Something happened and your PIN isn't available. Click to set up your PIN again.

Anonymous

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I have a new PC with W10. I decided to use the PIN code, but now I get the message "Something happened and your PIN isn't available. Click to set up your PIN again."

When I click 'Set up my PIN' nothing, the same message reappears.

I looked up the issue on the internet and found that I should login using another sign-in option. However, there is no way to get to another option. The text above is all I see on the screen.

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

Hello there! I'm sorry that didn't work. You can try this steps instead:

Turn off your PC

Start your PC, just as Windows attempts to load (spinning dots), press and hold Power Button on the casing of your PC for 5 - 10 seconds to perform a Hard Shut Down

Do this twice

On the third start Windows will boot into the Recovery Environment and from there you can access System Repair, Safe Mode, Command Prompt . . . etc.

Please try each option one at a time, then see of Windows will boot . . .

Go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - Startup Repair

See if Windows startup can repair itself

Go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - System Restore

Check to see if you have a restore point you can go back to

If you do not have a Restore Point, go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - Startup Settings and click Restart

Upon restart, press 4 to enter Safe Mode

Once in Safe Mode, backup your data if you do not already have a backup

Open Device Manager and check to make sure all your Drivers are up to date

Reboot to see if Windows will start Normally

If the above fails, go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Options - Reset this PC

Choose to keep your files and apps, just your files or to keep nothing

Then start the Reset

Hope this will do the trick

Regards,

Louie

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492 additional answers

Anonymous

2021-03-03T07:32:00+00:00

dangduong,

Turn your machine on. click the power icon in the lower right hand corner. Hold the shift key down and click the Restart prompt. This will give you more login option but not directly fix your problem. Read what other people suggest here to try to clear the problem. My suggestion is to go in an out of Command Prompt and that might let you login to use Settings and control panel to fix the problem at your next login, which will probably be a "user" prompt. Also if you can guess how you got in this "something happened pin" state, tell us. We are trying to understand the ways people get into this problem.

I realize that I am responding to another reply, but want to address "We are trying to understand the ways people get into this problem.". This problem presented itself to me when I went into diagnostic mode following advice on removing printer software (Epson Artisan 835 Scan to PC issue). The only solution that worked for me was resetting the pc from the windows advanced repair screen, keeping files and apps. The reset just completed and my desktop appears to have most (if not all) of my programs including the wallpaper. I'll have to go through it later today, as it is getting very late here (2:22AM). Fortunately, if I am not happy with the results, I have multiple images that can restore (including 1 a few hours prior to this catastrophe).

The best advice I can give (especially concerning windows) is to use an external hard drive and start imaging your system. Better yet is to clone the hard drive and keep the clone on standby.

BTW: I did spend several hours reading and working through the suggestions in this thread. I'm sorry that each of us is experiencing these issues but at the same time I'm glad that I'm not alone in this. Thanks.
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Anonymous

2021-03-03T17:47:12+00:00

Truong, You have to force another sign on option when you boot your machine. This is what worked for me:

-> click the power button on the login screen

-> When you see the Restart option, hold the shift key down and click on Restart

-> the next prompt will say Restart Anyway, click on it

-> select Troubleshoot from the next set of options

-> select Advanced Options from the next set of options

-> select Command Prompt from the next set of options

At Command Prompt you will be asked for a user login, login. maybe do something in command prompt and then get out and reboot the machine. The next login screen should prompt for a user login, not a pin. Once you login with your userid, you have 1 windows session to fix this pin loop problem. So make sure you fix it. Most people here seem to know what they did to get into the pin loop. Some fixes for the pin loop are turning all services back on, resetting any booboos you did in the bios and turning Windows Hello off (Settings -> Accounts -> Sign in options on the left). Turning Windows Hello off is particularly effective, because in my opinion turning Windows Hello off forces your login screen to always offer a "userid" login option (and for some reason, it gives you the option of signing in with a pin anyway). If this doesn't work for you read other posts on this thread. Sometimes the "Repair" option works, sometimes people successfully restore a restore point, etc.
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Anonymous

2021-03-03T18:03:04+00:00
Els,
```
  I am assuming Microsoft is reading this thread.  That's why I'm asking people to say how they got into this pin loop.

  That's wild that you were just trying to fix a printer problem, following some diagnostic suggestions there, and got into this problem.

  In my mind Microsoft has 3 immediate takeaways from this for a future release
```
- the method that is saying "something happened and your pin isn't available" needs to realize the user is in a dire straight and offer another login option, not just offer to reset the pin and then fail.
- both pin and user login options should ALWAYS be offered to the user on the first login screen. They are a backup for each other.
- When a user says "Turn off All Services", Services having to do with the login should be exempted unless there is a deliberate override from the admin user.
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