Windows 11 Account Disappears From Login Screen, Two Registry Changes Restore It

A Windows 11 account unexpectedly disappeared from the login screen in an unusual software glitch, even though the local profile and personal files were still present on the PC.

The problem did not involve an erased account. The profile remained visible inside the C:\Users directory, which indicated that Windows was hiding the account rather than deleting it. Two Registry Editor changes eventually restored the missing account without requiring a Windows reinstall.

The case is useful for anyone who encounters a similar issue, but registry changes should be approached carefully. Incorrect edits can create additional Windows problems and, in serious cases, may make the operating system unusable.

Setting	Problem value	Corrected value
Account DWORD under UserList	0	1
HideFastUserSwitching	1	0
Restart required	No	No
Account files deleted	No	No

Windows was hiding the account rather than removing it

The first important clue was that the affected account still existed locally.

Its files were still stored under C:\Users, and the profile itself had not been removed. That narrowed the problem down to how Windows was presenting available accounts on the sign in screen.

The first registry setting involved the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

Inside that area, Windows can store DWORD values associated with individual account names.

For the affected account, the value was set to 0. Changing it to 1 allowed Windows to display the account again.

A value of 0 can effectively hide an account from the normal login interface, while a value of 1 allows it to remain visible.

A second setting affected account switching

The second change involved another Windows policy setting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

The relevant registry entry was HideFastUserSwitching.

In this case, the value had been set to 1. Changing it to 0 restored normal account switching behaviour.

After both adjustments were made, the missing profile immediately appeared under the Other user section of the login screen. A restart was reportedly not necessary.

That makes the fix relatively quick when the underlying cause matches this specific configuration.

Accessing Registry Editor can be difficult when the account is missing

There was an additional complication.

Because the affected profile could not be selected normally from the login screen, opening Registry Editor with the required administrator permissions was more difficult than usual.

The workaround involved navigating to C:\Windows, locating regedit.exe, then using Shift and right click to select the option to run the program as a different user.

Administrator credentials connected to the relevant Microsoft account were then used to access the registry.

This allowed the necessary changes to be made even though the original account was not visible through the normal sign in process.

These steps should only be considered when the account clearly still exists and the issue appears to be related to login visibility. If the profile itself has been deleted, corrupted or removed from the system, these registry settings may not solve the problem.

Registry Editor is a powerful Windows tool, so creating a backup or restore point before changing values is sensible whenever possible.

For this particular case, the fix avoided a lengthy troubleshooting process and restored access without reinstalling Windows or recreating the account.