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Vista logon screen missing

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9 replies

by healer

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My Vista Home Basic logon screen is missing. I press Enter then a logon fail message come up saying we have tried to log on as the first user icon on the left hand side. Then I click on Switch User and everything comes back to normal.

9 replies

by rob miners

Have you enabled autologon, if you have enabled autologon disable it and see if that clears it up.

Enable or disable secure logon (CTRL+ALT+DELETE )

It's important to keep your computer as secure as possible. One way to do so is to enable secure logon so that you are required to press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to log on. Using secure logon provides an additional layer of security for your computer by ensuring that the authentic Windows logon screen appears. When secure logon is enabled, no other program (such as a virus or spyware) can intercept your user name and password as you enter it.

To open Advanced User Accounts.
Press the Winkey + r and type control userpasswords2, and then press ENTER.

Tip. The WinKey is the key with the Windows logo shown on it and it is usually found between the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard. These shortcuts are also known as Microsoft keyboard shortcuts.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click the Advanced tab, select the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete check box, and then click OK.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance. ;) :D

by healer

Hi! Thanks for your help!
I had not enabled autologon. I have a Vista Home Basic OS. I have supposed this particular OS does not provide secure logon. Anyway, I have tried as you suggestred. I pressed the WinKey + r so the Run window came up. I typed userpasswords2 and then pressed Enter but it couldn't be found. I tried to press Control key down when I typed as I guessed what you meant but no character would show up. I pressed the control button down when I pressed Enter after typing but made no difference.

Please adivse!

by 93961

Silly!!! u have to not press "CTRL" (Control) Key. You have to type "Control userpasswords2" in the Run Window (naturally without inverted commas and press "ENTER". This will open the Control Panel User Accounts Menu for you to change the user settings.

by healer

Thanks guys, the problem is bypassed after putting on secure logon. I thought I had read somewhere that Vista Home Basic does not provide this feature. I like this feature and was disappointed I didn't get it. By the way, I still don't understand how I got the problem in the first place. I have had 5 users on the computer. This is a new computer. It worked all right for a few weeks. It displayed 5 user icons on the screen waiting for logging on. All of a sudden, no icon at all appeared after booting up. We had to hit some keys a few times to get the 5 icons. I have removed the secure logon after putting on to see whether the problem got fixed but it didn't. So I just left it to secure logon. This is a mysterious thing. Were you saying the problem was a glitch caused by multiple accounts? That was why you asked me that as the first question.

by seanferd

So, since you do have multiple accounts, that screen should, in fact, display per the settings. It was a diagnostic question.

Why happen?
Could be malware, or a problem from removed malware.
Could be a corrupted user account. (?)
Could be an interactive logon setting gone awry.
Could be the computer did not shut down properly once.
Could be a software conflict somewhere causing the user profile hive to not unload properly.

I'm sure there are other possibilities, but it mostly comes down to a registry problem somewhere in some form.

by rob miners

but you have to remember that you are using Vista and there are a few idiosyncrosies that haven't been determind with it just yet. It took 3 service packs to sort XP out.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TechRepublic Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D :-bd

by healer

Thanks guy, I appreciate all your help and enlightenment.

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