How to Prevent a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me Logon Prompt at Startup

The information in this article applies to:
This article was previously published under Q152104

SUMMARY

This article describes how to prevent Windows from prompting you for a password when you start Windows.

Note that this information applies only if you are not using user profiles. If you have user profiles enabled, and you follow the steps in this article, Windows is not prevented from prompting you for a password. If you have enabled user profiles and you would like to disable or delete them before you follow these steps, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

156826 How to Disable and Delete User Profiles

MORE INFORMATION

To prevent Windows from prompting you for a password at startup:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network.
  2. On the Configuration tab, click Windows Logon in the Primary Network Logon box, and then click OK.
  3. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click No.
  4. In Control Panel, double-click Passwords.
  5. On the Change Passwords tab, click Change Windows Password, select any of the check boxes that you want, and then click OK.

    NOTE: If you cancel the network logon dialog box when you start your computer, the Change Passwords tab may not be available. You must log on so that the Change Passwords tab is available.
  6. In the Change Windows Password dialog box, type your current Windows password in the Old Password box. Leave the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes blank, click OK, and then click OK.

    NOTE: If you have forgotten your old password, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    189126 Microsoft's Policy Regarding Missing or Invalid Passwords

  7. On the User Profiles tab, verify that the All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings option is selected, and then click Close.
  8. Click Start, point to Search (or Find), and then click For Files or Folders.
  9. Type *.pwl in the Named box, click Local Hard Drives in the Look in box, and then press ENTER.
  10. Right-click one of the .pwl files, click Rename, and then rename the file with an .old file name extension. Repeat this step for each .pwl file.

    NOTE: If you do not rename the .pwl files, the passwords from those files may be detected by Windows and the Windows Logon request may continue to appear.
  11. Shut down and then restart your computer.

If you still receive a logon prompt, it may be caused by the TweakUI tool from Windows 95 Power Toys. If you have installed Windows 95 Power Toys and you are using the TweakUI tool, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

135586 Hiding the Last Logged on User Name in Windows 95

For additional information about how to cache your Microsoft Windows NT domain password, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

140709 How to Cache Your Windows NT Domain Password in Windows 95/98/Me

Last Reviewed: 7/6/2001
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