Windows 8 in this regard works much like Windows 7. It is still possible to configure a user account to automatically log on. Here is how.

Start Windows 8 and log into the user account. You are taken to the Metro UI start screen. Enter netplwiz and hit enter. This should open the User Accounts screen on the Desktop.

Here you see a list of all user accounts known on the system.

Locate the “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer” box at the top and uncheck it. Click the Ok button. This triggers a prompt where you need to enter the password for the username.

Just enter your password and the password confirmation in the prompt that opens. Windows “saves” that password for you, so that you do not have to enter it anymore during log on.

A click on OK completes the process. I suggest you restart the computer afterwards to see if the log on is indeed bypassed.

If it is not, you may need to open the User Accounts screen again to verify that the changes have been properly saved.

If you bypass Metro UI automatically, you can open the User Accounts configuration screen with the shortcut Win-R and entering netplwiz in the run box.

Please note that anyone using the computer from that moment on can log on with the user account, as no password is required to do so. This makes it a security issue on multi-user systems. (via)

If, however, security is not an issue with a particular user, than auto login is a simple way to make Ubuntu even more user-friendly than it already is. And fortunately, auto login is simple to set up. In this tutorial you will learn how to set up auto login as well as tweak your log in screen.

The tool

The tool used to configure auto login is found in the Administration menu and is called “Login Window Preferences”. When you go to launch this tool you will be required to enter your sudo password. When the window launches you will see six tabs:

• General: General configuration.
• Local: Login theme, color, welcome message.
• Remote: Remote login.
• Accessibility: Enable more GTK+ modules to be available.
• Security: Auto login, timed login, security.
• Users: Exclude users from login.

Figure 1

The tab used to set up auto login is the Security tab. Click on that to see the settings available (see Figure 1 – Click to enlarge).

To enable auto login you simply have to follow these steps:

1. Click the check box for “Enable Automatic Login”.
2. Select the user who will be automatically logged in from the drop-down list.
3. Set the “pause before logging in time”.
4. Close the window.

It’s that simple. Now of course there is much more that can be done in this tab of the preferences window. So why not take advantage while you have it open?

If you want to be able to log on as the system administrator you can do so here. First you need to check the check box labeled “Allow local system administrator login”. There is one catch. Remember that Ubuntu does not have, by default, a root user password. Because of this, even if you have this feature enabled, the administrator will not be able to log in. In order for this to work you have to give the root user a password. Understand the root user was not given a password in Ubuntu for a reason…simplicity. But if you would prefer to have an administrative user (and bypass having to use sudo) you can give the root user a password by following these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo passwd root.
3. Enter your sudo password.
4. Enter a new password for the root user.
5. Enter the root password again for verification.

Now your local administrator can log in. A word of warning: I don’t recommend loggin in as root. There may be times when it seems necessary, but before you do exhaust other possibilities first. Bad things can happen when you log in as root.

Custom welcome message

When your login screen appears there is a welcome message next to the logo in the greeter. You can personalize this greeting in the Local tab of the preferences window. Click on this tab and look at the bottom of the window where you will see the “Welcome Message’ section. By default the message is simply “Welcome”. To change this click the check box for “Custom” and then enter the greeting you want to use. Once you are done click close.

Final thoughts

Enabling auto login, when used in trusted locations, can be a time saver as well as a way to make your Linux installation more user-friendly. For some users, having to log in to their computer is a real hassel. Help those users out by setting up auto login.