Customizing Windows NT Logon

You can change the Windows NT logon process in either of the following two ways:

• Create a custom logon message, especially for secure sites

• Allow automatic logon for a computer

During Windows NT logon, the first message that appears instructs the user to press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to log on. Then, when the Welcome dialog box appears, the user can type a user name, domain, and password.

You can define a custom message to display after the user presses CTRL+ALT+DELETE. For example, you can warn users that a particular computer is restricted to only certain users. Or, for all computers on the network, you can warn against unauthorized attempts to log on.

To create a custom logon message

1. In Registry Editor, select the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software
\Microsoft
\Windows NT
\CurrentVersion
\Winlogon

2. Add a value entry named LegalNoticeCaption of type REG_SZ, and type text that will be the caption for the message.

3. Add a value entry named LegalNoticeText of type REG_SZ, and type text for the message.

If either LegalNoticeCaption or LegalNoticeText is defined in the Registry, a user cannot log on to the computer without acknowledging the message by clicking OK.

For a computer used as a print server and another special-use system, you might enable system startup without a user having to supply a user name or password. You can define automatic logon for a computer by adding some value entries in the Registry.

To allow automatic logon for a computer

1. In Registry Editor, select the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software
\Microsoft
\Windows NT
\CurrentVersion
\Winlogon

2. Add a value entry named AutoAdminLogon of type REG_SZ, and specify a value of 1.

3. Add a value entry named DefaultPassword of type REG_SZ, and enter the password of the user who is listed under the value DefaultUserName.