Disable the Lock screen in Windows 8 forever

In last  post, Make the Windows 8 Start Screen work like the Start Menu, I showed you how to get rid of all the tiles on the Start Screen and populate it with application shortcut icons so that you can essentially use the Start Screen as a replacement for the Start Menu. What I didn’t tell you was that I had initially begun my search for reviving the Start menu in the Local Group Policy Editor. Alas, there is no setting for disabling the Start Screen or enabling the Start menu.

However, I did find a setting that will allow you to do away with another possibly annoying feature designed for touch screen tablets and not necessarily for desktops - the Lock screen.

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The Lock screen, as shown in Figure A, appears when Windows boots up and displays the date as well as notifications. While this screen is useful on a tablet, it just adds one more step to the process of getting to work on a desktop. You have to click the screen, before you can get to the Login screen. While this may not sound like a big deal, many users just want to log in without messing with another Metro doodad. Fortunately, you can disable the Lock screen from the in the Local Group Policy Editor.

Figure A

The Lock screen may be more appropriate on a tablet.

This blog post is also available in the Slideshow format in a TechRepublic Photo Gallery.

Getting to the Local Group Policy Editor

Getting to the Local Group Policy Editor in Windows 8 is pretty easy. Just press [Windows]+R to bring up the run dialog box. Then, type gpedit.msc in the Open text box and click OK. In a moment, the Local Group Policy Editor window will appear on the screen (Figure B), just like it did in Windows 7 and earlier Windows versions.

Figure B

You can launch Local Group Policy Editor in Windows 8 using the Run dialog box.

Using Filters

Now, before I show you how to disable the Lock screen from the in the Local Group Policy Editor, let me take a moment to show you a little trick.

There are quite a few new settings for Windows 8 in the Local Group Policy Editor that you might be interested in learning about, but finding them can be time consuming due to the fact that there are still a lot of settings in Local Group Policy Editor that are designed only for previous versions of the operating system. You can narrow down the number of settings to only those that work in Windows 8 by using Filters. Keep in mind that this filtering feature will include settings that were designed for earlier operating system but still work in Windows 8.

Once Local Group Policy Editor is up and running, pull down the Actions menu and select the Filter Options command. When you see the Filter Options dialog box, select the Enable Requirements Filters check box, and then select the Windows 8 operating systems check box, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

Enabling Requirements Filters will narrow down the number of settings.

Now navigate down the Local Computer Policy tree to the All Settings folder in either the User Configuration branch or the Computer Configuration branch and you see that the number of settings has been filtered down. For example, in Figure D, you can see that Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | All Settings folder is now displaying 1297 out of 1841 settings. In other words, there are 544 settings that do not specifically apply to Windows 8.

Figure D

With the Filter enabled, the All Settings folder is now displaying 1297 out of 1841 settings.

Disabling the lock screen

To disable the lock screen in Windows 8, navigate down the Local Computer Policy tree to the Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Control Panel | Personalization folder and there you’ll find the Do not display the lock screen setting, as shown in Figure E. Notice the Requirements section lists this setting as being for Windows 8 as well as for Windows Server 2012 RC and Windows RT.

Figure E

You’ll find the Do not display the lock screen setting in the Personalization folder.

After you double click the setting you’ll see the configuration page and will need to select the Enabled radio button, as shown in Figure F, then click OK and close the Local Group Policy Editor.

Figure F

Select the Enabled radio button to disable the lock screen.

Now when you start Windows 8, you’ll immediately see the Windows 8 Login screen, like the one shown in Figure G, instead of the Lock screen.

Figure G

Instead of the Lock screen, you’ll now see the Login screen.

Windows 8 Start Screen work like the Start Menu

Like millions of other folks, I downloaded and installed theWindows 8 Release Preview last week and have spent the last couple of days intently running it through the paces, and I must admit I’ve been pretty impressed with the subtle changes and enhancements that Microsoft has made to this release of the operating system. Of course the majority of these enhancements have been to the Metro UI and its live tile apps.

The Metro UI seems to flow better now that there’s a nice array to real Metro style apps to work with. The native apps such as Mail, Calendar, Photos, and Music seem to be much better tools than the similar applets that used to come with the operating system. And then there’s the News, Sports, and Weather apps, which are beautifully designed and extremely easy to use. Furthermore, visiting the Microsoft Store allows you access a host of very cool apps from such places as StumbleUpon, Wikipedia, and USA Today.

While the Metro UI along with all the touch based features are really cool, they all seem to be aimed at tablet toting consumers. What about the more traditional Windows users running the operating system on a desktop/laptop with a keyboard and a mouse and using business applications? How are they going to be productive? Especially when the Start Menu is MIA.

As you my know, after experimenting with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview I wrote a post entitledEasily revive the Classic Start Menu hidden within Windows 8, in which I showed you how create a toolbar on the Taskbar and configure it to mimic the missing Start Menu. I also showed you how to take advantage of the Metro Start Screen via the [Windows]+[Q] shortcut which brings up the Apps Search feature as I described in Navigate Windows 8 like a pro with the Windows Key.

However, while using the Windows 8 Release Preview, I came up with new idea. Since hovering the mouse pointer in the lower left corner of the Screen brings up a Start Screen icon (basically right where the Start button used to be) and clicking it takes you to the Start Screen (which replaced the Start Menu), why not get rid of all the tiles on the Start Screen and populate with application shortcut icons. Doing so will essentially allow you to use the Start Screen as a replacement for the Start Menu.

In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, I’ll show you how to make the Windows 8 Start Screen work like the Start Menu.

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Removing the App tiles

Removing all the app tiles from the Start Screen is very easy. And don’t worry, because even though you remove them from the Start Screen, they are still available on the Apps screen albeit they will no longer be live tiles.

To begin, right click on an App tile that you want to remove. When you do, the Apps bar will appear at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure A, and a check mark will appear on the tile that you have selected. I right clicked on the Messaging app tile here. At this point, just click the Unpin from Start icon on the left.

Figure A

After you select an App tile, click the Unpin from Start icon.

Continue unpinning apps until you have removed them all except Desktop, as shown in Figure B. You’ll want to leave the Desktop tile on the Start screen as it will allow you to return to the desktop should you need to do so. (You’ll notice that I made the Desktop tile smaller by right clicking the tile and selecting Smaller from the Apps bar.)

Figure B

You’ll want to leave the Desktop tile on the Start screen as it will allow you to return to the desktop.

Adding application shortcut icons

Adding application shortcut icons to the Start Screen is easy. To begin, press [Windows]+[Z] to bring up the App bar again and this time click the All apps icon on the right. When you get to the Apps screen, scroll to the right until you see your standard application icons. Now, right click an application icon that you want to put on the Start Screen and when you see the Apps bar, as shown in Figure C, just click the Pin to Start icon on the left. Continue pinning application icons to the Start Screen until you get everything that you want.

Figure C

Clicking the All apps icon will take you to the Apps screen.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to get every single icon - just the ones that you will use most often. Everything will remain on the Apps screen, so no worries. Also, if as you are pinning icons, you lose track of which ones you have pinned, just remember that for any icon that you have already pinned, the icon will read Unpin from Start.

At this point, press the [Windows] key on your keyboard to return to the Start Screen. You can now drag the icons around on the screen to create a logical arrangement. As you do so, you’ll notice that if you drag an icon away from the main grouping that a separator appears on the screen, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

When you drag icons away from the main group, separators will appear.

If you want to create logical groups of icons, just drag those icons to the other side of the separator. You can have as many groups as you want because the separators will continue to appear as you drag icons away from the group. As you can see in Figure E, I have created three groups for my Start Screen.

Figure E

I create three logical groups on my Start Screen.

Now, when you start Windows 8, the first thing that will appear is the Start Screen full of your application icons, so you can just click an icon to launch your application and get right to work, If you are in the Desktop and need another application, just hover you mouse pointer in the lower left corner and the Start icon will appear, as shown in Figure F. Just click it and you’ll see the Start Screen Start Screen full of your application icons. Just click the icon and get right to work.

Figure F

Start icon in the bottom left corner

Windows 8 Advanced Startup Options provide major improvements

When was the last time you had to reinstall your operating system? Some people have noticed fewer rebuilds in Windows 7 then they had to perform with earlier versions of Windows.

It seems that the more recent the operating system, the less you have to reinstall it. The improvements in the OS help to prevent programs, and also users, from adversely affecting the PC’s performance. Still, entropy creeps in and the occasional OS repair is just a part of life for many of us.

This article shines a light on what hopefully is a very rarely used feature of Windows 8 - theAdvanced Startup Options.

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From such humble beginnings

Earlier Windows versions had fewer startup options: There was Safe Mode and VGA mode, and you could enable boot logging or debugging mode. There was also the Last Known Good Configuration.

Safe Mode is still a great idea - load up only the most basic set of hardware drivers. Since so many software problems can be traced back to a faulty or incompatible hardware driver, the ability to turn them all off is still a hugely valuable troubleshooting technique.

Debugging Mode is beyond what most users do to repair their system. It’s great for engineers, but requires too much training to be used by regular PC users.

Using the Last Known Good Configuration was a great idea, too. The concept was simple - if the settings make it all the way to the end of the session, they must have worked. Save them and call them “Last Known Good”. It was a step in the right direction.

By Windows 7, the Advanced Startup was getting really good

The Advanced Boot Options for Vista and Windows 7 was even better. You could change your PC to no longer reboot automatically after a system crash right from the startup options.

And in addition to the original options, you could now run Memory Diagnostics, System Restore, and even automatically repair many common problems from the advanced startup options.

Windows 8 Advanced Startup Options are the best they’ve ever been

It all starts with a start. And when your computer isn’t running right, you’ll really appreciate just how advanced the new advanced startup options are for Windows 8.

Refresh and Reset go beyond System Restore to either a nearly clean slate, or a completely clean slate

Refresh and Reset are the first two options. They are brand new, and they have gotten quite a lot of attention the newest features in the advanced startup menu.

Refresh is a heavy duty cleaning of your computer - but leaves your personal data intact. It also removes programs in the classic desktop mode. However, you keep the Metro programs that you installed from Windows Store.

Personalization settings (desktop background, screen resolution, picture password) are kept. PC Settings (network settings, hardware drivers, windows features) are removed or set to defaults.

Reset is the equivalent of doing a factory reset. It brings your computer back to the way it was when you got it, or at least when it was new. All programs have to be reinstalled, and your personal data is gone, too. You’ll need to backup any data that you’ll want to keep before doing this and Windows 8 gives you very clear warnings about what’s about to happen to your data if you proceed.

In fact, you’re actually given two options when you’re doing a Reset. You can either remove the files, or you can remove the files and “scrub the hard drive”, making it more difficult for somebody to recover the deleted files. If you’re planning on reinstalling programs and continuing to use the computer, choose the fast method. If you’re selling or giving away your computer to charity, then choose to fully clean the drive.

Even more advanced options in Windows 8 Advanced Startup

Besides Refresh and Reset, there are other advanced options available in the Windows 8 Advanced Startup Options.

System Restore puts the PC settings back to the way they were at the last Restore Point

Restore Points are taken by the system before installing security and software updates. So after having your PC in operation for a while, you’ll have plenty of System Restore Points. This puts the settings back to the way they were, but it does not change any of your personal data. Personal data (pictures, documents, music, and videos, for example) are neither backed up nor restored during a system restore.

System Image Recovery is a full restore from a backed-up System Image File

If you want a more customized restore option - one that can restore your operating system as well as installed programs, then a System Image Recovery is the ideal way to go. However, you’ll need an image to be used for the restore. This is usually done by organizations to deploy PC’s with all of their standard software installed. Most home or home office users will choose to do a Refresh or a Reset to handle their reimaging.

Automatic Repair Fixes a lot of problems for you

There are many issues that can keep your computer from starting up correctly - a misconfigured setting, or a hard drive that has a file error on it. This startup option scans for hundreds of files and settings, and if it finds a problem with one of them, it takes corrective action. No further input required. This is a big improvement over restoring the Last Known Good Configuration, and it’s much more helpful.

Command Prompt when you just need to have a little access

Sometimes all you need to do to fix a problem is to get to the command line. From there, you can run commands like NBTSTAT and IPCONFIG to help troubleshoot and repair the system.

Startup Settings includes all of the original Advanced Repair Options like Safe Mode

Engineers still need debugging mode, and sometimes reimaging, refreshing, or resetting is not the right fix. Safe Mode, Debugging Mode and Low Resolution Mode are still available from the “Startup Settings” section of the Advanced Startup Options menu.

Bottom line

While they usually go unnoticed, the advanced startup options are always available to you. And though we can forget that they’re there until we need them, when we do need them they become very important.

The Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 keeps all of the old favorites like Safe Mode and Debugging Mode, and adds in several new features that give some great options for fixing your PC yourself without having to take it in for costly repairs at a service center or calling the corporate help desk.

Windows 8 Shutdown, Lock, Restart

With Windows 8, Microsoft is standardizing a lot of common tasks through new system-level features such as charms, contracts, and settings. But this standardization is causing some users fits, so I’m writing up a series of tips aimed at helping you overcome some common gotcha’s. In this tip, I look at a common source of confusion in Windows 8: How you shut down, restart, or sleep the PC.

It used to be so simple. In Windows 7 and all previous Windows versions dating back to 1995, you would initiate various power management actions via the Start Menu. In Windows 8, however, that interface has been replaced by a new full-screen Start experience, called the Start screen. And those Start Menu-based power management options are no longer available there. So what’s a poor Windows user to do?

Learn how it works in Windows 8, of course.

As it turns out, there are a couple of different interfaces.

The easiest, perhaps, is to simply use the tried and true CTRL + ALT + DEL keyboard shortcut. This will work from anywhere in Windows 8, including the Start screen, any Metro-style app, or the desktop. When you do this, a full-screen experience appears, with Lock, Switch User, Sign Out, and Task Manager options. But if you click that Power icon in the bottom right, you’ll see a menu with power management options: Sleep, Shut down, and Restart.

Naturally, there’s a Metro-style experience for these power management options as well. If you’ve been following along with this series of tips, you know that has centralized many commonly-needed system-level options in the new Settings experience, which you can view from anywhere in Windows 8 by tapping WINKEY + I or by accessing the Charms bar and selecting Settings. When you do, the Settings pane appears.

While the top part of the Settings pane is experience-specific—i.e. related to whatever you’re currently viewing—the lower part is consistent across the system and includes system-level options. One of these is Power. And when you tap the Power icon, you’ll see the same power management options you got in the full screen experience.

Finally, you can also use the hardware power button(s) on your PC or device to perform certain power management tasks. These capabilities will differ according to your hardware, and can involve dedicated Power and Sleep buttons (the latter usually only on clamshell-style portable computers) as well as what happens when you close the lid on a portable computer. You can determine what your hardware power button(s) do when pressed in the Power Options control panel. (Use Start Search to find it quickly.)

Some people, of course, are never happy. They want things to be the way they were, or least much as they were. And for those who are unhappy with how Windows 8 works, I recommend reading my previous article, Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Lock, Sign Off, Shut Down, Restart And Sleep, for information about adding more accessible power management (and lock and sign out) options to Windows 8. Check out the section “Making these options more accessible in Windows 8,” at the end of the article in particular.