I have a home network consisting of all Microsoft Windows PCs. To make file sharing and networking easier, I create user accounts for all the users on my home network on every single computer. This works well with one small problem, each computer starts up with a welcome screen with every user listed, even though only one person really uses a particular computer. It's a small annoyance, but it bugged me a bit so I went out and searched out how to hide a user account in Windows 7 (this same tip will also work in Vista). If you have Windows XP just download TweakUI and their is an option in that free utility for hiding user accounts.
So here is a quick guide on how to hide a user account in Windows 7.
*IMPORTANT: before preceding, know that if you hide your only administrator account you may have a very hard time getting back into your system as an administrator or logging on at all. So proceed with caution and make sure and then double check and make sure again that you are hiding the correct account and that you are not hiding your only administrator account. With that out of the way...see below...
How to Hide a User Account in Windows 7
1) Click on the start menu and type in regedit
2) Select "regedit" from the search results and click yes at the UAC prompt.
3) In regedit navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
4) Right click on the Winlogon folder and select "New" and then select "Key". Note your Windows 7 install may already have these keys that we are creating, in that case you can skip the next few steps.
5) Name the new Key: SpecialAccounts
6) Right click on the new "SpecialAccounts" Key and select "New" and then "Key"
7) Name this new Key: UserList
8) Now select the newly created "UserList" Key. In the right pane right click on an open area and select "New" and then select "DWORD (32-bit Value)"
9) Name this new DWORD the exact same name as the user account that you want to hide. So if the user you wish to hide is "joe", then name this value "joe"
10) Double click on the new DWORD that you created. A new window will open, set the value to "0" (the number zero no quotes) if you want to hide the user. You can set it to "1" if you ever want to unhide the account. Once you set the value click "OK" and close Regedit
The next time you reboot your computer you should notice that the user is hidden from the welcome screen. I tested this in the 64-bit version Windows 7 professional and the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate RC.
Sources:
IntelliAdmin: Hide user accounts in Windows 7
My Digital Life: How to Create Hidden User Account
WinXPTutor's XP Resources: How do I show or hide an user account in the Welcome Screen?
So here is a quick guide on how to hide a user account in Windows 7.
*IMPORTANT: before preceding, know that if you hide your only administrator account you may have a very hard time getting back into your system as an administrator or logging on at all. So proceed with caution and make sure and then double check and make sure again that you are hiding the correct account and that you are not hiding your only administrator account. With that out of the way...see below...
How to Hide a User Account in Windows 7
1) Click on the start menu and type in regedit
2) Select "regedit" from the search results and click yes at the UAC prompt.
3) In regedit navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
4) Right click on the Winlogon folder and select "New" and then select "Key". Note your Windows 7 install may already have these keys that we are creating, in that case you can skip the next few steps.
5) Name the new Key: SpecialAccounts
6) Right click on the new "SpecialAccounts" Key and select "New" and then "Key"
7) Name this new Key: UserList
8) Now select the newly created "UserList" Key. In the right pane right click on an open area and select "New" and then select "DWORD (32-bit Value)"
9) Name this new DWORD the exact same name as the user account that you want to hide. So if the user you wish to hide is "joe", then name this value "joe"
10) Double click on the new DWORD that you created. A new window will open, set the value to "0" (the number zero no quotes) if you want to hide the user. You can set it to "1" if you ever want to unhide the account. Once you set the value click "OK" and close Regedit
The next time you reboot your computer you should notice that the user is hidden from the welcome screen. I tested this in the 64-bit version Windows 7 professional and the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate RC.
Sources:
IntelliAdmin: Hide user accounts in Windows 7
My Digital Life: How to Create Hidden User Account
WinXPTutor's XP Resources: How do I show or hide an user account in the Welcome Screen?
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