No Password Field in Skype Login Dialog

I faced the problem for the first time 2 years ago on Windows 7 computer with Internet Explorer 11. After launching skype a blanc window appeared. There were no input fields for entering user name and password. Searching for the answered in the internet revealed some interesting facts:

  • skype relies on Internet Explorer engine for displaying the login window
  • it plays no role, wether IE is your default browser. You may use Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc., but skype still embeds Internet Explorer and obviously accesses its settings

The login problem was fixed by creating a skype shortcut on the desktop and editing the starting parameters:

"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /legacylogin

Quotes are important! The starting parameter /legacylogin used to force skype to call the “old fashioned” login window instead of the window based on Internet Explorer. However, in the current version of Skype 7.34 this workaround seems not to work anymore… And again searching and verifying various solutions. At last I found out, that it is possible to start skype directly with username and password parameters!

"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /username:YourUserName] /password:YourPassword

Hopefully, this workaround continues to work after the next skype update.