Bypass the Lock Screen in Windows 8

This tip involves bypassing the "Lock" screen, which is what you normally get before you get to the log on screen.  The tip would best apply to a regular desktop or laptop pc with a keyboard and a mouse attached, (such as what I am using for my Windows 8), that is, one without a touch screen.  Of course, the tip also applies to a touchpad version of Windows 8, but you do not use a mouse or keypad.  On a touch device you merely touch the screen. A right click is usually done on a touch screen by pressing and holding down until a complete circle appears, then lifting your finger.

If your pc is using Windows 8 Pro on your desktop or laptop or touchpad, then you can use the Local Group Policy editor to remove this restriction.  You can do this by opening up the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key and the R key at the same time, then typing "gpedit.msc" (without the quotation marks) and hitting the Enter key.  


Get yourself down to this key in the policy editor:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization

Double click on the setting on the right side for "Do not display the lock screen".  Change the entry to "Not configured", and click the "Apply" button.  You will now bypass the Lock screen each time you log on.


If you are using the normal standard Windows 8, and not the Professional version, then you do not have the Group Policy Editor available, and so you will need to make use of the Registry Editor to force this change.

Again you use the Run dialog box to run the Registry editor, as shown in the following screen shot.


Navigate to this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization
 
You might not see a Personalization subkey, in which case you would need to create it, as follows:  right click the Windows subkey in the left pane, and select New and then Key from the context menu, naming the key Personalization.


Now you should right click in the right pane of the Registry editor at the Personalization subkey and create a DWORD (double word) value that you name NoLockScreen.


After you double click on this NoLockScreen value, you can enter a value of 1.  When you close the Registry editor, you are all done and will now bypass the Lock Screen when you log on.

If you ever want to use the Lock screen again, then just either delete the NoLockScreen value in the registry, or change its value to 0 (zero).