How to stop windows 10 trying to constantly log in, but failing. Stuck in a loop

Question

In the past I've prepared a "Microsoft Surface Go" tablet with Windows pro 10 on it.

Here I created a local user with password (during initial setup) and made it so that this user automatically logs in to the system. I did this by using "Netplwiz" and filled in the user and password for automatic login.

The person who has the tablet has sent me a 10 second video where Windows 10 is stuck on the login screen, switching every second between the background-canvas and a short flash.

This gives me the impression that Windows 10 is constantly trying to use the credentials that I have filled in "Netplwiz", but is failing. It seems to be stuck in a loop.

I currently don't have the tablet, so can't test to understand the problem better.

Only thing I can add is that The person who has the windows 10 tablet does not know the password and should not be able to change it.

What can I do to stop this behaviour once I have the tablet, So that I can login and investigate further?

Thank you,

Answer 1

You need to boot the tablet in Safe mode, to be able to check the problem, and if required to redo the auto-login. You should be able to do that with boot media, or you could try to hold Shift during the boot.

To check that the auto-login is correctly defined, use regedit to have a look at the registry items in this answer. If any of them is wrong, regedit is the safest place to set them right.

(Don't forget to test.)