Autologon - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn

Summary — Autologon v3.10 (Mark Russinovich, Aug 29, 2016)

• Purpose: Autologon configures Windows’ built-in automatic logon so the system uses stored credentials to sign in a specified user at boot without manual entry.

• How it works: Run autologon.exe, enter username, domain and password in the dialog, click Enable. Windows stores the credentials as an LSA secret in the registry and will use them on the next startup.

• Command-line use: You can pass credentials as arguments: autologon user domain password.

• Disable options: Click Disable in the tool, or hold the Shift key before autologon executes to skip autologon for that session.

• Important security note: Although the password is encrypted in the registry, an administrator can retrieve and decrypt it. See Protecting the Automatic Logon Password for details.

• Limitations: Autologon does not validate the entered credentials or whether the account is allowed to log on to the machine. When Exchange ActiveSync password restrictions are in place, Windows may not process the autologon configuration.

• Download / run: Download Autologon — https://download.sysinternals.com/files/AutoLogon.zip or run from Sysinternals Live — https://live.sysinternals.com/Autologon.exe.

• Metadata: File size ~495 KB. Page last updated 07/27/2021.