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

Anonymous
2021-06-29T20:44:40+00:00

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:

  1. 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.
  2. If prompted, press F1 to enter Recovery Environment. If not, proceed to next step.
  3. Select Troubleshoot and/or Advanced Options until you get to a screen with a System Image Recovery option.
  4. Click System Image Recovery.
  5. Click Cancel on the "Re-image Your Computer" window.
  6. Ensure "Select a system image" is selected and click Next
  7. Click Advanced, then select Install a Driver and click OK. This gets you access to a Windows Explorer-type folder structure.
  8. 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).
  9. Rename Utilman to Utilman1. In this folder mode, you'll need to right-click and select Refresh to see the changes.
  10. Rename cmd to Utilman (refresh view to confirm both files are named properly).
  11. Close/cancel all of the open windows (close the Open window, click Cancel on the Add a Driver window, then close the last window)
  12. Click Continue from blue screen to reboot to your login screen.
  13. 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)
  14. Type: "start msconfig" without quotes and press enter.
  15. The msconfig window should now appear. Select Normal Boot from the first tab and click Ok.
  16. Confirm restarting your system.
  17. At the next login screen, you should be able to enter your PIN and everything should be back to normal!!
  18. 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.
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.

0 comments

327 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-15T16:43:49+00:00

    Unfortunately, this was the case for me, too. I think the way windows security is, it won't let you in no matter what in this situation. I had to reset the whole computer, however I was able to save my files. I booted windows off of a spare hard drive I had (just googled "how to boot windows off a USB drive"). After booting windows off the separate hard drive/USB, it will let you copy+paste any files you have in any other drives in the PC (by navigating through all your folders: music, documents, etc.). Unfortunately it won't let you change any files, so you still can't change your login/PIN to solve the issue.

    Hope this info helps!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-15T17:19:10+00:00

    I was able to do the procedure sort of. I had to use the command line in Recovery, but I had to enter the recovery code for bit locker . I then did everything through command line. I had to change drive to my system drive c: then renamed utilman.exe to utilman1,exe and cmd.com to utilman.exe. Restated and clicked on Assesability Man for Win 11 and the used the cmd line and msconfig to set normal boot and everything was fine. I could log in with passcode. I had to go back to recovery and rename cmd and utilman back to original .exe names.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-17T01:20:45+00:00

    Hi, all, thanks for your help so far. I'm stuck on the "pin trap" after asking for a safe mode reboot as well.

    My problem is at step 8 - the explorer window that opens has "Type: configuration info" (ky system is not in English so it may be a slightly different term) pre-selected and, therefore, I can only see folders and .inf files.

    I can't see Utilman.exe there - and thus I can't rename it. I know Utilman.exe is there because it actually appears in the dropdown of the Name: field if I start to type it... but I can't rename it from there, nor copy cmd (which seems would be the next step)

    Is there a way around this?

    Thanks!

    Update (and a quick one at that -)

    At the blue reboob screen, under "Advanced options", I get an option to launch the Command Prompt directly. At first I thought I might be able to run "start msconfig" from there, but that didn't work (with a message that msconfig couldn't be found)

    I was, however, able to rename Utilman to Utilman1 and cmd to Utilman; then proceed as your further steps indicate. The command prompt wouldn't let me cd to C:, but it allowed the "cd /d C:\Windows\System32", so I went from there

    Of course, I was stuck on the "PIN trap" because I wanted a safe mode boot trying to resolve another error - all of this has allowed me to go back to square zero, lol

    Anyway, thanks and I hope my way around this helps someone in the future as you all have helped me

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-17T01:59:33+00:00

    The way I did it and maybe it will work for you. I opened a command line from the Recovery Pane. I could not see either file from the explorer menu. I then used the command line to rename the files as described as I could see them when I went in the c:\windows\system32. directory and you will see utilman.exe and cmd.exe. I did as the procedure stated renamed utilman.exe to to utilman1.exe and cmd.exe to utilman.exe. I then restarted the system and you will need to hit the access button (the little man) at the bottom right of the screen. This will cause a command line to pop up. You then do a msconfig and set the boot back to normal. Then you can use the PIN to get into your system again when you reboot their system. Do not forget to go back with the same process to rename utilman.exe to cmd.exe and utilman1.exe to utilman.exe. Otherwise, when you try to open a command line from inside Windows 11 it will fail.

    I also talked to Microsoft Support and they gave me another procedure which I have not tried. Christian is the Microsoft Support Person.

    What are the instructions to run HKCC\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\

    March 16, 2023, 1:08 pm

    Mark

    You can do that once you have access to your device. You can do it via command prompt :)

    March 16, 2023, 1:09 pm

    Christian

    I can do that from a command line prompt as Administrator in Windows correct

    March 16, 2023, 1:09 pm

    Mark

    Yes, and you should do the start up first so that you can have access to your device already :)

    March 16, 2023, 1:10 pm

    Christian

    K thank you for everything

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-17T03:46:56+00:00

    Just to add, msconfig will give an error about not being able to save the new boot configuration in this method but it does.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments