Something happened and your PIN isn’t available [SOLVED]

by Ivan Jenic

Troubleshooting Expert

January 8, 2021

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7. Change your account password

1. Go to Settings > Accounts.
2. From the left menu, select Sign-in options.
3. Then go to Password section and select Change.
4. Change your account password.
5. Then go to the PIN section in Sign-in options and choose I forgot my PIN or add a PIN number if you don’t have one already.

Note: Remember, after changing your account password, you’ll have to use the new password for all your Microsoft services.

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8. Create a new Administrator account

1. Open the Settings and go to the Accounts section.
2. Select Family & other people from the menu on the left. In the right pane.
3. Click on Add someone else to this PC.
4. Select I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.
   
5. Now click on Add a user without a Microsoft account.
   
6. Enter the desired account name and click Next.
   

Note: If PIN sign-in isn’t available for your account, you might be able to fix the problem by creating a new administrator account. 

After creating a new administrator account, switch to it and set a PIN for it. We showed you how to set up a PIN code in one of our previous solutions, so be sure to check it out for detailed instructions.

Once you set the PIN code for the new account, try accessing your old account to see if the PIN code works. According to users, after setting a new administrator account the issue was completely resolved, so feel free to try this solution.

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9. Modify your registry

1. Press Windows Key + R and enter regedit, then press Enter or click OK.
   
2. In the left panel, navigate to

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\TestHooks

    

   

3. Now locate Threshold DWORD and double click it.
4. If it’s not available, you can create it by right-clicking the right panel and choosing New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
5. Now enter Threshold as the name of the new DWORD.
6. Change the Value data of the Threshold DWORD to 0 and click on OK to save changes.
7. After making these changes, you just need to delete all files from the following directory:

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\NGC

Note: This might be a slightly advanced solution, but several users reported that it worked for them, so feel free to try it out. If you can’t edit your Windows 10’s registry, read this handy guide and find the quickest solutions to the issue.

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10. Check if CNG Key Isolation service (KeyIso) is running

1. Press Windows Key + R and enter services.msc, then press Enter or click OK.
   
2. When Services window opens, locate CNG Key Isolation service and double click it.
   
3. When the Properties window opens, change the Startup type to Manual. 
4. Check if the service is running. If not, click the Start button to start it. 
5. Now click Apply and OK to save changes.
   
   

Note: According to users, sometimes PIN sign in can become unavailable if CNG Key Isolation Service (KeyIso) service is disabled. Windows relies on this service for PIN sign in, and if this service isn’t running, you’ll experience problems with PIN login.

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All of the above solutions should help you solve all of the common PIN login issues you might face. You should now be able to login with a PIN.

If you have any other questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to check them out.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in January 2018 and was revamped and updated in January 2021 for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.