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How To: Make an Invisible User Account in Vista
Invisible Users
Okay so your sharing your computer with your parents or using the family computer and your sick of them going through your stuff, you could make a new account and password protect it but then that will make your parents suspicious your hiding something so what do you do? You make a an invisible user account of course, but wait… Is it really worth it? It’s virtually like having your own pc cause they wont be able to see any of that users documents or folders (including temporary, history ect..) and best of all THE USER WON’T APPEAR IN THE PARENTAL CONTROLS LIST OF ACCOUNTS.
1) Click on theStart Menu.
2) Where it says “Start Search” enter regedit and hit Enter.
3) A pop up will come up (UAC), just click Continue.
4) Once in regedit go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsNTCurrentVersionWinlogon
5) In the left panel, right click on Winlogon and click New and click Key.
6) Type SpecialAccounts and press Enter.Below is how you should be doing so far.
7) In the left panel, right click on SpecialAccounts and click New and click Key.
8) Type UserList and press Enter.
9) In right panel of UserList, right click on a empty area and click New then click DWORD (32bit) Value.
10) Type in the name of the user account that you want to hide and press Enter.eg: Everyday Account. Below is how you should be doing so far:
11) In the right panel, right click on the user account name and click Modify.
12) To hide the user account – Type 0 and click OK. (number zero not the letter)
Whenever you want to use the account just unhide the it by typing 1 instead of zero.
13) Close regedit and your done, enjoy your secret account =).
Also Read:
- How To: Change The Log On Screen Saver In Vista
- How To: Select Default Vista Log On Account
- How To: Hide Folders And Files In Windows
- How To: Remove The Boot Error Beep Sounds
- How To: Use Windows Mail With Yahoo
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Tags: bypass-parental-control, hide-user-account-from-parents, how-to-hide-windows-vista-user-account, invisible-user-account, make-a-secret-user-account Discussion
45 comments for “How To: Make an Invisible User Account in Vista”
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I was just wondering if you know how or if it was possible to make an invisible user account for windows XP
thanks
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how the fuck do you login?
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How do you login into the account :wink: ?
Ive set up everything you asked, just dont know how to log in!
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Oh nevermind i get it now :shock: , but what i was looking for is something that you can have an invisible account that you can login into at the welcome screen, because i want to use my sisters laptop without her knowing lol, her account is passworded so i cant change it to (1) when i want to use it!
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to login press CTRL+ALT+DELETE at the same time before you login to any other account. you will be promoted to enter the user account name and password .
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YOU ROCK!!! i made hidden account i just dont know how to log in, i tried the CTRL+ATL+DELETE thing but it isnt working!
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CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn’t works on Vista…. so u cant log on at the welcome screen
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Try press CTRL+ALT+DEL, but press DEL 2 X, not 1.
Works for me.
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uhmm well that didn’t really work for me….maybe my Vista is retarted but yea….i tried to do that and then when I clicked the CTRL+ALT+DEL buttons it didn’t work…am I supposed to click them like i would to get the task manager up or am i supposed to click them ALL at the SAME TIME?
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quote-I was just wondering if you know how or if it was possible to make an invisible user account for windows XP
thanks-
download tweak ui here
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakui.htm
when u open it click logon and uncheck where it says show account on welcome screen under the account u want hiddin
when logged out press ctrl+alt+del twice fast to get a clasic logon prompt then enter youe username and password to get in this only works on xp
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To make it work, you should create your account first via User Accounts. Then edit the registry which then hides or shows the user account in the login/welcome screen.
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Don’t listen to this guy!! Unless you configure some other options beforehand, this tweak will not only hide the account you want to hide but also DISABLE ANY LOGIN ON THE OTHER ACCOUNTS, essentially bricking your OS and forcing a reinstall! MAKE SURE YOU ENABLE THE ALTERNATE NT-STYLE LOGON SCREEN BEFORE DOING THIS!
Sincerely,
The Guy who just got SCREWED BY BAD ADVICE
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You log in by pressing ctrl alt delete twice.
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So if you download Itunes onto the secret account, It wont show up at all on the regular/admin account?
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Yea, I think windows home premium has issues with the alt control delete trick to logining in, anyone have an alternative, for the xp hidden account its the same process but only different in the way that the files that you need to create for vista, is already there. Are there alternative ways of logining in?
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Go to Windows Registry and edit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
dontdisplaylastusername = 1
Make sure you know your user names because it will show you two input boxes under the Vista Logon Screen instead of User Icons (user and pass edit boxes, like in old NT style)!
It works perfectly! Good luck guys!
Thanks
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Is there a better way to do this in Vista (possibly a program?), where you can access the hidden account from the welcome screen without changing the registry back and forth to use it?
Thanks
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I upgraded my system to Vista Ultimate from XP Pro where I had a hidden account, (double hit on ctrl-alt-del got me the login box)
I have the same issues as everyone else, I can’t seem to login to this new hidden account as I used to be able to do when I used XP.
Has anyone resolved this?
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Same… Its invisible, but I really need to log on to it somehow.. any combination ctrl+alt+del is not working… :\
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Use regedit, export the key to someplace accessable to all accounts (shared directory)
Use notepad to edit
“name”=dword:00000000 (off)
“name”=dword:00000001 (on)
Login useing normal account.
Doubleclick to import the key.
Login to your special account.
don’t forget to turn it off
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i created my hidden account and culdnt acces it. how?
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Matthew Michaels Reply:
December 11th, 2008 at 7:22 am
recheck step by step and make sure you haven’t missed anything…if you did everything correctly try what MadMike13 suggest above in the comments.
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ok it worked but im a little worried about what tia said above about not being able to access the other accounts because of this tweek. i have not tryed to login yet but the computer im using >>it is very important that no one knows about it or its my ass if some one could e-mail me with some good news that would be awsome…
thanx
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Matthew Michaels Reply:
January 9th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Follow the intructions madmike13 posted if you encounter that problem :)
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OK. The account is hidden. But pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice doesnt give the login dialog. this is really annoying.
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Don’t listen to the trick above. None of the shits is working.
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Ignore this, waste of time, I created the account on Vista Home Premium, hid the account on login, couldnt log in unless activated it via registry…not only that if you have another admin account, you can go straight to users in explorer and browse the files, HOW THE FUCK IS THAT SECRET/PRIVATE???? you talk shit and this site should be shut down for your incompetence!!!
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it says i cant create a new key because i dont have requisite permission. what do i do
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Man that was just awesome, it was right what i needed, i used your information to create an account with password to access from other computers and that account is just invisible for the other users
Thanks a lot man.
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How can we unhide it on vista? and when do we press 0 (number)
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That’s cool but is it possible to hide it from the admin user panel?
Thanks
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You fuking hell bitch
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well, i was able to hide it, but now i am totally unable to access it. if I type 1 instead of zero, i get an error message and am unable to change it. i would really like to have my account back, so please help….
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this is all bull shit crap tryed the whole lot nothing works. if u hav admin password to use regedit wats the point in a hidden acount if u hav 2 turn it on from there
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I wanna do this on my Windows 7 o.s. How can I do? thanks
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There’s an even easier way than messing about with registry settings and tweaking, to make an invisible user just add the username with a dollar $ sign after it anything with a $ is hidden for example: ghost$, this user will not show up on the logon page and will not affect ctrl+alt+del, it’s the same with network shares the default C$ is enabled but this is a default and should be changed to something like root$, anyway try it create a user with the $ sign immedietly afterwards, you can use the net user command to check that it’s hidden.
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I have got Windows 7 Home Premium, I have done this with the regedit method, it work, infact in the logon screen the account is invisible but can you tell me how to show it to logon?HELP PLEASE thanks
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Where can I find a download of regedit?
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errrghh. There needs to be a disclaimer at the beginning of the article that Vista by default won’t let you logon as any user not on the welcome screen by default. Most people trying this aren’t going to have the classic login enabled, and/or be on a Domain (especially with Vista HOME)…
To “unf*ck” yourself after the fact after you realize you’ve blocked yourself out: jam on F8 before vista starts to load to get to the “Advanced Boot Options” menu. Choose “Repair Your Computer”
When the “System Recovery Options” window shows up, login as an account with admin rights (likely your hidden account).
Choose “Command Prompt”
Type “regedit”. In regedit select and make sure HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is highlighted else the next step will be grey.
Select File, then Load Hive
Be sure you’re Browsing your boot drive (likely C:)
c:\windows\system32\config\
choose software
In the Load Hive for Key Name… give it any name you want (well, DON’T just type in system) just that you know what it is.
Now basically HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\xxx (whatever name you gave) is your boot registry. Would be a good idea to now remove the keys you added for SpecialAccounts unless you enjoy doing this.
When you’re done, you click xxx or whatever you named it, and select unload hive. Though I’m pretty sure regedit saves changes instantly, so you can just close regedit.
Good Luck
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The account is not real invisble unless the user account folder under “documents and settings” is also insivible for others users, but is nt the case with this method. The folder appears to all users.
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sup wat is ur fb page?
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how do i log in to it
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yo someone help me please!!! Someone who actually knows their shit!!!! I ain no computer genious… but Even I know that alt crlt dele does NOT work for vista you dumbasses!
and shit!!! it says fucking VISTA NOT XP you retards
now for people with real intelligence… How do I create a hidden account, that is actually HIDDEN and can actually be accessed through the welcome page without that idiots brilliant idea of signing into admin, then back out, then bac in to make it hidden and shit….
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HELP PLEASE!! I hid my only admin account and now i am virtually locked out. How do i enable a login option that asks for the username and password like a mac??
thanks
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