No user list on logon screen windows 10 home

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I have 4 users on windows 10 and the default one appears in the centre of the screen and able to login but the list of users that normally appears bottom left of the screen isnt visible. If you go into view other users on the machine its also blank even though users are present on the system. I have tried a few registry solutions I have found on the web and its the same result. Has anyone seen anything similar?
 
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Has anyone seen anything similar?
Only once and it took going into Settings, Accounts and adding each one, one at a time and reboot after each. The reboot may not have been necessary but didn't hurt. And it may screw up the C:\Users list in File Explorer.
 

Regedit32

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A couple of quick questions:
  • You mentioned you tried some Registry solutions. The account you were signed in with when you did this - does this account have administrative privileges?
  • Did you discover the presence of the following hive in your Registry:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

  • Are you using Home, Professional, or Enterprise edition of Windows 10?
 
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Yes the account does have admin privileges I havent looked at the presence of the hive? could you give more details. I am using windows 10 home
 

Regedit32

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What I was attempting to discover, was whether or not you had been editing your Registry, either manually, or by using a Microsoft or Third Party tool.

Why I wanted to know whether your User Account had administrative privileges, was because some edits done in the Registry require this.

Why I wanted to know whether the key above was present was because it is not Native to the Windows Registry, but rather needs to be added - and when added, any User account listed as one of its data values [ provided those User accounts are Local ] will not appear on the Login screen ].

If you can do the following to confirm the presence of this Key that would help:
  1. Right-click on Start and select Windows PowerShell (Admin)
  2. When prompted by the User Account Control click yes
  3. Now type or copy & paste the following entries, pressing Enter key after each one

    Code:
    $HKLM = 2147483650

    Code:
    $key = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"

    Code:
    $reg = [wmiclass]'\\.\root\default:StdRegprov'

    Code:
    $subkeys = $reg.EnumKey($HKLM, $key)

    Code:
    $subkeys.snames

    Sample image

    Sample.png

You can see from above sample, after enter the five instructions into PowerShell (Admin) you are presented with a list of Subkeys to the Registry Hive referenced in the second instruction. So as per the example image above, do you see on your computer a reference to the subkey named SpecialAccounts.
 

Regedit32

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Assuming this is a single computer, so your other users are not part of a Domain, you can try the following command to resolve your issue.

Note: I would not normally resort to this command, but given you are using a Home edition of Windows you will not be able to make use of the Local Users and Group window that is present on Home editions but is limited in use. Full access to this is available in the Professional, Enterprise and [some] Education editions of Windows 10.

First, I want you to create a restore point as a precaution:
  • In the Cortana search box type create a restore point then press Enter key
  • The System Properties window should appear, with the System Protection tab in view. Here click the Create button
  • Another window will open. Type a name for your restore point, then click Create

After that is done, return to your Desktop, and close any open applications [ saving any data you need to ], then do the following:
  1. Type Command Prompt into the Cortana search box
  2. When the list of items found appears, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator
  3. When the User Account Control prompt appears, click yes
  4. Now at the command prompt type or copy & paste the following command:

    Code:
    secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

  5. Press Enter key to execute this command

    Sample image

    Sample.png


  6. Type exit and press Enter key
  7. Shutdown your computer, then restart

If luck is on your side, you will hopefully see those User names appear on your logon screen.

Note: The first time you restart your computer after using the above command, will be a lot slower. This is Normal, as Windows is performing the task you just requested by entering that command above!

Regards,

Regedit32
 

Regedit32

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Hmm,

Your issue is proving to be a bit of a mystery.

Can you tell us, are the other three Users local accounts?
 
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Yes - the only thing thats slightly different is that the first account added to the machine is a microsoft account where as the new ones added are all local. I think I will end up at a system reset but I was trying to avoid it.
 

Regedit32

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That is fine.

One last idea then that might resolve your issue - given the other three Users are Local User accounts, is to add the Registry subkeys I got you to look for earlier.

Can you please post me the exact spelling of the three Usernames you cannot currently see on login page. Make sure you type them exactly as you have them on your System, i.e. they are case sensitive, so for example if one was John, then john is not the same as John.

If you type netplwiz in the Cortana Search box and press enter a User Accounts window ought to open and display them all.

Once I have the usernames you cannot current see on login screen, I'll post you some commands to type to get them entered into your Registry
 
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Thanks - there is only two users I would need. The first I wont post here as its an email address (microsoft account) and hence dont want to post the full address but I can substitute so lets say (e-mail address removed) and the other user is a local account Jane (cap J)
 

Regedit32

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Hmm odd username but anyway:
  1. In Cortana Search Box type command prompt
  2. In search results, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator
  3. When the User Account Control prompts you, click yes
  4. In the Administrator: Command Prompt console type or copy & paste the following commands, pressing Enter key after each command:

    Code:
    reg add "HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts" /f

    Code:
    reg add "HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList" /f

    Code:
    reg add "HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList" /v "Jane" /t "REG_DWORD" /d 1 /f

    Code:
    reg add "HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList" /v "[email protected]" /t "REG_DWORD" /d 1 /f

    Sample image

    Sample.png


  5. Now type exit and press Enter key to close the command prompt console.

At this point you ought to be able to left-click on Start, then right-click on the Account icon and select Sign-out to see on the logon screen the Local User Accounts you have added to your Registry. Having said that, it would not do any harm to shutdown and reboot computer to be absolutely certain alterations to your Windows Registry are picked up by the OS.

Note: This Registry alteration is designed only for User accounts that are Local User Accounts. Those accounts that are already signing in using a Microsoft Account, should be available without adding them to the Registry as above.

Additional Note: In case its not obvious, the Users you add to the Registry using this method, must be already added to the Local User Account. i.e. The User accounts need to actually exist. This method does not magically make them exist in other words :)

You were wise not to post a real email address in our Forum. Had you done so, I would have deleted it from your post to protect your privacy, but its far easier when people think before they post, as you did :)

Good luck! If this does not work for you, then the only other thing I can suggest would be to open netplwiz and remove the accounts that are currently not showing up on your login screen, then after a restart of the computer, opening netplwiz again and adding them again.

Regards,

Regedit32

ps: In case you are wondering. After posting this, I removed those subkeys and User values from my registry. I added them, only to allow me to post you a Sample image.
 
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This is a strange one. That hasnt worked and the other weird thing is if you run netplwiz (even as an admin) and you click the add button, no dialog pops up to add another user. You can get to the properties of the existing ones but not add a new one. Its as if the whole user subsystem is messed up.
 

Regedit32

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That is a shame.

I think it'd be safe to say that now is the time to consider doing a clean install of your Windows 10 OS, or attempt using the Repair option.

Before you do that though, it probably would be good to reverse the Registry edits:
  • Type command prompt in the Cortana search box
  • In the search results, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator
  • When the User Account Control prompts you, click yes
  • At the command prompt type or copy & paste the following command:

    Code:
    reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts" /f

    Press enter key to execute

  • Type exit and press enter key to close the command prompt

I'm sorry we could not get a satisfactory result for your issue. However, given your latest information regarding netplwiz it seems to me there is a bigger issue going on with your current installation, that would be best resolved by a clean install.

Regards,

Regedit32
 

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