Tips for opening apps from the Windows login screen

Windows 10's login screen offers only a very limited access. However, you can tweak the operating system to run any application directly from the login screen without having to log in to a user account.

How to run apps from the Windows login screen

There are 3 things you need to know before we get started:

1. You can see the Ease of Access button in the lower right corner when at the Windows login screen. To run the application from this screen, we will replace this button.

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1. Turn off Windows Defender real-time protection
2. This process also involves making changes in the System Registry. To be on the safe side, you should prepare a backup copy if something goes wrong.

Step 1: We will start by disabling Realtime Protection in Windows 10 as it interferes with Registry manipulation. You press the Windows key to open the Start menu, from here click on the Settings icon in the left corner.

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Step 2: Open Update & Security.

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Step 3: Switch to Windows Security tab >> Virus & threat protection.

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Step 4: Click on Manager settings under Virus & threat protection settings.

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Step 5: Now click the switch under Real-time protection to turn it off.

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Step 6: You launch Registry Editor by typing regedit into Run (Windows + R).

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Step 7: Navigate to the following folder

Computer/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Image File Execution Options.

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Step 8: Now right-click Image File Execution Options >> New >> Key.

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Step 9: Name the new Key utilman.exe.

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Step 10: Now right click on utilman.exe >> New >> String Value.

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Step 11: Name the new String Value as Debugger.

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Step 12: Open Debugger. In the Value data section, enter here the path to the software you want to open. In this example, the software I need to install is Command Prompt (cmd), with the path being C:/Windows/system32/cmd.exe.

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Click OK once done.

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From there, every time you come to the Windows login screen, you just need to click the Ease of Access button to open the application you want directly.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 22 December 2021