Disable automatic signing of last user in Window 8

1:39:00 AM | ,

If you have multiple user accounts in Windows 8  (e.g. one for yourself and another for your family member), you may notice a new annoyance in Windows 8 – it signs in the last user automatically who shut down/rebooted the PC. Most users would not like to be signed in automatically and would instead prefer seeing a list of users at the logon screen, from where they can choose which user account to login in with. Today, we are going to share a simple tweak which will allow you to prevent Windows 8 from automatically signing in the last user. Let’s start.
In Windows 8, the auto sign in process is controlled via the “Enabled” DWORD value at the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\UserSwitch
disable automatic log on of last user in Window 8
If the “Enabled” parameter is set to 1, you will get the list of users instead of the last user automatically getting signed in. A problem however is the behavior of the LogonUI.exe process which set the “Enabled” value to zero at every startup, even if you set it manually to 1. Why this behavior is introduced is not known.
So, the only way to prevent the “Enabled” value from being overwritten is to remove write permissions on it and set it to read-only.
Here are the steps to do just that.
First, make sure that you have disabled the automatic sign in option. Press Win+R keys on the keyboard and type the following:
netplwiz
Then press Enter.
The following window will be displayed:
Check the option called “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”.

How to prevent Windows 8 from logging in automatically to the last logged-in user

  1. Download the following ZIP file and extract its contents anywhere you want.
    Download
  2. Right click on the DISABLE_automatic_sign_in.cmd file and choose the “Run as Administrator” menu item.
  3. That’s it! It will set all the necessary registry permissions and values. This will allow you to select the user account before log in.
How to restore defaults and undo this script
Right click on the RESTORE_automatic_sign_in.cmd file and choose the “Run as Administrator” menu item. This will restore the default Windows 8 behavior.
Download