Bug that forces you to set a pin when installing Windows 10

Anonymous
2018-01-05T17:52:41+00:00

You guys might want to step up your testing efforts. This is a pretty obvious bug IMO. To be clear, I want to use my password and not a pin. But the UI says, "We think you will like it."... well I don't. Normally there is an option to set a pin later.... Well, this goes away permanently if you initially try to authenticate using the Windows Authenticator app.

I am prompted to set a pin, with no button to skip or proceed without one. If I bring up the dialog and cancel, that doesn't help either... You are basically stuck on that screen. I can't finish the installation because the only option to proceed is to create a pin which will replace my password -- I don't want to do that. 

So to be clear:

Install Windows 10 and enter your name and password during installation... You can skip setting a pin.

Install Windows 10 and enter your name and then select authenticate with the authenticator... I successfully authenticate and then I am asked to set a pin. The option to skip is not there as in the first scenario. Starting the process over and entering a password instead does not help. It seems the option to skip is never available again. The only thing I could do was to wipe the install and start over.

Sure I could have set a pin and removed it later, but I didn't want to do that. I don't want it messing with my login. 

Also asking me to file an issue on connect is not going to happen -- sorry. If you guys want to take the time to file it, then go for it. Hopefully you guys will investigate.

Ironically even this forum has a bug... When you edit an issue -- it resets the Windows version and topic.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2018-05-11T22:28:29+00:00

Hi Arap,

Setting up a pin on your device makes it more secured. One important difference between a password and a Hello PIN is that the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it was set up. Read more in this documentation:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/hello-for-business/hello-why-pin-is-better-than-password

Thus, you still have option to remove it once you've done setting it up for the first time. Kindly follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
  2. Select Sign-in options on the left side, and click/tap on the Remove button under PIN on the right side.
  3. Click/tap on Remove to confirm.
  4. Type in your Microsoft account password to verify, and click/tap on OK.

Additionally, you can refer answers mentioned in this thread:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update/i-dont-want-a-pin-number/902c5b3d-42d4-4fc8-b34e-71200e0b362d

Let us know how it turns out.

Note: Microsoft has updated the information in this reply to benefit users facing this issue.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-01-28T02:41:28+00:00

    I did this but everytime I sign in it still askes me to set up a pin. even after removing it. How do I fix this?

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-01-31T17:42:12+00:00

    It is a poor decision to force this on the user. I'm installing Windows on computers for other people! It should not be asking computer technicians to set up personal user account information. Yes, I could bypass it by using a local account. Clients will often give me their login details so they don't have to do all this setup later to link accounts. And no, it wouldn't be secure, except no typical user in the world uses their Microsoft account for anything but logging in to Windows, so what is someone going to hack in and see all the Viagra spam junkmail stored in Outlook? It also won't let me set a simple pin like 0000 or 1111. Screw off with this - I'm gonna go write an unattended Windows install to bypass this in the future - you suck!

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-31T17:49:47+00:00

    Hi Arap,

    Setting up a pin on your device makes it more secured. One important difference between a password and a Hello PIN is that the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it was set up. Thus, you still have option to remove it once you've done setting it up for the first time. Kindly follow the steps below:

    1. Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
    2. Select Sign-in options on the left side, and click/tap on the Remove button under PIN on the right side.
    3. Click/tap on Remove to confirm.
    4. Type in your Microsoft account password to verify, and click/tap on OK.

    Let us know how it turns out.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-31T21:50:34+00:00

    Hi Arap,

    Setting up a pin on your device makes it more secured. One important difference between a password and a Hello PIN is that the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it was set up. Thus, you still have option to remove it once you've done setting it up for the first time. Kindly follow the steps below:

    1. Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
    2. Select Sign-in options on the left side, and click/tap on the Remove button under PIN on the right side.
    3. Click/tap on Remove to confirm.
    4. Type in your Microsoft account password to verify, and click/tap on OK.

    Let us know how it turns out.

    Ridiculous. A PIN is usually 4-6 digits long, each digit spanning values from 0-9. Passwords are enforced to be at least 8 characters long, including all upper-and lower-case letters, digits 0-9, and all punctuation and special characters. That's easily triple the complexity for each character of each password, compared to a PIN! And you know good and well that for every person that uses the same password on all of the computers they use regularly, they will also tend to use the same PIN on every computer! That solves nothing!

    QUIT FORCING US TO USE A LESS-SECURE OPTION! My password, even though used on more than one computer, is far longer and more complex than any PIN could ever be! This is a bug, not a feature.

    BTW, I can also use different passwords for each computer.

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