Category: Windows

Occassionally you may want a user account to not display on the Windows 10 logon page.

One main use case for me has been when setting up scanners to send direct to a PC share. In these cases I create a limited account with only the rights to that share. But the user account will display on the logon screen. So annoying!

So there are a few ways to do this.

• Remove the account from the Group – Users (and Administrators) or any other interactive group
• Make them a User of a Group that just gives access to the share you need – if available the HomeUsers Group works well
• Editing the registry

If you have a User account that you dont want to display – say they only connect via a remote connection then editing the Registry is the answer.

Editing registry to hide an account

1. Open registry editor
   • Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command,
   • Type regedit, and click OK to open the Windows Registry.
2. Browse to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Right-click the Winlogon, select New, and click Key.
4. Name the new key SpecialAccounts.
5. Right-click the SpecialAccounts key, select new, and click Key.
6. Name the new key UserList.
7. Inside of UserList, right-click, select New, and click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
8. Name this DWORD key with the name of the account you’re intending to hide.
9. Make sure the DWORD key has its data value is set to 0. (Zero Hide or change to 1 to show)

Important:
A hidden account can only access the PC via an interactive logon process. Such as a remote connection.
If you want to log onto the PC with a hidden account you will need to turn on Interactive Logon in windows 10. This turns off the simple logon process.

See Interactive Logon for details.