Domain Logon Screen

[u8dmtm]

Call me picky, but one of the things that really irritates me about Vista is the domain logon screen. So I was hoping that with Windows 7 there might have been a rethink and a classic logon screen, as available in XP and 2000 resurrected. Apparantly no such luck.

Does anyone know why Microsoft have gone for the domain logon screen with the pointless empty box about for Vista and Windows 7 and whether any hope exists for a class logon in the future?

I have attached an image of what I envisage a classic logon looking like.

[FN-GM]

I dont mind the new login it gives people less things to play with. It also sets the domain as default.

[Soulfish]

I saw the picture and thought this was a thread about how Windows 7 had a decent domain login screen. Then I read what you'd written. I'm all disappointed now

[Gatt]

Kinda mixed about the Vista/2008/Win7 GINA - Though prefer the Win7 one with a decent background

Wouldn't be so bad if you could change the background at least!

The only time the new logon is annoying is with local and domain accounts with the same username (EG Administrator) it defaults to the local account. Any other account defaults to the domain, as does a 2008 DC

Keep forgetting to use the DOMAIN\Username format when logging on as an Admin

Think when I rebuild the domain over summer I'll make sure the local admin account is different from the Domain Admin account...

[SYNACK]

The only time the new logon is annoying is with local and domain accounts with the same username (EG Administrator) it defaults to the local account. Any other account defaults to the domain, as does a 2008 DC

Keep forgetting to use the DOMAIN\Username format when logging on as an Admin

Think when I rebuild the domain over summer I'll make sure the local admin account is different from the Domain Admin account...

No need, you can set the default logon domain in group policy so that it defaults to the domain you want. You can still find out the local station name by clicking on the link that tells you about logging on to different domains.

It is in:
Computer config > Admin templates > System > Logon : Assign a default domain for logon

With this little tweak and:
Computer config > Windows settings > Security Settings > Security options: Interactive Logon: Don't display last username

It makes the Vista/Win7 logon perfectly usable in a domain with less hassels than XP and staff attempting to log on locally. I actually like it better but do wish that you could customize it.

[SC-UK]

I saw the picture and thought this was a thread about how Windows 7 had a decent domain login screen. Then I read what you'd written. I'm all disappointed now

So did I!

[Michael]

You can't change the logon window, but you can change the logon background in Windows 7 using nothing third party.

[SC-UK]

You can't change the logon window, but you can change the logon background in Windows 7 using nothing third party.

Doesn't that break the Microsoft EULA though? Or am I confusing it with something else that does?

[Michael]

It's more the logon window itself I believe which would be breaking the EULA. However 'apparently' you can either apply for a license - something companies like RM, Ranger and Winsuite probably do, or alternatively purchasing a third party product which is licensed allows you to change the logon window adhering to the EULA.

[rh91uk]

That's not nice at all! Very disappointed At least the OS makes up for it, I suppose!

[suave872]

I have a bone to pick with MS. There are things that need changing, things that need options, and things that need to be removed.

They always remove what needs options, change what needs to be removed, and put options on things that should be removed or changed! It's really frustrating! Assuming anyone can understand what I said. LOL For the business world, the logon screen should have looked like that. I run an IT Dept. and users hate defining the domain or local account on the login screen. They miss their drop downs.

[AngryTechnician]

Think when I rebuild the domain over summer I'll make sure the local admin account is different from the Domain Admin account...

Excellent advice. Many security professionals recommend renaming the Domain Admin account from the default as one of many precautions one can take against brute-force hacking attempts. One of the first things I did when I started at my current school was to renamed both the Domain Admin and local Admin accounts on the workstations (using GP for the latter).

[CraigM]

I just wanted to double check something. We just got a new 7 laptop and joined it to the domain. This laptop will be a floating laptop, so people need to log in locally. I've found out the .\username trick, but my colleague and I have been arguing over something. He seems to think that there was a way you could choose a local user on the logon screen from a list. Also, he believes that local login should be default, but it seems 7 sets the domain as the default? The only time I've seen the local computer name appears is if you logged in as Administrator or if you typed in the pc name.

I do seem to recall when we deployed 3 Win 7 boxes a while ago that they wobbled between our domain name and wanting to log in locally. We got around this by setting the default logon domain in Group Policy. Problem is now that we can't seem to reproduce this.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

[sted]

I just wanted to double check something. We just got a new 7 laptop and joined it to the domain. This laptop will be a floating laptop, so people need to log in locally. I've found out the .\username trick, but my colleague and I have been arguing over something. He seems to think that there was a way you could choose a local user on the logon screen from a list. Also, he believes that local login should be default, but it seems 7 sets the domain as the default? The only time I've seen the local computer name appears is if you logged in as Administrator or if you typed in the pc name.

I do seem to recall when we deployed 3 Win 7 boxes a while ago that they wobbled between our domain name and wanting to log in locally. We got around this by setting the default logon domain in Group Policy. Problem is now that we can't seem to reproduce this.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

changing the default logon from local to domain is achieved via a local gpo

computer config/admin templates/system/logon assign a default domain for logon and just type the pc name thats worked for me unfortunately i cant see a way of putting in %computername% or similar and doing it on a network gpo. I dont think the welcome screen is avaliable on a domained pc. I know on xp it was due to fast user switching being disabled and id assume thats still the case