Duplicate user account - but does not exist

I am at a loss to understand why you would need to create a registry entry

I have set in the registry:
Winlogon/default user name - Snodon
default password - password (sic)

as the creation of the account and the necessary registry entries are handled by the installation process or later by the settings - user accounts etc.

As you say install I presume this Acer did not come with Windows 10 installed and simply required setup

If I have misunderstood what you are trying to do - please accept my apologies

Snodon said:

...I have set up auto admin logon as I always do, but it is creating a "ghost" account that I cannot trace.
The reg entries are
Winlogon/AutoAdmin/Logon = 1
DefaultPassword = password (sic)
DefaultUserName = Snodon
It tries to logon but finds this "ghost" account instead of the real one
its that ghost account that I cannot track down.

There is no 'ghost account' to find. This always happens whenever you set up an autologon, but for one reason or another it fails. Then the name of the attempted log on will appear in the list of accounts, alongside the real names.

It's easy to demonstrate this effect. Here I have used netplwiz to set up auto sign in for my account named 'Owner' - but deliberately used the wrong password.




I did that screenshot last month, in response to this thread where the OP had the same issue as you.

Locked Out - Login Screen

Snodon said:

Does anyone have any ideas please

Your symptoms are often reported by people who have an error in the password that has been saved.

It is often fixed by using netplwiz to undo the automatic logon and then redoing it [with the correct password].
- The apparent duplication of user accounts is merely an apparition and will disappear when netplwiz has been set up correctly.
- Incidentally, setting up the automatic logon through netplwiz rather than through the Registry also avoids having the password saved in a readable form.

Sign in User Account Automatically - TenForumsTutorials

Best of luck,
Denis

Snodon said:

Thanks guys but this does not work.

At which step of the tutorial does your experience not match the tutorial's description of events?

Snodon said:

I have W10 Home on this laptop ...

So do I and the tutorial procedure works on mine.

Snodon said:

… and the "users must enter a username" box does not appear.

Do you mean one of the dialogs I illustrated in my sample CredentialUI, ConsentUI diagrams - TenForums
- If so, which one [1, 2 or possibly 3]?
- And which step of the tutorial were you at?

Snodon said:

…All the buttons on the "user accounts" window are greyed out and the advenced tab just says that the .msc function is not available in W10 home.
I have tried setting "autoadminlogon" to "0" restarting, setting it back to "1" and restarting - still get the ghost account.

Which steps of the tutorial are you referring to with these comments?
- I do not know what you mean by "user accounts" window or its advanced tab
- Personally, I think you should undo all your Registry changes and use the netplwiz section of the tutorial.

Denis

Snodon said:

I have W10 Home on this laptop and the "users must enter a username" box does not appear....

That is nothing to do with it being Home, that box is missing when passwordless sign in is enabled. From the tutorial:

If you turned on Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts (aka: passwordless sign-in), you will not see the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer check box.

...and by default it will be enabled in a clean install.

Bree said:

My clean install has the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PasswordLess\Device key and DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion is set to 2 (which means ON according to the tutorial). Setting it to 0 restores the checkbox in Netplwiz.

Sign in User Account Automatically at Windows 10 Startup - post #145

Snodon said:

I do not understand how you can use NETPLWIZ to set up autoadmin login.

NetPlWiz, as explained in the tutorial, allows you to set up any account to be automatically logged in. So there is no need to use direct Registry editing to do the job. [I am concerned that your earlier Registry changes might inhibit the normal operation of NetPlWiz unless you have been able to work through undoing them.]

As also explained in the tutorial, by linking to a detailed procedure, you need to set a specified Registry Value to 0 in order to see the checkbox in NetPlWiz. [I think you have done this]


Sign in User Account Automatically - TenForumsTutorials
Enable or Disable Passwordless Sign-in - TenForumsTutorials

Denis