Skip the lock screen and go straight to the sign-in box — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policy

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

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization > Do not display the lock screen

Registry equivalent

Double-click a .reg file and confirm to merge it. Right-click → Edit first if you want to read it, which is always a good idea with any .reg file from the internet.

Apply

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: Skip the lock screen and go straight to the sign-in box

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization]
"NoLockScreen"=dword:00000001

Undo

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: undo Skip the lock screen and go straight to the sign-in box

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization]
"NoLockScreen"=-

Same thing from a command prompt

Run in an administrator Command Prompt or Terminal.

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization" /v "NoLockScreen" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Undo:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization" /v "NoLockScreen" /f

This doesn't remove the password — you still sign in. Microsoft's policy documentation lists only Pro, Enterprise and Education, so don't rely on it on Home.