from booting to typing my password in, like I'm used to doing on Windows 7.

If I ever wanted to bypass the Lock Screen and go straight to the Login Screen, how would I do that?

Solution

The Lock Screen can be disabled in one of two ways: by editing the Registry directly, or by using the Group Policy Editor.

Using the Registry

Editing the Registry is always risky, and you should first create a System Restore point before going any further. You can either edit the Registry manually, or run the .reg file I've provided below, which is safer and more reliable.

Edit the Registry manually

1. Open the Registry Editor by searching for it in the search bar

2. Navigate to the following key by pasting it into the Registry Editor's search and pressing Enter:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
   

3. Within that key, look for a key called Personalization, or create it if it doesn't exist

4. Right-click on the Personalization key, select New > DWORD (32-Bit Value), and name the value NoLockScreen

5. Double-click on the newly-created value and change its value to 1

Run the Registry file

1. Create a new plain text file and copy and paste the following into it:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization]
   "NoLockScreen"=dword:00000001
   

2. Rename the file so that it ends with a .reg extension

3. Double-click on the file to run it, and click Yes to confirm

The next time you restart, you will boot directly into the login screen.

Using the Group Policy Editor (Professional and Enterprise only)

The Group Policy Editor tool is only available in the Professional and Enterprise editions of Windows 10, and is typically only used in network environments. It makes its changes by adding the same keys to the Registry that I did above, and should best be seen as a graphical interface for system and network administrators to more manageably apply registry changes across an entire network.

Therefore, if you're only making the change to a single PC, you shouldn't need to use the GPE unless you're having trouble editing the Registry directly.

Change the policy in the Group Policy Editor

1. Open the Group Policy Editor by searching for Edit group policy in the search bar

2. In the sidebar, select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization

3. Double-click on the Do not display the lock screen policy and set it to Enabled

4. Click Apply

The next time you restart, you'll boot directly into the login screen.

Comments

[Ramhound]

Does this answer your question? How do I kill the lockscreen after the Windows 10 anniversary update?. I verified that the duplicate's answer was a 1:1 to the answer that was submitted to this question before I raised the duplicate flag. If you disagree with this duplicate flag, please go through the proper channels, instead of replying with a comment.

[Nate]

Will this allow the lock screen timeout to lock the workstation (going to the login screen / password input) or will it disable that?

[ReGdYN]

I can say that the "Using the Registry section" above also worked for Windows 11 Pro (21H2 build 22000.348)