Windows Commissioning

Launch Some Application or Document on Startup

Windows+R, then type “shell:startup” – then throw a shortcut to that app or doc in that folder. Donezo.  

If you want to do something more complicated, like boot apps in a specific order or put in some kind of delay, see Windows Scripting

Disabling Windows Update

Last tested using Windows 10 in January 2025 –  

Obviously, there are serious issues that can be caused by disabling Windows Update, but if you’re installing a stable installation and you’re ideally quarantining it from the greater net, then disabling Windows Update might be necessary. A random update could break the whole install!  

First, you can disable it from running automatically when starting with the system. This works, but if you open Windows Update it will manually relaunch it. Not ideal.  

• Open the Services Manager:
  • Press Win + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter.
• Locate Windows Update Service:
  • Scroll down to find Windows Update in the list.
• Disable the Service:
  • Right-click on Windows Update and select Properties.
  • Under the General tab, set the Startup type to Disabled.
  • Click Stop if the service is currently running.
  • Click Apply and OK.
• Reboot the Computer to ensure the changes take effect.

Then, you can disable it at an admin level so that it appears to be managed by group permissions. This seems to prevent automatic updates, but it seems to allow you to update manually.  

• Open the Group Policy Editor:
  • Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and hit Enter.
• Navigate to Windows Update Settings:
  • Go to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Update.
• Modify Update Settings:
  • Double-click on Configure Automatic Updates.
  • Select Disabled, then click Apply and OK.
• Reboot the Computer to ensure the changes take effect.

Since that doesn’t completely kill it, you need to manually move the executable, or rename it. Permissions to do this are controlled by the system, so you can’t change it via properties. Instead, you have to do it using the command prompt run as administrator. This also gives you the ability to change the name back at a later date if you decide you do want to update Windows. Open Command

• Open Command Prompt as Administrator:
• Take Ownership:
  • takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll
• Grant Permissions:
  • icacls C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll /grant %username%:F
  • if you’re username is “cam” then the string is
  • icacls C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll /grant cam:F
• Rename the File:
  • ren C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll wuaueng.dll.bak
• Restart the Computer.

Always Works Method for Setting Up Windows Auto-Login

(If login creds need to change, do that first - just press the Windows key and type in change password and a system setting will pop up).  

You can do the following insane effort … or run this utility from the Microsoft site called “Autologon” 🤦‍♀️

1. Press Windows+R and type in regedit
2. Select the path at top, delete it and paste:  
   
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PasswordLess\Device
4. Find the entry: DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion DWORD DWORD 
5. Double-click on DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion and change its value from 2 to 0
6. Close regedit
7. RESTART RESTART 
8. Windows+R and type netplwiz
9. Turn off checkbox to require password on login. If it’s already off, toggle it on and then off again. Either way, it will ask for your credentials.  
10. ** REBOOT TO CONFIRM ** sometimes a slow reboot
    

This has worked 100% of the time on different server configs. If it doesn’t, you can also try:

1. Run Regedit.
2. Copy and paste this path:
   
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
   
4. Find the entry DefaultPassword
5. Make sure it’s the right password
6. Find the entry DefaultUserName
7. Make sure it’s the right user name
8. If neither entry is there, you can create the entries by right-clicking and creating a new string item.