Question : Auto Login User on Local Machine That is Part of Domain

I have a media center PC that is part of a domain at home. I want to be able to have a user login automatically on the local machine (localpc\user) instead of (domain\user) but I want to keep the PC as part of the domain so I can manage it from my server when necessary. After I joined the machine to the domain, the usual way of going into "control userpasswords2" no longer worked had the option of using autologin. Does anyone know of a solution for this?

Answer : Auto Login User on Local Machine That is Part of Domain

Hi rudodoo,

This should do the trick (taken from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231)

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Using your account name and password, double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type your user name ((localpc\user), and then click OK.
4. Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type your password under the value data box, and then click OK.

If there is no DefaultPassword value, create the value. To do this, follow these steps: a.  In Registry Editor, click Edit, click New, and then click String Value.
b.  Type DefaultPassword as the value name, and then press ENTER.
c.  Double-click the newly created key, and then type your password in the Value Data box.
If no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows XP automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon registry key from 1 (true) to 0 (false) to turn off the AutoAdminLogon feature.
5. Double-click the AutoAdminLogon entry, type 1 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.

If there is no AutoAdminLogon entry, create the entry. To do this, follow these steps: a.  In Registry Editor, click Edit, click New, and then click String Value.
b.  Type AutoAdminLogon as the value name, and then press ENTER.
c.  Double-click the newly created key, and then type 1 in the Value Data box.
 
6. Quit Registry Editor.
7. Click Start, click Restart, and then click OK.