Weblog Sander Wilmink

When you want to prevent users to shutdown the computer from the login-screen you need to change some settings in the registry. This is a part of Windows where everything is set into keys and values. By changing wrong things, the system can be damaged. So please be careful whit changing things. This article is about changing options in the login-screen, so it would not have effect on the rest of the system.

1. Go to Start, Run and type ‘regedit’.
2. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system 
3. On the right side of the screen you will see the key ‘shutdownwithoutlogon’. This will grey out the shutdown-button on the logon-screen.

In some cases it is useful to remove Shutdown from the start-menu. In case of a computer in a locked cabinet or a computer which is hided in a rack, you can remove Shutdown from the start-menu.

1. Go to Start, Run and type ‘secpol.msc’.
2. Choose User Rights Assignment on the left side of the screen.
3. On the right side of the screen you will find Shut down the system.
4. When you open the options from that setting you can add users or groups and also remove them. By removing the Users group, normal (domain)users are not able to shut down the PC from the Start-menu.

When you want to clear the last username from the username box in the login-screen you need to change some settings in the registry. This is a part of Windows where everything is set into keys and values. By changing wrong things, the system can be damaged. So please be careful whit changing things. This article is about changing options in the login-screen, so it would not have effect on the rest of the system.

1. Go to Start, Run and type ‘regedit’.
2. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system 
3. On the right side of the screen you will see the key ‘dontdisplaylastusername’. This will clear the last username from the logon-screen.

To create a nice looking profile for every new user there is a Default profile. Every user related setting will be saved into that profile. For example the start-menu, background and the Quick Launch bar will be stored in the Default profile and will be loaded when a new user logs in. To create the Default profile do the following:

1. Log on to the computer as the administrator, and then create a local user account. 
2. Log off as the administrator, and then log on to the computer through the local user account that you just created. 
3. Customize the profile appropriately. For example, install printers and map necessary drives. 
4. Log off as the local user, and then log back on as the administrator. 
5. Because several of the files in the profile are hidden and must be copied into the new custom default user profile, turn on the Show hidden files and folders option:
   1. Double-click My Computer, click Tools, and then click Folder Options.
   2. On the View tab, under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.
6. Replace the current default user profile with the customized default user profile:a. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   1. Double-click System.
   2. On the User Profiles tab, click the user profile that you just created, and then click Copy To. 
   3. In the Copy To dialog box, under Copy profile to, click Browse, click the “%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\Default User” folder, and then click OK. 
   4. Under Permitted to use, click Change, click Everyone, and then click OK.

Note that permissions issues will result if the custom user profile is created when you log on as an administrator.

There are two ways to create a user in Windows XP. This article describes the two ways.

First way:

1. Go to your Control Panel.
2. With the Category View or Classic View selected, choose User Accounts. 
3. Click on Create a new user.
4. Enter the details and choose a password.
5. The user is created.

Second way.

1. Right click on My Computer and choose Manage. 
2. This will open Computer Management. On the left side you will find Local Users and Groups. 
3. Open the container Users in the right side of the screen. 
4. Go to the Action menu and click New User. 
5. Fill in all details and choose a password. After that click Finish. The user is created.

After running the mini-setup in Sysprep the default profile, you have made, is deleted. The profile from the Administrator is copied over. To fix this problem Microsoft wrote a knowledge-base article which you can find here.

You need to contact the support-desk for the hot-fix. Here you can find the phone-numbers from Microsoft. Referring to KB article 887816 they will send the hot-fix by email. You can also contact them through the link in the KB article on the support-website from Microsoft.

Microsoft Knowledge Base – KB887816

Welcome to my weblog! It is designed for sharing my knowledge about IT to the rest of the world. In my daily work as system administrator I deal with a lot of problems which I need to solve by myself, because it is not shared on the Internet. I hope you like this weblog and come back. On the right sidebar you can register to my weblog and write your comments to my posts. Please share your knowledge to me, so we can learn from each-other.

With much regards,

Sander Wilmink