

Something happened and your PIN isn´t available Windows 10/11 Fix
The annoying PIN issue…
This is the only fix I found that works for the “Something happened and your PIN isn´t available” message that appears in the login screen and won’t let you enter lol. In my free time I help my friends and family with their computer issues, and I encountered this issue twice… The first time I couldn’t find a proper fix and just reinstalled Windows. The second time reinstalling Windows wasn’t an option, so after some research and trial and error I found a fix that worked for me and I hope it works for you too. Ok I will stop rambling now and get to the point.
The Fix
- Since you can’t log in with your PIN or password, you will need to hold
Shift
and click on Restart in the login screen. - This will take you to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
- In WinRE, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
- In the Command Prompt, type
regedit
and press Enter. - This will open the Registry Editor.
- Go to File > Load Hive.
- Navigate to
C:\Windows\System32\Config
and select the file namedSOFTWARE
. - Name the hive something like
msoftware
and click OK. - Now navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\msoftware\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PasswordLess\Device
. - In the right pane, you should see a value named
DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion
. Then, change its value to0
. - Close the Registry Editor and type
exit
in the Command Prompt to close it. - Turn off your computer and turn it back on.
- In the login screen, you should now be able to log in with your password.
- Once logged in, you can go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and set up a new PIN. This should fix the issue and allow you to use your PIN again.
Alright, this wasn’t possible without this YouTube video I found, so I will link it here: Your PIN is No Longer Available On Windows 11/10 | How To Fix your pin is no longer available (2024) You can watch it for a visual guide if the steps above are not clear enough.
If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on my socials or leave a comment below. I hope this helps you out!
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