The lock screen, like many areas and aspects of our Mac, allows some customization with which to leave it to our liking. Little details like show user photos or a small message They can be very welcome in environments, for example, with computers shared by several users.

User list, sleep and reset buttons or password reminders

The first section to which we will turn our attention to customize the login screen is we will find in System preferences. In this section, we will be able to choose, for example, between showing or not the images of the users, showing the buttons of rest off and restart and more options.

The steps to access these options are as follows:

  1. In the Apple menu () we choose System preferences.
  2. We came in Users and groups.
  3. We touch the padlock that appears in the lower right part of the window.
  4. We introduce our user password and press Enter (↩︎).
  5. We touch Startup options.

Once here we have several options. Let’s see them in detail:

  • Show start window as: By default we will choose User List, of which we will see their photos and usernames. When you click on them, you only need to enter the password to access. If we choose Name and password no photo or user will appear. Each person must enter their name and password to start the session. This second option, which has an interesting aesthetic, does not allow you to see the list of registered users on the computer.
  • Show the Sleep, Restart and Shutdown buttons: As the name implies, it allows us to show or hide these three buttons that appear at the bottom of the login screen.
  • Show the Keyboard menu in the login window: If we activate it, we will see the menu appear that allows us to change the keyboard language, among other options. Mainly useful when we use multiple languages ​​for users and their passwords.
  • Show password hints: With this option we can enable or disable the display of the “hint” of our password when we have entered it incorrectly several times.

Up to here the options that we can activate or deactivate. Since we are talking about the subject, and although it properly escapes the tutorial that concerns us, the option Show quick user change menu as allows us, if we choose Account name or Icon, considerably reduce the space it occupies In the menu bar, we can also disable it completely.

In the case of special needs, within Accessibility options, we will find how to activate Zoom, Voice Over, Accessibility Keyboard, Easy Key Press, Slow Keys, and Mouse Keys.

Show a message on the login screen

In addition to the options we have just seen, we can display a message on the login screen. The message will appear at the bottom, above the reset and shutdown buttons. To configure a message, the steps we will follow are the following:

  1. In the Apple menu () we choose System preferences.
  2. We came in Security and privacy.
  3. We enter the tab general.
  4. We activate Show a message when the screen is locked.
  5. We touch on Define message.
  6. We write the message that we want to show.
  7. We press To accept.

Easy, right? With these simple steps, we can customize the login screen to better fit our tastes: from improving the security of the accounts that are registered on the computer to showing a fun message to colleagues in the office.