Customizing Windows NT Logon

You can change the Windows NT logon process in 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+DEL to log on, and then the Welcome dialog box appears so the user can type a username, domain, and password.

You can define a custom message to display after the user presses CTRL+ALT+DEL. For example, you might want to warn users that a particular computer is restricted to only certain users. Or, for all computers on the network, you might want to 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 the OK button.

For some computers such as a print server or other special-use systems, you may want to be able to start the system without a user having to supply a username 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 listed under the value DefaultUserName.