Windows 11 Sign Issues with Challenge Phrase

omg I just had this happened to me… this was the most obvious and somehow the answer that evaded the experts advice! Thank you!!

How does one contact MS to tell them how bad this system is that locks one out without a clue except that the wrong PIN was entered too many times. All these people had the same problem with a lot of bad replies such as those saying the only way to get around this problem is a complete reset of Windows 11..

The only helpful reply was the one that said to type in A1B2C3. I WASTED 3 days trying to figure out what was meant by the phrase 'challenge phrase' which appears nowhere else. No help from anywhere except one person who said to type in A1B2C3 when it asks for the 'challenge phrase. This group of capital letters and numbers is NOT a phrase. If the directions had said: Type in these letters and numbers exactly as you see them, perhaps users would know what to do. I do not see how this particular screen enhances security. It allows in someone who knows the secret but keeps most people locked out until they do a complete reset of Windows 11 and lose all the saved data in the process.

This is a flaw and and really bad flaw in Windows 11. The MS team needs to come up with something to replace this screen. At the very least, they should use language that would let users know what they expect them to do. As it is, it leaves people frustrated, bewildered, confused and at a loss as to what to do to unlock their computers The combination of 'challenge' and 'phrase' has no meaning to anyone and appears nowhere except on the one screen and buried in on reply on this forum. Otherwise there should be a number to call to get help.

MS, Windows 11 team, fix this flaw and test it out on real users before incorporating it into a very flawed security procedure. How can one even communicate with the people who need to do the fixing?

I had this challenge phrase problem aswell

I had always used face regonition to log in and suddenly it wouldnt allow me to use it then challenge phrase nonsense

I sorted it by holding down the power button down for 2 mins and i was able to restart recovery

Hi Anne.6,

First of all congratulations on your problem being solved, then I'm going to give you a brief introduction to the "challenge phrase".

"Challenge Phrase" is a new approach taken by Microsoft to thwarting brute force attacks or cyber trespassers.  In general, the verification of the challenge phrase occurs only after lots of failed PIN code logins. This attack is because there are a large number of identical passwords or PIN codes, they through a amount of attempted logins, occasional successful logins have been achieved.

So we recommend that you change your password and PIN in time, and develop a good habit of changing your password regularly.

I wish the above will be helpful to you. Please feel free to let me know how it goes, and I will do my best to help you.

Best Regards,

Mosken - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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If you are from Microsoft, your reply isn't useful. Why need to congratulations? It is a problem people face and unable to login into their own computer.

I am facing the challenge phrase problem, which I did not setup anything like this is in computer. If I can't resolve the challenge phrase, I can't enter my computer. Therefore you are not a good technical support.

Just enter A1B2C3 and hit enter. It's that simple. I had the same problem and was flummoxed. It's an easy fix but annoying as I too never set anything up so didn't know what it wanted