Hi, I wasn't sure where to post this question, so moderators, please move it to a more appropriate forum is required! Ok, I am responsible for setting up a number (over 200) servers in a Hyper-V environment for use by students in class. I do this with some powershell scripts. The process is that a script runs on the VM Manager and performs all of the checkpointing and forces the VMs to perform various actions andinstall various software as the build progresses. In order to do this, I copy a script to the VM, place a link in the startup group, set it to Auto-Admin logon and reboot it. This all works (fairly well) however all the rebooting takes quite a while. What I want to know is if there is a single service I can remorely restart that will cause the auto logon to happen without a reboot? All my checkpoints are with the machines stopped, so currently, as the build progresses, the "base" checkpoint is restored, the machine boots, the registry is modified and files / links copied / created as described above. The machine reboots. The install script runs on the machine (which often involves reboots!) and finally I shut the machine down and take the next checkpoint. I'd just like to avoid a reboot who'se only purpose is to force the auto-logon to happen! Currently, the reboots take up to 5 minutes and there are between 5 and 10 of them per student, so this couls save me between half and one hour per machine. I have found that building multple machines simultaneously is less than reliable, so tyhe overall time saving on my deployment could be huge!! TIA for any advice.

See if following article helps... How to Enable Autologon in Windows Server 2008 Workgroup Servers and Windows 7 Computers http://www.expta.com/2008/03/how-to-enable-autologon-in-windows.html~Santosh

Also, How to auto login to windows account? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6268214/how-to-auto-login-to-windows-account~Santosh

Thanks for the reply, however I think you have missed the actual question. I can enable Autologon and so on fine, my problem is I want to force it to happen without a reboot. I am assuming that one of the services that start at boot time actually reads this part of the registry and causes the logon to happen. If I can simply restart that service, then I don't have to go through the pain (time) of a complete reboot. Thanks again!

I am not sure about the service which facilitates auto logon however, you may try Autologon for Windows v3.01 from sysinternals. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963905.aspx~Santosh

Thanks again. Sadly, as far as I can tell, that is simply another utility that configures Autologon. This I am able to do (bearing in mind, it is being done from a remote machine as well....) I know Windows is rather heavy on reboot requirtements, but I had hoped to avoid one on this occasion....

By creating GPO in Windows 7 Clients Using Group Policy autologin can be implemented By creating registry keys within a Group Policy Object (GPO), it is possible to force a specific client, or a range of clients (if using the same logon credentials), to auto-logon. · Open the Group Policy Management Console · Create a new group policy and name it AutoLogon_wwid_v1 where wwid is the user account name that will be used to automatically log on. · Right-click the group policy and click Edit · In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to: Ø Computer Configuration Ø Preferences Ø Windows Settings Ø Registry · Right-click Registry and select New, Registry Item · In the New Registry Properties dialog box, add the following Value Data: Key Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Value name: AutoAdminLogon Value Data: 1 · Click OK to create the registry item. · There are four registry items to create in total. Follow the above procedure to create the remaining three, using the details below. If any of the Value names do not exist, they must be created: Key Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Value name: DefaultDomainName Value Data: technet.ms.com Key Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Value name: DefaultUserName Value Data: USERNAME - substitute with required wwid Key Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Value name: DefaultPassword Value Data: PASSWORD - substitute with required password Kalvinder Singh

Thanks again, and I don't wish to appear ungrateful, but I have set Autologon up!!! If I reboot the machine, it autologson fine. It works. What I want to be able to do to is, having modified the registry remotely, instead of rebooting the machine remotely (which takes ages) I want to simply restart the appropriate service remotely. The question is, which service???

Thanks again. Sadly, as far as I can tell, that is simply another utility that configures Autologon. This I am able to do (bearing in mind, it is being done from a remote machine as well....) I know Windows is rather heavy on reboot requirtements, but I had hoped to avoid one on this occasion.... You may need to create a custom service depending on your specific requirement. Here are some of the KB articles which you can refer for creating a service. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137890 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9k985bc9(v=vs.80).aspx~Santosh

Oh well. :-( I had hoped I could simply re-start a single (existing) service to get this to work, but it looks like that isn't the case. Thanks anyway to everyone who has looked at this. Looks like I'll have to keep rebooting.

Oh well. :-( I had hoped I could simply re-start a single (existing) service to get this to work, but it looks like that isn't the case. Thanks anyway to everyone who has looked at this. Looks like I'll have to keep rebooting. Have you had any luck with this? I need to do the same thing. Or a script that can be ran to logon without a reboot. jjolley@tulsalibrary.org