Show the sign-in background sharp instead of blurred — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policylow riskNeeds adminProEnterpriseEducationWindows 11Windows 10 2004 and later

Windows blurs ("acrylic") the lock-screen picture behind the sign-in box. This policy shows it clear instead.

Sign out and back in

How to do it

Open gpedit.msc and go to the path above, set Show clear logon background to Enabled.
Lock the PC (Win+L) to see the result.

Group Policy

Open gpedit.msc (Pro, Enterprise and Education only) and go to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Show clear logon background

The policy writes DisableAcrylicBackgroundOnLogon under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System. Set it back to Not Configured to undo.

sign-in screenbluracryliclock screenbackground

Sign in automatically with Microsoft's Autologon tool — via Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Sysinternals

Trickhigh riskAdmin

For a kiosk, media PC or test machine that should boot straight to the desktop, Sysinternals Autologon sets up Windows' built-in automatic sign-in and stores the password encrypted, rather than in plain text in the registry as old guides do.

Force the next boots into Safe Mode (and back) — via Microsoft Learn

Commandmedium riskAdmin

When a bad driver or app makes Windows unusable, Safe Mode starts with only basic drivers. You can make Windows keep booting into Safe Mode until you switch it back — the same thing msconfig's Safe boot box does.

Bring back the F8 Advanced Boot Options menu — via Microsoft Learn