welcome screen and screensaver

  • Thread starter Thread starter jfletcher
  • Start date Start date
J

jfletcher

Hello, checked on google and found other people with this problem, bu
couldn't find a suitable solution....

I want to set up my wife's laptop so when the screensaver i
deactivated, you get the welcome screen, so she can login with he
password or a guest can login without a password. The best I can do i
this: when it comes back from the screensaver, it shows a box (not th
welcome screen) asking for a password for anyone to use the computer.

If it matters, this computer is connected to a wireless network to
desktop elsewhere in the house. That computer has two logins, one fo
me and one for a guest. I'd like to set up that one the same way
 
Right click on the desktop and choose properties from the context menu.
Select the screen saver tab. Check the box "On resume, password protect."
 
Hi,

Control Panel/Display/Screensaver tab, enable "on resume, display welcome
screen".

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
jfletcher said:
Hello, checked on google and found other people with this
problem, but couldn't find a suitable solution....

I want to set up my wife's laptop so when the screensaver is
deactivated, you get the welcome screen, so she can login
with her password or a guest can login without a password.
The best I can do is this: when it comes back from the
screensaver, it shows a box (not the welcome screen) asking
for a password for anyone to use the computer.

If it matters, this computer is connected to a wireless
network to a desktop elsewhere in the house. That computer
has two logins, one for me and one for a guest. I'd like to
set up that one the same way.
Click to expand...

First off, to enable the Welcome Screen, do the following:
Go to Control Panel and double click on User Accounts.
Click on "Change the way users log on or off".
Put a check mark in the box next to "Use Welcome Screeen".
Note: You can also enable "Use Fast User Switching" if you
want.
Hit the Apply Options button.
Close User Accounts.

If you want to test this, change the time setting on your Sceen
Saver to 1 minute. You can change it back afterwards.

Now as for your "guest" account, you could activate the
built-in Guest account or, better yet, you could create a new
user account (named something like Visitor). This account
doesn't need a password and will show up on the Welcome Screen.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
Thanks folks, but none of those worked. I had already tried them all.

When I click "on resume, password protect" I just get the dialog box
that password protects the entire system. Like I said, I only want to
protect my wife's account. I want guests to be able to login with no
password.

I already had the stuff about "use welcome screen" and "enable fast
switching" checked. That just works when you manually lock the
computer. I want it to lock itself when not in use.
 
jfletcher said:
Thanks folks, but none of those worked. I had already tried
them all.

When I click "on resume, password protect" I just get the
dialog box that password protects the entire system. Like I
said, I only want to protect my wife's account. I want
guests to be able to login with no password.

I already had the stuff about "use welcome screen" and
"enable fast switching" checked. That just works when you
manually lock the computer. I want it to lock itself when
not in use.
Click to expand...

OK. Now I see what you're trying to accomplish. Using the
Screen Saver approach isn't going to work. If your wife was
logged on when the Screen Saver started, only your wife can log
back on. You can't log on with a different account.

An alternative that will allow a different user to log on would
be to password protect Standby.
Go to Control Panel -> Power Options and click on the Advanced
tab.
Put a check mark in the box next to "Prompt for password when
computer resumes from standby".
Note: In order for this configuration to work you either need
to turn off the Screen Saver or set the Standby timer to start
sooner than the Screen Saver.

Now for the catch. Let's say your wife is logged on when the
computer goes into standby and your guest logs on when the
computer comes out of standby. If the guest then turns off the
laptop it could result in problems with your wife's user
account. That's because she's still logged on. There'd be a
warning message displayed about a user still being logged on.
Still, letting the guest turn off the computer doesn't allow
your wife's account to be properly logged off. You'd only want
the guest to be able to log off or switch users.

If the laptop is running Windows XP Professional edition it's a
simple procedure to prevent the guest account from shutting off
the computer. It's done through the local security policy. I
suppose it would take some sort of registry edit to accomplish
this in XP Home Edition.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
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