Windows 11/10 takes few minutes to set up your PC whenever you install Windows 11/10 or upgrade to a new version. During this time it starts a series of screens starting with ‘Hi‘. If you wish you can disable first sign-in animation using the Windows Registry or Group Policy Object. Of course, this will not speed up things, but the animation will only be turned off.
Disable first logon Hi animation in Windows 11/10
Local Group Policy Editor Method
We’ll begin with the Windows Group Policy Editor. To open it, launch the ‘Run’ dialog box, typed ‘gpedit.msc’ and hit Enter key.
Next, to go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon.
Within Logon, on the right side, you’ll notice an option reading Show first sign-in animation. Double-click on this policy to open its Configuration box. Next set it to ‘Disabled’.
This policy setting allows you to control whether users see the first sign-in animation when signing in to the computer for the first time. This applies to both the first user of the computer who completes the initial setup and users who are added to the computer later. It also controls if Microsoft account users will be offered the opt-in prompt for services during their first sign-in. If you enable this policy setting, Microsoft account users will see the opt-in prompt for services, and users with other accounts will see the sign-in animation. If you disable this policy setting, users will not see the animation and Microsoft account users will not see the opt-in prompt for services. If you do not configure this policy setting, the user who completes the initial Windows setup will see the animation during their first sign-in. If the first user had already completed the initial setup and this policy setting is not configured, users new to this computer will not see the animation.
The action when confirmed will disable the Windows 10 “Hi” animation.
If your version of Windows 11/10 does not ship with the Group Policy Editor, you may use Policy Plus, or you may use the Registry editing method.
Using Windows Registry
Open Windows Registry Editor. For this, tap on the Windows-key +R simultaneously to launch the ‘Run’ dialog box. Type ‘regedit.exe’ in the empty field of the box and hit Enter. Confirm the UAC prompt and go to the following path-
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Open the System folder, right-click in a space of the right-pane the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit Value).
Name the key EnableFirstLogonAnimation, double-click it and ensure its value is set to 0 to hide the animation.
Hereafter when you log into a new Windows account, you will not notice the logon Hi animation appearing. Instead, you’ll just see a spinning circle with the following message ‘Preparing Windows’.
Hope this helps!