Dynamic Lock is Not Working? How to Fix or Reset it

You should check if you have the feature enabled

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Key notes

  • Dynamic Lock uses Bluetooth to lock your PC when you move away from it automatically.
  • Chances are that the Bluetooth is causing the Dynamic Lock not working problem.
  • You should also check if you have the Dynamic Lock feature enabled or not.

With the Dynamic Lock feature available on Windows 10 and Windows 11, users can easily lock their PCs as soon as they move away from them. This feature works brilliantly without needing an additional camera or hardware setup. It only requires Bluetooth.

However, several users have reported that the Dynamic Lock is not working for them. Thankfully, in this guide, we will give you a bunch of solutions to help them resolve the Dynamic Lock not working problem in Windows 11. So let us get right into it.

Why isn’t the Dynamic Lock working on Windows 11 PC?

Dynamic Lock screen uses a phone which is paired with your PC. It remains inside the user’s pocket; when the user moves away, the PC recognizes the same and locks the screen.

We did some internet digging and discovered the most common reasons why the Dynamic Lock is not working on your Windows 11 PC.

  • The feature isn’t enabled: Well, the first thing you should ensure for any feature to work is that it should be allowed inside the settings menu.
  • Check Bluetooth driver: Chances are that the Bluetooth driver is outdated, corrupt, or missing, because of which you cannot use the Dynamic Lock feature.
  • Dynamic Lock feature is disabled on your PC: For some users, the Dynamic Lock feature is disabled from the registry settings, which you need to tweak for it to work.
  • You haven’t paired your device: You should ensure your mobile phone is paired with your laptop for the Dynamic Lock feature to work correctly.

Let us check out the solutions that will help you resolve the Dynamic Lock is not working problem.

How to fix Dynamic Lock not working problem?

1. Enable Dynamic Lock

  1. Press the Win + I keys to open the Settings menu.
  2. Click on the Accounts tab on the left.
  3. Select Sign in options on the right.
  4. Click on Dynamic lock under the Additional settings section.
  5. Tick the box that reads Allow Windows to automatically lock your device when you’re away.

After following the above steps, take your paired phone away from the laptop and check if this fixed the issue.

2. Unpair and pair your phone

  1. https://windowsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/bluetooth-and-devices.jpgPress the Win + I keys to open the Settings menu.
  2. Click on Bluetooth & devices on the left pane.
  3. Click on Devices.
  4. Hit the 3-dot icon next to your smartphone and select Remove device.
  5. Click Add device after removing your phone.
  6. Pair your phone.

Often there are some issues with the paired device, which could create trouble with features using the Bluetooth function. You can easily re-pair your phone with your laptop and check whether this fixes the issue.

3. Update the Bluetooth driver

  1. Open the Start menu by pressing the Win key.
  2. Open Device Manager.
  3. Expand the Bluetooth option.
  4. Double-click on your Bluetooth device.
  5. Switch to the Driver tab.
  6. Hit the Update driver button.
  7. Click on Search automatically for drivers option.Search automatically for drivers device manager has multiple processors
  8. Install the latest drivers if available.
  9. Restart your PC.

Chances are that the Bluetooth driver is corrupt or outdated, which is causing the issue. However, you can update the driver by following the above steps from the Device Manager.

However, you can also use a dedicated tool called Outbyte Driver Updater. Using Outbyte Driver Updater, you can easily update all drivers on your PC, perform schedule scans, create driver backups, and much more.

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4. Tweak the registry editor

  1. Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialogue.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. Navigate to the below path. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
  4. Open the EnableGoodbye entry on the right.
  5. Set the Value data to 1.
  6. Press OK.
  7. Restart your PC.

When you set the Value data to 1 for the EnableGoodbye entry in the registry, you enable the Dynamic Lock feature on your PC.

As already mentioned, the feature wasn’t enabled or showing for some users. Also, some users have reported that the Dynamic Lock feature is greyed out for them. However, this can be easily fixed by following the above steps.

5. Enable from Group Policy Editor

  1. Press Win + R keys to open the Run dialogue.
  2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
  3. Click on Computer Configuration on the left.
  4. Select Administrative Templates.
  5. Click on Windows Components.
  6. Select Windows Hello for Business.
  7. Open the Configure dynamic lock factors.
  8. Select Enabled.
  9. Click Apply and OK.
  10. Restart your PC.

You can also enable the Dynamic Lock feature on your PC from the group policy editor. This could also fix your issue of the Dynamic Lock feature not working.

6. Reset your PC

  1. Press the Win + I keys to open the Settings menu.
  2. Click on Recovery.
  3. Hit the Reset PC button.
  4. Select the Keep my files option.
  5. Follow the onscreen prompts to finish the reset process.

If nothing works, you should reset your PC and check if this fixes the Dynamic Lock not working issue.

Sometimes main system files related to a feature get corrupt and cause issues. In such a case, you should reset the PC following the above steps and resolve the problem.

That is it from us in this guide. You can learn the steps to change the screen timeout settings in 5 different ways.

Let us know in the comments below which one of the above solutions resolved the issue of the Dynamic Lock feature not working.