Set a specific User at Log on Screen in Labs

[JCovarrubias]

I'm trying to set a specific user when the computer gets to the log on screen (either initial start up or user logs off). Teachers come into the Labs and use their credentials to log in but when they log off, their name is set. This causes confusion for the students and other staff members so they use a generic account that to log in ( student, student) and now the software that requires network shares don't work cause student will never be configured to use those drives. Resulting in us having to remote in and log off and log in to the proper user account.

 

I am able to make a shutdown script that makes the change in the registry at these keys :

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI" Value = LastLoggedOnSAMUser Data ="Domain/Username"

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI" Value = LastLoggedOnUser Data ="Domain/Username"

 

It has worked if i set it in the Local Group Policy under the Shutdown script but haven't been able to push it down using the Domain's Group Policy. To be honest I'mm not to familiar with Group Policy. I copied my batch file to SysVol\etc... Scripts and set it as the Script name with no parameters. I also set the script name to cmd.exe and added the parameters to /c "Scriptlocation\Shutdown.bat" and no go.

 

I don't mind if I have to do this locally on each machine one time and set it. This has to be a executed every time someone logs on, because the system will rewrite those keys every time someone logs on. That is why I was trying to have it execute on log off. I can't run it as a log on script, at least locally, because it required administrative rights. I've run out off ideas to make this work and that's why I'm asking for some help or to be pointed in the right direction. Maybe a scheduled task? Maybe a vbs script?

 

Thanks for reading and any help is appreciated.

[themightymrp]

Do you want those machines to always login as the same user?

 

If so, in your registry go to HKLM-->Software-->Microsoft-->Windows NT-->Current Version-->Winlogon

 

Set the following 4 keys:

 

AutoAdminLogon Value=1

DefaultDomainName Value=your domain

DefaultUserName Value=account you want to login

DefaultPassword Value=the password

[JCovarrubias]

Do you want those machines to always login as the same user?

 

If so, in your registry go to HKLM-->Software-->Microsoft-->Windows NT-->Current Version-->Winlogon

 

Set the following 4 keys:

 

AutoAdminLogon Value=1

DefaultDomainName Value=your domain

DefaultUserName Value=account you want to login

DefaultPassword Value=the password

 

At the moment, I'm not sure if Auto LogIn is the route we want to take. With the K-4 students this might be beneficial. I added the keys with out the password prompt ( also with it but left it blank ) but it still tries to log in and states the password is incorrect. So we are back at having the log off script run. This might be a simple solution if it didn't try to log in right away.

And this still results in if a user logs off and logs back in with different credentials, unless they restart the computer then we are set not Defaulting to the one I want.

I'm trying to get the same user "Walker LAB" to show up every single time the log on screen appears. On boot up, after restart, after shutdown, on log off.

 

Thank you, I will sit down with my boss and see if this is the route he would like to take and have people just deal with it.

[themightymrp]

Could you just leave the password blank and set the autologon value to 0? That might be more what you're after

[JCovarrubias]

Could you just leave the password blank and set the autologon value to 0? That might be more what you're after

 

Setting the Value to 0 causes it to behave like normal. It displays the last user that logged in.

[TG_MI]

If the root cause of your problem is that Windows displays the last logged on user, you can disable that via group policy.

 

Computer Configuration-->Policies-->Windows Settings-->Security Settings-->Local Policies/Security Options-->Interactive Logon-->Interactive logon: Do not display last user name (Set to enabled).

 

Doing so forces the next person to enter a username and password. You can set an account to autologon, but that seems messy to me, especially considering that it requires entering a username and password into the registry...

[JCovarrubias]

If the root cause of your problem is that Windows displays the last logged on user, you can disable that via group policy.

 

Computer Configuration-->Policies-->Windows Settings-->Security Settings-->Local Policies/Security Options-->Interactive Logon-->Interactive logon: Do not display last user name (Set to enabled).

 

Doing so forces the next person to enter a username and password. You can set an account to autologon, but that seems messy to me, especially considering that it requires entering a username and password into the registry...

 

We used to do this at some point. It caused people to forget the accounts and start using different accounts from different labs just so they were able to log in. Since we have different labs in different schools with different software, this wont work for us. That is why I'm trying to avoid the whole issue of them having to remember the user account. The password is the same across all the labs.

[ADMaster]

I had similar problems a few years ago. I’d log in to fix a computer, and then get another call that the user couldn’t log in. They did not know their own user name. I set the policy mentioned above.

To solve the problem of using the account in another lab;

Set the lab user account in AD to only log on to the workstations in that lab. I’ve done this for all of my generic accounts.