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Is it possible to set up a USB Drive to automatically log into Windows (xp, Vista or 7) without installing any specialist software on the PC?
I've had a look at: http://www.rohos.com/support/knowledge-base/how-to-set-up-usb-flash-drive-for-secure-windows-login/
But this needs a 3rd party application and I was wondering if there's any way to do it natively?

The machines I wish to log on to are in an open access communal area so not having a password is not an option. (I also wish to log in as an Administrator so its even more not an option)

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There's a very similar question to this on the ServerFault sister site serverfault.com/questions/79434/login-with-usb-drive – GAThrawn Nov 10 '10 at 16:48
Unfortunately the answer posted is not what I'm looking for. i want one USB stick that I can use to log into multiple machines. Buying Hardware for the machines isn;t cost effective when i only log in rarely. – Joe Taylor Nov 10 '10 at 17:03
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5 Answers

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Take a look at YubiKey. Although you mentioned not wanting to add new hardware, this doesn't require any new computer hardware. The YubiKey is a small thumb drive sized device that pretends to be a keyboard. Thus, you can stick it in a computer and have it input a password.

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up vote 2 down vote

What you are asking is not possible with out a service installation sadly. I've looked into doing something similar and was not able to find a native way to do this (at least with XP and 7).

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Did you find another way to do it? – Joe Taylor Nov 10 '10 at 16:59
Did you find another way to do it? – Joe Taylor Nov 15 '10 at 13:24
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You're talking about SmartCard support that has been built into Windows for many years. I have not set up such a system but know people who have. The first step is buying a few smartcards for your experimental use and becoming familiar with Windows intrinsic SmartCard features.

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A nice writeup here: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905527.aspx, which me wanting to learn how to do this myself. – Robert Kerr Nov 15 '10 at 17:55
See my comment attached to the question. I do not want to purchase any extra hardware – Joe Taylor Nov 16 '10 at 9:02
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See this thread : How to Login to Windows XP/7 Using a USB stick for authentication.

One of the answers mentioned KON-BOOT which can let you boot on to a computer (not the domain):

Kon-Boot for Windows enables logging in to any password protected machine profile without any knowledge of the password. This tool changes the contents of Windows kernel while booting, everything is done virtually - without any interferences with physical system changes.

It sounds like a very dangerous hacking tool.

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I've been able to find this, however it's for mini Win98. I suspect it could be leveraged to do XP but it's probably going to take a little more work.

Here's the link:

link text

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That's to create a USB Boot Disk, not to log into Windows. – Joe Taylor Nov 19 '10 at 9:34
Apologies, I misunderstood. – QuiXilver Nov 19 '10 at 11:13
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