Problems: At the Windows login screen the message "Something happened and your PIN isn't available. Click to setup your PIN again." appeared. Clicking this did nothing, it would just return me to the same login screen. There was no alternative option to Sign in with Password like there normally is. Effectively, login is impossible and the PC appeared bricked. Process to get error: I went to msconfig (Win+R>msconfig) and selected Diagnostic Startup with all default settings. I immediately restarted my PC to find that I could not log in. (Unrelated?) I tried diagnostic startup b/c one of my mice started randomly highlighting stuff - as if Click Lock or sticky keys were on (all were off). Research: I found reports of this back to 2018. I also ran into System Restore errors which I found instances of back to 2017. The dozens of other forums usually dead-ended or resulted in a "Refresh your PC" or "Do a clean install of Windows." Unacceptable! I was about to give up until I pieced this solution together. Solution: Force boot mode back to Normal via command prompt and restart. Skill level: Intermediate Time estimate: 10 minutes Solution notes: I did this with a bootable USB drive plugged in - I don't think that was necessary but try plugging one in if this fails without it. If you can successfully boot into safe mode with command prompt (option 5 from Startup Settings blue screen), then try Steps 14-17 below and see if it works. If it does, you're good to go. If not, go through all steps. Tested on Windows 10 and 11. Steps: Get into Recovery Mode (blue screen): At the login screen, click the bottom-right corner Power Button. Then, before doing anything, hold down the Shift key. While holding Shift key down, click on Restart. This should reboot the computer and take you to the “Choose an Option” Recovery screen. If this doesn't work, see alternate later in post. If prompted, press F1 to enter Recovery Environment. If not, proceed to next step. Select Troubleshoot and/or Advanced Options until you get to a screen with a System Image Recovery option. Click System Image Recovery. Click Cancel on the "Re-image Your Computer" window. Ensure "Select a system image" is selected and click Next Click Advanced, then select Install a Driver and click OK. This gets you access to a Windows Explorer-type folder structure. Click This PC on the left side and find which drive has utilman.exe in the [drive letter]\Windows\System32 folder. The drive letter may not match your normal letters - this doesn't matter. Only one drive will have utilman.exe so you know you are in the correct one once you find it (my letters happened to match, except I had an X drive that wasn't useful). Rename Utilman to Utilman1. In this folder mode, you'll need to right-click and select Refresh to see the changes. Rename cmd to Utilman (refresh view to confirm both files are named properly). Close/cancel all of the open windows (close the Open window, click Cancel on the Add a Driver window, then close the last window) Click Continue from blue screen to reboot to your login screen. Click the Accessibility button on the login screen. A command prompt should open. (icon is a dashed clock at 3 o'clock for Win 10 or a person for Win 11) Type: "start msconfig" without quotes and press enter. The msconfig window should now appear. Select Normal Boot from the first tab and click Ok. Confirm restarting your system. At the next login screen, you should be able to enter your PIN and everything should be back to normal!! Now, you need to go back and rename Utilman to cmd and Utilman1 to Utilman (I had to follow steps 1-12 since Windows wouldn't let me edit the files while logged in). After re-completing step 12, you should be done. Other useful info: The default command prompt directory should be C:\Windows\System32. If that's not what's displayed, type "cd /d c:" without the quotes and press enter. Then type "cd c:\windows\system32" without quotes and press enter. Step 1 Alternate: Shut down your PC. Once powered off, boot it back up, then as soon as you see the Windows loading dots or windows logo, hold down your power button 5-10 seconds to turn off your PC. Repeat this at least once until the Recovery menu appears (big blue screen). Unsuccessful attempts before discovering solution: Restarting 5,000 times. Startup repair numerous times, with and without bootable USB (no repairs were found) Tried options 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 from the Startup Settings blue screen (available by holding shift while selecting the power button and the restart button from the login screen) System Restore (failed because it failed to extract WindowsApps, error code 0x80070026) - this seems like a permissions error? I tried using using Safe Mode with Command Prompt and using takeown to get permission. Most operations listed as Success, but I received an error as the last output line from step 3 of this<a href="https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/3ca0980f-a345-453f-b3e4-5bcf82a5f5c7/system-restore-not-working-in-windows-10-system-restore-failed-source-appxstaging-error?forum=win10itproapps" title="https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/3ca0980f-a345-453f-b3e4-5bcf82a5f5c7/system-restore-not-working-in-windows-10-system-restore-failed-source-appxstaging-error?forum=win10itproapps" rel="ugc nofollow">Archived Forum I used . I tried Step 4 anyways but it didn't work. Booting from Windows usb (nothing worked except I could install a fresh version of Windows - no thanks) Booting into safe mode (same PIN error in all three modes - safe mode, SM with command prompt, and SM with networking). None of the modes looked different from the Diagnostic Mode except the command prompt option obviously displayed a command prompt.

So I just had the same problem and tried to do this solution but for couldn't find the " utilman.exe " may be because it's hidden and couldn't find a way to unhide it for 3 hours, and since I tried so many times to do a system recovery but it failed every time , So I had an idea to do " a system restore " and it said it wasn't completed successfully so i just selected "exit & continue to windows " just to see if anything changed , and in fact it changed and I finally can type my pin and have access to my pc , it even changed the general startup selection back to normal. Now I just have to do all the updates i did since the date of that system restore point was made . Note: I only use that pc for gaming so i didn't fear any lose of data but i assumed since it is only a system restore it should affect any personal files. But as a future precaution I would recommend unhide the file listed in the original solution " UTILMAN.EXE " so it show up in " system32" file

This solution worked for me up to a point, but i could not for the life of me find Utilman in my folders. I searched for over an hour and i was getting a headache, nowhere i looked seemed to have it and i gave up. So i found another solution to this problem! Step 1 : same as step 1 for OP, click the power button on bottom right corner of screen, then while holding down shift, press restart. This should take you to the Choose an Option screen. Step 2 : Select troubleshoot/Advanced options and then choose System Image Restore, now heres where it deviates from OP. Instead of clicking advanced options or next, just click the repair button and then choose the most recent time stamp for restoring your pc to the most recently saved image. It should have a Recommended sticker on it. It will specify that it is not erasing any files. There is a chance i am mistaking the system image restore for a button that is labeled simply as System Repair or something of the sort, so please correct me if i am mistaken. Apologies. P.S. I may be missing a step or two here, for i solved this a couple months ago and have only had to replicate the solution once recently, please let me know if i am forgetting something. thank you. This fixed my problem and continues to every time something goes wrong. I hope it helps you and it is a MUCH faster fix than the others i have seen. Also the most recently saved image will seemingly always be same day and within a few hours of the problem happening, so there should be no concern of it not being close to where you left off.

Help! I get all the way down to step 15 and have trouble. My issue started when I selected Safe boot in the boot tab in msconfig, Now when I try to deselect safe boot and try to apply the setting, I get an error message "System configuration cannot save the original boot configuration for later restoration. Boot changes will be reverted. A required privilege is not held by the client." I have read everything in this thread and have not seen this issue anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas?

Diagnostic Mode "Something happened and your PIN isn't available" Boot Loop - Cannot Login (SOLUTION)

Anonymous

Problems:

At the Windows login screen the message "Something happened and your PIN isn't available. Click to setup your PIN again." appeared. Clicking this did nothing, it would just return me to the same login screen. There was no alternative option to Sign in with Password like there normally is. Effectively, login is impossible and the PC appeared bricked.

Process to get error:

I went to msconfig (Win+R>msconfig) and selected Diagnostic Startup with all default settings. I immediately restarted my PC to find that I could not log in.
(Unrelated?) I tried diagnostic startup b/c one of my mice started randomly highlighting stuff - as if Click Lock or sticky keys were on (all were off).

Research: I found reports of this back to 2018. I also ran into System Restore errors which I found instances of back to 2017. The dozens of other forums usually dead-ended or resulted in a "Refresh your PC" or "Do a clean install of Windows." Unacceptable! I was about to give up until I pieced this solution together.

Solution: Force boot mode back to Normal via command prompt and restart.

Skill level: Intermediate

Time estimate: 10 minutes

Solution notes:

I did this with a bootable USB drive plugged in - I don't think that was necessary but try plugging one in if this fails without it.
If you can successfully boot into safe mode with command prompt (option 5 from Startup Settings blue screen), then try Steps 14-17 below and see if it works. If it does, you're good to go. If not, go through all steps.
Tested on Windows 10 and 11.

Steps:

Get into Recovery Mode (blue screen): At the login screen, click the bottom-right corner Power Button. Then, before doing anything, hold down the Shift key. While holding Shift key down, click on Restart. This should reboot the computer and take you to the “Choose an Option” Recovery screen.
- If this doesn't work, see alternate later in post.
If prompted, press F1 to enter Recovery Environment. If not, proceed to next step.
Select Troubleshoot and/or Advanced Options until you get to a screen with a System Image Recovery option.
Click System Image Recovery.
Click Cancel on the "Re-image Your Computer" window.
Ensure "Select a system image" is selected and click Next
Click Advanced, then select Install a Driver and click OK. This gets you access to a Windows Explorer-type folder structure.
Click This PC on the left side and find which drive has utilman.exe in the [drive letter]\Windows\System32 folder. The drive letter may not match your normal letters - this doesn't matter. Only one drive will have utilman.exe so you know you are in the correct one once you find it (my letters happened to match, except I had an X drive that wasn't useful).
Rename Utilman to Utilman1. In this folder mode, you'll need to right-click and select Refresh to see the changes.
Rename cmd to Utilman (refresh view to confirm both files are named properly).
Close/cancel all of the open windows (close the Open window, click Cancel on the Add a Driver window, then close the last window)
Click Continue from blue screen to reboot to your login screen.
Click the Accessibility button on the login screen. A command prompt should open. (icon is a dashed clock at 3 o'clock for Win 10 or a person for Win 11)
Type: "start msconfig" without quotes and press enter.
The msconfig window should now appear. Select Normal Boot from the first tab and click Ok.
Confirm restarting your system.
At the next login screen, you should be able to enter your PIN and everything should be back to normal!!
Now, you need to go back and rename Utilman to cmd and Utilman1 to Utilman (I had to follow steps 1-12 since Windows wouldn't let me edit the files while logged in). After re-completing step 12, you should be done.

Other useful info:

The default command prompt directory should be C:\Windows\System32. If that's not what's displayed, type "cd /d c:" without the quotes and press enter. Then type "cd c:\windows\system32" without quotes and press enter.
Step 1 Alternate: Shut down your PC. Once powered off, boot it back up, then as soon as you see the Windows loading dots or windows logo, hold down your power button 5-10 seconds to turn off your PC. Repeat this at least once until the Recovery menu appears (big blue screen).

Unsuccessful attempts before discovering solution:

Restarting 5,000 times.
Startup repair numerous times, with and without bootable USB (no repairs were found)
Tried options 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 from the Startup Settings blue screen (available by holding shift while selecting the power button and the restart button from the login screen)
System Restore (failed because it failed to extract WindowsApps, error code 0x80070026) - this seems like a permissions error?
- I tried using using Safe Mode with Command Prompt and using takeown to get permission. Most operations listed as Success, but I received an error as the last output line from step 3 of thisArchived Forum I used. I tried Step 4 anyways but it didn't work.
Booting from Windows usb (nothing worked except I could install a fresh version of Windows - no thanks)
Booting into safe mode (same PIN error in all three modes - safe mode, SM with command prompt, and SM with networking). None of the modes looked different from the Diagnostic Mode except the command prompt option obviously displayed a command prompt.

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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327 answers

Anonymous

2023-05-27T13:08:04+00:00

So I just had the same problem and tried to do this solution but for couldn't find the " utilman.exe" may be because it's hidden and couldn't find a way to unhide it for 3 hours, and since I tried so many times to do a system recovery but it failed every time , So

I had an idea to do " a system restore " and it said it wasn't completed successfully so i just selected "exit & continue to windows " just to see if anything changed , and in fact it changed and I finally can type my pin and have access to my pc , it even changed the general startup selection back to normal.

Now I just have to do all the updates i did since the date of that system restore point was made .

Note: I only use that pc for gaming so i didn't fear any lose of data but i assumed since it is only a system restore it should affect any personal files.

But as a future precaution I would recommend unhide the file listed in the original solution " UTILMAN.EXE " so it show up in " system32" file
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Anonymous

2023-05-20T23:36:59+00:00

This solution worked for me up to a point, but i could not for the life of me find Utilman in my folders. I searched for over an hour and i was getting a headache, nowhere i looked seemed to have it and i gave up. So i found another solution to this problem!

Step 1: same as step 1 for OP, click the power button on bottom right corner of screen, then while holding down shift, press restart. This should take you to the Choose an Option screen.

Step 2: Select troubleshoot/Advanced options and then choose System Image Restore, now heres where it deviates from OP. Instead of clicking advanced options or next, just click the repair button and then choose the most recent time stamp for restoring your pc to the most recently saved image. It should have a Recommended sticker on it. It will specify that it is not erasing any files. There is a chance i am mistaking the system image restore for a button that is labeled simply as System Repair or something of the sort, so please correct me if i am mistaken. Apologies.

P.S. I may be missing a step or two here, for i solved this a couple months ago and have only had to replicate the solution once recently, please let me know if i am forgetting something. thank you.

This fixed my problem and continues to every time something goes wrong. I hope it helps you and it is a MUCH faster fix than the others i have seen.

Also the most recently saved image will seemingly always be same day and within a few hours of the problem happening, so there should be no concern of it not being close to where you left off.
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Anonymous

2023-05-20T21:46:45+00:00

Help! I get all the way down to step 15 and have trouble.

My issue started when I selected Safe boot in the boot tab in msconfig,

Now when I try to deselect safe boot and try to apply the setting, I get an error message "System configuration cannot save the original boot configuration for later restoration. Boot changes will be reverted. A required privilege is not held by the client."

I have read everything in this thread and have not seen this issue anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas?
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Deleted

This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

Comments have been turned off. Learn more