"This sign-in option is disabled because of failed sign-in attempts or repeated shutdowns". I've been locked out of my laptop since last night and can't log back in. How do I fix this issue?

Reported
Anonymous
2022-01-28T09:51:54+00:00

So randomly last night (about 12 hours ago) my laptop with Windows 11 shows the above error message when I input my pin.

"This sign-in option is disabled because of failed sign-in attempts or repeated shutdowns. Use a different sign-in option, or keep your device powered on for at least 2 hours and then try again".

Prior to this, I used my laptop normally and everything was fine. I did not put in the pin several times and certainly not repeatedly shut down my laptop, so I'm not sure where this even comes from.

From what I understand, my only chances to log back in my laptop are to:

  1. Wait 2 hours WHILE the laptop is powered on.
  2. Use a different sign-in option (use password - and I have no idea what this password is lol).

I can't do solution 1 because my laptop powers down after like 30 seconds, so I cannot keep it powered on for 2 hours unless I press a button on my laptop every 29 seconds for 2 hours.

For solution 2, the different sign in method asks me to put in a password, not sure which password this is. It can't be the password that I use to log in to my Microsoft account online because it says that's incorrect.

Now, following from solution 2, I get the option to reset this password, by answering 3 memorable questions, but here too at least 1 of memorable questions is incorrect.

Can I get back into my laptop without having to factory reset everything?

Does anyone know if the 2 hours wait need to be consecutive?

Thanks all :)

EDIT: It has been 11 months and people still seem to have the same issue as me. Microsoft, please fix this bug / glitch. It's obviously causing a lot of headaches. I was able to simply factory reset my laptop as everything I had was backed up elsewhere, but I'm sure 90% of the people here cannot do this because the laptop still has vital stuff not backed up else where. Even if they could backup, it's a really long and painful process to set the laptop back up.

This really needs to be addressed asap please :)

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Accounts, profiles, and login

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-05-02T08:21:40+00:00

    i did that when my computer got disabled last time, now it doesnt have the option anymore?

    my computer has been disabled for 3 months now
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  2. Anonymous
    2023-05-01T19:06:13+00:00

    Could you please help, i’m having the same issue except I am not available to an option 2 because it doesn’t allow me another sign in option (unless you can help me access that, and I waited the 2 hours, I turned my computer on, played a game for like ten minutes but then my computer froze and I couldn’t restart it so I turned it off and on and now it’s appeared again.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-18T13:35:52+00:00

    Yeah, maybe that’s the case. But thankfully there’s people like me that tried to figure out the problem AND I solved it, and now I get to share your knowledge with all of you.

    They think they’re too big to fail because there’s no competitor to Windows.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-17T17:26:12+00:00

    Glad it helped, I'm no professional but was raging so hard why my laptop was doing this that I found a solution. And it said choose a different sign in option but the option wasn't visible. All it said was the error message, and that's it it didn't even show the button to change the method. Microsoft better be working on this right now because if it happens again I'm throwing my laptop out the window.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-04-14T13:21:51+00:00

    I found a really simple solution that should work. However, this only works if you have a Microsoft account.

    Just wait for the screen to go back to where it tells the time, and then click it, when the password bar shows click I forgot my password. Now just add in your Microsoft account information and it will log you in

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