Bypass user account creation during Windows XP setup

This is a little late since XP is soon going to lose support from Microsoft, but I figured I’d post it anyways since a lot of people still use XP instead of Vista.

During setup of Windows XP, you are required to create a user account.  This is annoying because the user account you create has all the same privileges as the built-in administrator account, which means that now you have TWO high-level accounts on your machine that are susceptible to attack.  Normally, what I do is create an account during this required setup stage, log on to the newly set up XP, change the autologon settings so that the built-in administrator account will automatically log in during the next boot up, then restart.  After rebooting, when I’m logged in as Administrator, I delete the account I was forced to create during XP setup.  This is an annoying and time consuming process.  However, I have recently found a way around this.

When XP requires you to create a user account during setup, just type in “None” for the user name.  XP will not prompt you for a password, and when XP starts up for the first time, the only account on the system will be the Administrator account.

Unfortunately, this little trick doesn’t seem to work on Vista.  Or if it does, Microsoft has changed the user name from “None” to something else.