New Autologon Feature

[tghowe]

Upgraded to the new SmartDeploy 2.0.3005.  Anyone know what the "count" setting is for under the new Autologon after deployment option?  I didn't see any reference to it in the User Guide.

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hello,

This should refer to the number of times logging on that you wish it to occur automatically. If you just need a single autologon, then you would set this value to 1. Apologies for the documentation issue - we had to release this build on a faster than normal schedule in response to some issues with Windows 10 Version 1803. The User's Guide will be updated in due course to reflect all of the new features.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

[tghowe]

Thanks... I now understand! 

[tghowe]

After setting the count to "1", it will autologon into the specified user account.  When I reboot the machine again, it automatically logs on once more for a total of two autologons.  It doesn't do it a third time.

I also cannot set it to zero, nor can I simply remove the inserted credentials without causing a pop-up "you must provide all autologon settings."

 

I was hoping to combine this feature with a TASK which would reboot the machine upon first logon, using "shutdown /r".

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hello,

Unfortunately, this is a Microsoft bug - there's not really a workaround we can implement here. SmartDeploy is making use of the AutoLogon feature in Windows, and the known bug is that whatever AutoLogon count you specify in the registry key will be increased by 1.

See here for details:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/unattend/microsoft-windows-shell-setup-autologon-logoncount#logoncount-known-issue

SmartDeploy is passing through whatever AutoLogon integer that you specify, and knowing this, if you wanted to automatically log into Windows some number of times greater than 1, you could simply decrement that number by 1, and it would achieve your desired number. But unfortunately, it's not possible to specify 0 - Windows simply will not accept it. So if your desired outcome is just 1 AutoLogon, that is not currently possible.

As for the Task, I don't see why that wouldn't work... The command is executed using the current user context. But FirstLogon tasks are only executed on the very first logon, so any subsequent ones would not reboot as a means of escaping/consuming the extraneous AutoLogon (which - if I understand you correctly - is your objective with that Task?).

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

 

[tghowe]

Thanks for that great explanation.  My hope was to have the machine autologon using a domain account, then automatically reboot so the GPO settings/software can install and be ready for the end-user without any more interaction from me.  Currently after imaging, I log on and hit restart the old fashioned way.  Deploying to a single computer is no issue, but an entire lab of 30+ computers takes a little longer.

Thanx for your help!