Ctrl-Alt-Del "secure attention sequence" screen requires clicking on user tile.

On our active directory domain joined golden image with default credential providers, when a user resumes from screen saver or unlocks the screen, they are immediately presented with a field to type their password.

Once that computer has been turned into a linked clone, the VMWare agent installs a new credential provider and filter that presents an additional screen during the unlock sequence that requires a user to click on their user tile/icon. This step seems unnecessary and given that we are not using VMWare Workspace we are wondering if anything would break if we revert to the standard windows credential provider via a post recompose script?

Update:

I set a dword key pair Disabled=1 in the filter and provider GUID's and that prevented the VMWare Client initial logon from passing credentials to the guest, Had to enter credentials manually after clicking on a "Other User" tile. However, that did prevent the user tile from showing up during subsequent Ctrl-Alt-Del unlocks. Disabling the provider appears to not be a solution. Plus the provider dll probably fires off other important actions besides passing credentials.

End Update

Why is this additional tile screen needed? Will there be a future agent release that makes it optional? We want a transition for our users to be seamless and not require unnecessary tile clicking.

VMWare provider dll:

%ProgramFiles%\VMWare\Vmware View\Agent\bin\wscredf.dll 5.2.0.17180 build 987719

Registry Key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\Credential Providers(Filters)\

Provider GUID: BEBE672F-B0E3-4354-BB86-4EF127A55B6A wscredp

Filter GUID: 39FA3429-F61A-4975-9653-327BCE27C037 wscredf

Some interesting URL's I found during my research of credential providers:

Two detailed Microsoft resources

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff404303(v=ws.10)

Custom Login Experiences: Credential Providers in Windows Vista

Microsoft - Disabling a provider

Testing a Credential Provider - Active Directory Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Showing different user tiles for token and fingerprint based providers:

http://www.bdragon.com/lair/2011/06/windows-7-log-on-screen-show-your-user-profile-instead-of-fingerprint/

Writing your own credential provider with samples:

Capturing Windows 7 Credentials at Logon Using Custom Credential Provider | Tyler Wrightson's Security Blog