On my primary computer (whose harddrive is encrypted) I always have Windows auto logging in to help with the bootup time. However, my bootup time can be rather slow; and if I needed to have my computer booted but locked, I had to wait for the login to complete so I could lock the computer. This has been becoming a nuisance lately when I need to get out of my house quickly in the morning.
For the solution I created a windows boot entry that auto locks the computer after logging the user in. This also requires a batch file, to run for the user on startup, to detect when this boot entry was selected. Here are the steps to create this setup:
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Create the new boot entry:
In the windows command line, run: bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Lock on Startup"
This creates a new boot option, duplicated from your currently selected boot option, in the boot menu labeled “Lock on Startup”.
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(Optional) Change the bootup timeout:
In the windows command line, run: bcdedit /timeout 5
Where 5 is a 5 second timeout.
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Create a batch file to run on login:
In your start menu’s startup folder, add a batch file. You can name it anything as long as the extension is “.bat”.
Add the following to the file: bcdedit /enum {current} | findstr /r /c:"description *Lock on Startup" && rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Note that there are 2 spaces in the description search string to replicate the regular expression's 1 or more quantifier “+”, since findstr only supports the 0 or more quantifier “*”.
