Create A Hidden User Account In Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7

Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP allow the users to create multiple user accounts on their computer. When multiple accounts are created, Windows offers a welcome screen that displays all available user accounts with log in option. But you can hide your account from being displayed in the welcome screen, somehow it will strengthen your security. Here are some simple steps that will help you to hide your user account or create an hidden user account  in Windows.

Create a Hidden User Account in Windows

1. Create a user account ( Start >> Control Panel >> User Accounts)
2. Click Start >> Click on Run >> Type regedit and press Enter



3. Navigate to the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList



(If SpecialAccounts and UserList is not found, create the new sub-key and name them accordingly.)

4. Highlight UserList, and right click in the right hand pane of the registry editor
5. Point to New >> DWORD and name it the exact same name as the account you want hidden



6. Double click on DWORD registry value, and set the value to 0 (zero) in oder to hide the account from Welcome Screen
7. Close regedit
8. Log off or restart computer to make the change effective.

Now, the account will not be displayed in Welcome screen, but you can find it in  C:\Documents and Settings or in Local Users and Groups. To display the user account again on the Welcome screen, you can delete the registry entry, or set the value to 1.