Use Logon utility to schedule Desktop unlocks on Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista systems

In certain situations scheduled processes  require that a computer is run in unlocked mode. For example, if you attempt to run an interractive program and send keystrokes to that program using SendKeys or 24x7 MacroRecorder the simulated keyboard input will fail if the computer is locked. The Logon utility can help in such cases. Schedule it to run before the interractive process to unlock the graphical Windows Desktop and then run the interractive process and send the requied keystrokes.

The Logon utility can be also used to automate unlocking of Windows Desktop after computer is restarted. In this case create a program type job in 24x7 Scheduler and schedule it to start [on startup]. The 24x7 Scheduler must run as a Windows service using LocalSystem or domain admin account and the service must be set to start automatically.

Download Logon.exe  (16 KB).

Usage: Logon <-u user> -p password  <-k key1 key 2>

Parameters:
-u user - optional user login name parameter. If user name is not specified, the last entered name is used by the system

-p password - login password.

-k key1 key2 - optional parameters indicating accelerator keys for the user name and password fields on the login dialog.If not specified, the default keys U and P are used.
Note that accelerator keys are used to set input focus to user and password fields. On non-Enlish systems, you may need to specify non-default keys. For example, on Spanish
systems the required keys are N and C. Also note that if -k is specified, -u must be specified too..

Note: On Windows XP you need to disable Fast User Switching option in order to use the user parameter. On Windows Vista and Windows 7 you need to enable the classic logon screen. Logon utility doesn't support desktop background based logon screens, it is searching for the  logon dialog and won't work if that dialog is not displayed.

Run Logon.exe without parameters from the DOS command prompt to for more info.