Windows Vista logon screen: the classic registry and group-policy tweaks still work, and the ideas survive in Windows 10 and 11 almost unchanged. The original 2008 post below the line listed the registry keys and security-policy settings for controlling fast user switching and the logon screen; here is the updated version.
Hide fast user switching (registry)
Open regedit and navigate to:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\SystemCreate a REG_DWORD value named HideFastUserSwitching:
1— hide Switch User (the option disappears from the Start menu and logon screen)0— normal behavior
This still works on Windows 10 and 11 — Microsoft documents HideFastUserSwitching under the Administrative Templates policy “Hide entry points for Fast User Switching” (Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Logon), which sets exactly this value.
Don’t display the last user name
To stop Windows from pre-filling the logon screen with the previous user’s name, use the Local Security Policy (secpol.msc, available on Pro editions and above — Home editions don’t ship it):
Security Settings → Local Policies → Security Options → “Interactive logon: Don’t display last signed-in” → Enabled.
The setting was renamed from Vista’s “Do not display last user name” and today offers more granular options, but the effect is the same: the user has to type a full username instead of clicking an account tile. The registry equivalent is DontDisplayLastUserName in the same Policies\System key.
Bring back Ctrl+Alt+Del at logon
Vista skipped the old “Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to log on” step by default. To require it again, in secpol.msc go to Security Options and disable “Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL”. With that plus “Don’t display last signed-in” enabled, you get the old-school secure-logon flow: no account tiles, just a credentials prompt after the SAS key combination.
The registry equivalent is DisableCAD (set to 0 to require Ctrl+Alt+Del) under the same Policies\System key.
Password on wakeup
This one still trips people up on modern Windows. If “Require a password on wakeup” is greyed out in Power Options:
- Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable” (the shield-icon link at the top of the dialog) — the setting is locked because you’re not running as administrator.
- Then set Require a password on wakeup to Yes or No under Additional power settings → Change plan settings → Change advanced power settings.
Note that on Windows 10/11, “Modern Standby” (S0 low power idle) machines resume so fast that many laptops appear to skip the lock screen entirely unless this setting is explicitly enabled.
2008 original
The original post, preserved from September 2008:
Here is a list of tips to change the style you logon to your OS.
Hide Fast User Switching — Execute “regedit”, navigate to “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System”, create a REG_DWORD “HideFastUserSwitching”. Value 1 turns it ON, value 0 turns it OFF.
A single user logon screen — Administrative Tools → Local Security Policy, then Security Settings → Local Policies → Security Options, and in the right-hand pane find “Interactive Logon: Do not Display last user name”.
Disable fast user switching and enable the classic login in Vista — You can force users to press the CTRL + ALT + DELETE key combination to log in by modifying group policy. Press Start → Run, type secpol.msc, press Enter. Expand Local Policies, click Security Options, double-click “Interactive Login: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL”, check Disabled, click OK. This will require users to press CTRL + ALT + DELETE before being presented the welcome screen. The welcome screen will still be displayed and will allow the user to select their account from a list.
If you would like to remove the list of accounts and force the user to type his or her username and password, you will need to change another setting inside the Local Security Policy window: double-click “Interactive Login: Do not display last user name”, check Enabled, click OK. With both of these settings in place, the same functionality of the old-style “Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to login” window is achieved. Enable the policy, log off, and give it a try.
Screen pop-up when computer wakes from hibernation — Control Panel → Power Options → Change plan settings (under the setting you’re using) → Change advanced power settings. The first dropdown should say “require a password on wakeup”. Mine said “yes” as default and I couldn’t change it — but click the button above the dropdowns that says “Change settings that are currently unavailable” (with the security shield icon next to it); then you can change “Require a password on wakeup” to “No”. Now it goes straight to my desktop when I wake from hibernate. Might do the same for start up.