Solved Automatically Log In To Main Account & Switch User

[pepanee]

I read a few articles on how to make Windows 8 automatically log in, yet I wantWindows 8 to automatically log in to the main account which is password protected AND automatically switch user.

I want to do this because sometimes when I turn on the computer, I walk away then come back to it. You see, the reason why I want to do this is because when I turn on the computer and come back to it to log in my account, there's a little bit of a wait time to load up the account. If the computer automatically logs in and switches the user, then when I come back to the computer, all I have to do is type in the password, and everything is already loaded in that account.

Is that option possible? It must be.

 

[adamf]

Do you really want to switch users or you want your screen password protected?

It sounds to me you want to log on and then after (say 1 minute of being idle) lock the screen. To do this you could set up a new Task Scheduler task to call this: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Enclosed is an example task you can import - copy the xml below into notepad and save it as lockscreen.xml (.xml attachments can't be uploaded here). You can then import it into task scheduler.


You will need to change the user (COMPUTER\USER) and may want to play with the idle time, delay time. You can do this when you import the task - no need to edit the xml.

[COLOR=blue]<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>[/COLOR]
[URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Task[/COLOR] [COLOR=red]xmlns[/COLOR]="[COLOR=red][B]http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task[/B][/COLOR]" [COLOR=#990000]version[/COLOR]="[COLOR=black][B]1.2[/B][/COLOR]">[/URL][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]RegistrationInfo[/COLOR]>[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]Date[/COLOR]>2014-08-28T08:17:32.8816798[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Date[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]Author[/COLOR]>COMPUTER\USER[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Author[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]RegistrationInfo[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Triggers[/COLOR]>[/URL][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]LogonTrigger[/COLOR]>[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]Enabled[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Enabled[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]LogonTrigger[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Triggers[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]
[URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Principals[/COLOR]>[/URL]
[URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Principal[/COLOR] [COLOR=#990000]id[/COLOR]="[COLOR=black][B]Author[/B][/COLOR]">[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]UserId[/COLOR]>COMPUTER\USER[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]UserId[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]LogonType[/COLOR]>InteractiveToken[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]LogonType[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]RunLevel[/COLOR]>LeastPrivilege[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]RunLevel[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Principal[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Principals[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Settings[/COLOR]>[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]MultipleInstancesPolicy[/COLOR]>IgnoreNew[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]MultipleInstancesPolicy[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]DisallowStartIfOnBatteries[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]DisallowStartIfOnBatteries[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]StopIfGoingOnBatteries[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]StopIfGoingOnBatteries[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]AllowHardTerminate[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]AllowHardTerminate[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]StartWhenAvailable[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]StartWhenAvailable[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]IdleSettings[/COLOR]>[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]Duration[/COLOR]>PT1M[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Duration[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]WaitTimeout[/COLOR]>PT1H[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]WaitTimeout[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]StopOnIdleEnd[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]StopOnIdleEnd[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]RestartOnIdle[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]RestartOnIdle[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]IdleSettings[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]AllowStartOnDemand[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]AllowStartOnDemand[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]Enabled[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Enabled[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]Hidden[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Hidden[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]RunOnlyIfIdle[/COLOR]>true[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]RunOnlyIfIdle[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]WakeToRun[/COLOR]>false[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]WakeToRun[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]ExecutionTimeLimit[/COLOR]>P3D[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]ExecutionTimeLimit[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]
<[COLOR=#990000]Priority[/COLOR]>7[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Priority[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Settings[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Actions[/COLOR] [COLOR=#990000]Context[/COLOR]="[COLOR=black][B]Author[/B][/COLOR]">[/URL][URL="file:///C:/Users/adam/Desktop/lock%20screen.xml#"]<[COLOR=#990000]Exec[/COLOR]>[/URL]<[COLOR=#990000]Command[/COLOR]>rundll32.exe[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Command[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]<[COLOR=#990000]Arguments[/COLOR]>user32.dll,LockWorkStation[COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Arguments[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Exec[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Actions[/COLOR]>[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]</[COLOR=#990000]Task[/COLOR]>[/COLOR]

 

[pepanee]

Hi adamf, thank you for your reply.

"Switch User" and "[having the] screen password protected" is the same thing pretty much, no? (both would apply if I press Windows Button + L).

Yet the thing is that I only want this task to happen after the computer is turned on:
I press the On button, Windows 8 loads up, then it will automatically log into the password protected Administrator account, and automatically "password protect", or "Switch User". I don't want this to happen all the time for idle time. Only for the first time the computer loads up.

 

[adamf]

The task above is invoked at user log on. It isn't invoked every time the system is idle.

If you want you could remove the 'Start the task only if the computer is idle' tick box. Then it would always run on log on.

EDIT: And yes, Crtl + L does rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

 

[pepanee]

Oh wow, that (the xml file) actually did work. Once I typed the password to log in, it switched the user right away (while loading up the user account).

The only thing that I might see a little weird is that for the first part of this... typing the password and it shows in plain text in the registry (for the auto log-in).

Okay thank you very much for the auto-switch option.