On Windows 8 boot up, users are welcomed with a beautiful and informative Lock screen followed by smart Login screen that provides various login options. Instead of the Modern UI screens, if you prefer a classic logon screen – the one with a simple user field and password field – here’s how you can get it on Windows 8.
Classic Logon Screen in Windows 8 using Local Security Policy or Registry Editor
Windows 8 lists all users accounts on the Logon screen. To disable this and show the user name and password fields follow these steps:
- Open Run dialog, type in
secpol.msc, and hit Enter. - This will open the Local Security Policy editor. In its left pane, navigate to Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.
- Now in the right pane, find “Interactive Logon: Do not display last user name”.
- Double-click on the policy to open its configuration page. Set it to Enabled, and close the window by hitting OK.
That’d do it. You can check if this worked by logging out of your account.
If you’re on the basic edition of Windows 8, you’ll have to set this policy using Registry Editor.
- Open Regedit and navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
- In the right side pane, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it
dontdisplaylastusername. - Double click the value and change its Value Data to
1.
Disable Lock Screen in Windows 8 using Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor.
The Lock screen displays the date and various notifications. This screen adds one more step to the process of getting to your desktop. A click is all that’s required to get from here to the login screen, but to login without messing with another Modern UI doodad, follow these steps:
- Open Local Group Policy Editor by typing in
gpedit.mscin the Run dialog. - When the Local Group Policy Editor window appears, navigate down the Local Computer Policy tree to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.
- In the right side pane you’ll find the “Do not display the lock screen” setting. Double-click the setting to open its configuration page.
- In the configuration page, select the Enabled radio button, then click OK and close the Local Group Policy Editor.
Again, if you’re on basic Windows 8, follow this Registry instructions:
- Open Registry Editor and navigate to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization.
- In the right-pane, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it
NoLockScreen. - Set its Value Data to
1.
That’s it. Now when you start Windows 8, you’ll immediately see the classic Windows Login screen.