{"id":19346,"date":"2020-10-18T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T02:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=19346"},"modified":"2025-02-25T08:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:08:36","slug":"duplicate-users-windows-login-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/duplicate-users-windows-login-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] Duplicate User Accounts in the Windows 10 or 11 Login Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you start your Windows 10 or 11 computer, the error &#8220;The user name or password is incorrect&#8221; appears. Also, duplicate user accounts may appear on the login screen.<\/p>\n<pre class=\"err\">The user name or password is incorrect. Try again.<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19347\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-4.jpg\" alt=\"two user accounts (duplicate) appear at lock screen\" width=\"700\" height=\"354\" \/><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAfter you click the OK button, you&#8217;re prompted to enter the correct password. Also, you&#8217;ll notice that a duplicate user account of the same name appears in the lower-left corner.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19348\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-3.jpg\" alt=\"two user accounts (duplicate) appear at lock screen\" width=\"700\" height=\"461\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-sign-screen-appears-twice-fall-creators-update\/\">Sign-in Screen Appears Twice in Windows 10<\/a><\/div>\n<h2>Cause<\/h2>\n<p>This issue is seen in computers that have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-automatically-login-to-windows-and-then-lock-the-workstation\/\">automatic login enabled<\/a>. On the computers where auto-login credentials are stored, the error <code>The user name or password is incorrect. Try again<\/code>\u00a0and the duplicate user account may appear on the login screen due to one of the following reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You have changed the computer name recently. (or)<\/li>\n<li>You have changed the user account password recently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you enable automatic login by saving your credentials (via <code>netplwiz.exe<\/code>), Windows stores the user name, password, and the computer (domain) name in the <code>Winlogon<\/code> registry key below:<\/p>\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon<\/pre>\n<div class=\"qt\">For instance, after changing the computer name from <code>DESKTOP-JKJ4G5Q<\/code> TO <code>OPTIPLEX-9020<\/code>, the <code>DefaultDomainName<\/code> (which represents the local computer name for standalone computers) registry value under the <code>Winlogon<\/code> registry key still refers to the old computer name.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19350\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-1.png\" alt=\"two user accounts (duplicate) appear at lock screen\" width=\"701\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Likewise, the user account password for automatic login is stored under the following registry key which is highly protected and encrypted:<\/p>\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SECURITY\\Policy\\Secrets\\DefaultPassword<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>So, if you&#8217;ve changed the account password or the computer name after configuring automatic login, the system fails to auto-login to your account and shows a duplicate user account icon.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>SIMILAR:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/username-password-incorrect-every-restart-windows-10\/\">[Windows 10] &#8220;The Username or Password is Incorrect&#8221; Error at Every Restart<\/a><\/div>\n<h2>Resolution<\/h2>\n<p>To prevent the duplicate user account and the error &#8220;The user name or password is incorrect&#8221; at startup, clear the automatic login credentials and then reconfigure it.<\/p>\n<h3>Option 1: Using Netplwiz<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Right-click Start, and click Run.<\/li>\n<li>Type <code>netplwiz.exe<\/code> or <code>control userpasswords2<\/code> and click OK. This opens the User Accounts dialog.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-2.png\" alt=\"two user accounts (duplicate) appear at lock screen\" width=\"463\" height=\"510\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Enable the <strong>User must enter a user name and password to use this computer<\/strong> checkbox.\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/users-must-enter-user-name-and-password-missing\/\">&#8220;Users must enter a user name and password&#8221; option missing<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click Apply.<\/li>\n<li>Uncheck the <strong>User must enter a user name and password to use this computer<\/strong> checkbox.<\/li>\n<li>Click Apply.<\/li>\n<li>Now, type in the username and password to save the credentials for automatic login.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong> To clear the automatic login stored credentials using command-line, run the command <code>\"<strong>rundll32 netplwiz.dll, ClearAutoLogon<\/strong>\"<\/code> from admin Command Prompt. And then reopen netplwiz.exe and re-configure automatic login.\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>Option 2: Using Autologon from Microsoft Sysinternals<\/h3>\n<p>You can also use Windows Sysinternals <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/sysinternals\/downloads\/autologon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Autologon<\/a> tool to reconfigure the automatic login credentials.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-6.png\" alt=\"sysinternals autologon configure\" width=\"305\" height=\"154\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The current user name and the domain (computer name) is filled up automatically. Type in the password, and click on the <strong>Enable<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19381\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-7.png\" alt=\"sysinternals autologon configure\" width=\"320\" height=\"154\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Restart Windows to check if the issue is resolved now.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/auto-login-user-account-windows-11\/\">How to Automatically Login to your Account in Windows 11 and Earlier<\/a><\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>Option 3: Using the Registry Editor<\/h3>\n<p>If you recently changed the computer name (and not the account password), you can fix this duplicate user accounts issue using the Registry Editor.<\/p>\n<p>In the Registry Editor, go to the following branch:<\/p>\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19379\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/duplicate-user-accounts-5.png\" alt=\"two user accounts (duplicate) appear at lock screen\" width=\"700\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Change the <code>DefaultDomainName<\/code> registry value, mentioning the new computer name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you start your Windows 10 or 11 computer, the error &#8220;The user name or password is incorrect&#8221; appears. Also, duplicate user accounts may appear on the login screen. The user name or password is incorrect. Try again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[191],"class_list":["post-19346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-error-messages"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5719,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/username-password-incorrect-every-restart-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":0},"title":"[Windows 10] &#8220;The Username or Password is Incorrect&#8221; Error at Every Restart","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing a Feature Update like Fall Creators Update, you may face yet another weird issue. Whenever the computer is restarted, the first screen that may show up even before the login screen is: \"The username or password is incorrect. Try again.\" Note that the above screen shows up even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"username or password is incorrect windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24393,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/auto-login-user-account-windows-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":1},"title":"How to Automatically Login to your Account in Windows 11 and Earlier","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Every version of Windows, from Windows 2000 to Windows 11, allows you to automatically log in to your user account without typing the password. This is possible by securely storing the user account credentials using the Netplwiz.exe utility. However, on Windows 10 and Windows 11, some more steps are necessary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"automatic login sysinternals autologon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/w11-auto-login-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8079,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/0x80090016-pin-sign-does-not-work-change-pin-error-ngc\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":2},"title":"[Fix] PIN Sign-in not Working and Error 0x80090016 Setting PIN in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When creating or changing the PIN for a user account on a Windows 10 computer, error 0x80090016 may appear. Here are the full symptoms: If there is already a PIN configured, you may be able to sign-in using the PIN. When signing in using the PIN, error \"The PIN is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"0x80090016 changing new pin sign-in error","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/set-pin-error-0x80090016.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/set-pin-error-0x80090016.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/set-pin-error-0x80090016.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/set-pin-error-0x80090016.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5653,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-sign-screen-appears-twice-fall-creators-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":3},"title":"[Windows 10] Sign-in Screen Appears Twice in Fall Creators Update","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since installing the Feature Update to Windows 10 version 1709 (aka Fall Creators Update), when you start the computer and log in (using a PIN, or password), the login screen may reappear, and you may need to log in again. Some users stated that this behavior occurred even when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-sign-in-automatic-updates.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1029,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/create-password-reset-disk-forgotten-password-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":4},"title":"How to Create and Use a Password Reset Disk in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"You can create a password reset disk so that you can regain access to the system quickly in the event of a forgotten local account password, without having to use third-party boot environment CDs. It's suggested that you create a password reset disk after creating the user account and assigning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"password reset disk wizard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/pwd-reset-disk-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18534,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/users-must-enter-user-name-and-password-missing\/","url_meta":{"origin":19346,"position":5},"title":"&#8220;Users must enter a user name and password&#8221; option missing","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open the User Accounts dialog by running control userpasswords2 or netplwiz.exe to configure automatic login to your user account, the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option may be missing in that dialog. As a result, you're unable to configure auto-login to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"userpasswords2 password checkbox missing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}