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

Anonymous
2020-07-12T23:16:34+00:00

* * Locked * *

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.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in

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
2020-07-12T23:37:28+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-19T09:58:06+00:00

    Thank you.

    I spent three months looking for an answer - and finally it is fixed - this solution works.

    After so many replies where the problem was misunderstood and so the answers were unhelpful, finally someone who 'got it' and posted a useful reply with clear steps.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-27T04:54:53+00:00

    Hi, I wanted to let anyone else know who is still having this issue that I experienced this problem today as well though it was self-inflicted. I opened MSCONFIG.EXE on my PC and chose to do a Diagnostic Startup and it broke my ability to login with my Windows PIN. I found a fix that's documented on the 1st post of this page here...

    I disabled all msconfig services in windows 10, now I can't log in - Microsoft Community

    It sounds like a crazy longshot when you first read it and I'd never heard of this sethc.exe program before but I assure you it worked for me! This was the last thing I was going to try before resorting to doing a reinstall of Windows and luckily it worked. 

    sethc.exe is a legitimate part of the Windows OS and it's description says "Accessibility shortcut keys". The hack described in the link post above essentially let's you use sethc.exe to launch the Command prompt from the PIN screen by pressing the Shift key 5 times. From there you can launch the MSCONFIG.EXE UI over top of the PIN screen and change your Startup options as needed.

    I hope this information is able to help others out as well! Also, once you do get back into Windows, I would strongly recommend creating a new User account that's an entirely Local account and that only uses a Password to login (no PIN!) this way you'll have a much easier backdoor in the future should something like this ever happen again. 

    How to create a Local Administrator Account in Windows 10

     

    Guys, this is it!

    I had to use C:\ instead of D:\ given in the example, as I expect most users would have to, and it worked.

    Like most of you here I had told Windows to restart in Diagnostic mode and then experienced the hell that is "Something went wrong" instead of being able to enter a PIN.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-10T16:15:46+00:00

    Yes, unfortunately, the only way to get around this is to completely reinstall Windows.

    Thanks for taking the time to READ the problem and understand that any directions to do this or do that after you are logged into your PC are useless because this problem prevents a user from getting past the sign-in - so Windows must be reinstalled.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-12-06T01:39:31+00:00

    I have the same exact problem! Needs fix now plsss!

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