Only show user and password text boxes on Windows 7 Logon Screen (hide usernames)
The default (and most user-friendly) behavior Windows 7 enforces for its logon screen is to show clickable icons for each user that has been created on a particular computer; this typically includes at least a PC Administrator and a "Guest Account" (although you can disable the guest account). The downside of this approach is of course that you are giving away 50% of the information needed to get into the computer, since a hacker (or ill-intentioned roommate!) only has to guess the password. But, as you'll learn in this tutorial, Windows 7 includes a security feature that allows you to show a blank username and password text boxes on the welcome screen you see after restarting or waking up your computer: this means that one needs to know or guess both the username and the password to gain access to the machine.
Tip: see this next tutorial to control how many times Windows 7 lets you enter a wrong password before locking out that particular user account.
Disable clickable username icons on the welcome screen
Follow these simple steps to hide usernames on the logon screen; note that you need Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition to use this easier approach (what version of Windows do I have?). Otherwise, we explain below how to hide usernames on logon screen using the registry.
- Once you are logged into one of these editions of Windows 7, type "secpol.msc" into the start menu's search field and click on the first result, or type it into the Run dialog and hit Enter.
- This launches the "Local Security Policy" editor / snap-in; double-click on "Local Policies" to expand it, and select "Security Options". Then, scroll down until you find the entry labeled "Interactive logon: Do not display last user name", and double-click on it.
This is a simple dialog which offers only two settings, "Disabled" being checked by default. Select "Enabled", and click on the "OK" button to apply the new setting (takes effect immediately).
- You can now test how the modified Windows 7 logon screen looks: hold down the Windows logo key and press "L" (as in Lock). Then, click on the "Switch user" button to see all other users, and all you'll see are two blank text fields for username and password, respectively.
From this point on, when your PC starts, you'll have to supply both username and password to access a profile. Make sure to tell others to memorize their exact user name before you actually enable this new security policy! (Memento: Windows usernames are not case-sensitive, but passwords are.)
Hide usernames on logon screen using the registry
If you have Windows 7 Home Premium / Basic or Windows 7 starter, here's how to enable the same setting using the registry. Type "regedit" in the start menu's search field, and click on the first result. Once the registry editor has opened, go to the following node (double-click on each to expand it).HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > System
Edit the "DontDisplayLastUserName" DWORD (create it if needed), and change its value to "1" to enable the feature, or "0" to disable it. The new setting also takes effect right away.
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