Win 11 hung on reboot in safe mode, can't enter pin

stuartharrison

stuartharrison

stuartharrison

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Was going to install my new 9070xt.
Using AMD clean up to remove old drivers first.
CLicked reboot into safe mode.
On reboot it hung saying pin not available. ( The pin has been a PITA, I haven't been able to get rid of it since I installed win 11, which massively sucks after win 10).
Wouldn't let me reset pin, asks for password, I don't have one.
Tried System restore in recovery.
Tried turning off safe boot in command prompt. Didn't accept what I typed.
Stuck in win recovery now.
Won't boot to anything else.
Options?
Reinstall windows?
 
Think Microsoft has a form you can
Fill out if can't use pin
And forgot password or dont have password
Must admit didn't think you could have
A pin without a back up password in case of,pin issues
But could be wrong been a while since
I messed with that stuff

Is there important stuff on there?
Might be quicker if there isn't to just clean install windows

Can you log into Microsoft account on another device?
Assuming you used Microsoft account to set it up
Then reset the pin

Might also be able to try clear tpm in bios
But that may mess around with bitlocker
And may lose data
 
Recovery won't let me reinstall windows 11. Just says there was a problem resetting your pc. I might have to just clean reinstall, which is a pain cos I'll lose all my passwords and info on my pc.
 
Never tried with a pin
But have removed plenty passwords using
Bootable usb
Though pretty sure the pin is stored on tpm
Not inside windows so probably can't do it that way

It's happened to me before
But don't remember how I fixed it
As after more than ten minutes of trying
I would just go load a system image
And it takes literally 2 to 3 minutes and pc is restored
 
stuartharrison said:
How do you load a system image?
Click to expand...
You have to have made an image beforehand unfortunately
To get you out of tricky situations
All my drives are nvme
So loading a 60GB image recovery takes
Literally couple of minutes it includes absolutely everything
A total 1 to 1 copy including windows, all software,settings etc
That 60GB is compressed
So recovered it's around 100GB
 
Yeah though its a pita
Sometimes it's just faster to clean install
Instead of trying stuff to fix it

There's various imaging software available
Windows can even make vhd images
Not really tried that in years
You can still find the free version of macrium on Google
Works fine but won't get support or upgrades

Have tried acronis too
Nothing but issues for me unfortunately

Also check
The manufacturer of your nvme or ssds
Usually provide a free cloning software which may
Also include imaging
Even my asus motherboard offers acronis for nothing
So worth checking motherboard manufacturer too
 
I found some excellent videos that showed ways of fixing it - they didn't.
I think the major part of the problem was windows encrypting the drive.
I did a clean install - minus a lot of bloat - feels a lot more nifty.
 
When I changed motherboards the other day, from a Z690 to a Z790, Windows 11 booted as far as the prompt for me to enter my PIN, and stopped. It asked for me to verify it was me as the PIN needed to be changed, due to hardware changes. And to verify it in the authenticator app on my phone.
Great, no issues.......

Except it had gone from a Realtek to an Intel NIC on the new board and drivers would only be installed when at the desktop. It could not get to the desktop until the authentication has taken place and could be verified.
It could not be verified due to not having Internet on the PC, due to the Intel NIC.

Such is life with Windows.......
 
Last edited:
Now it's working
Time to learn to make image backups
I also have other drives with Windows installed
With just the basic stuff on there
If something doesn't work
I double check it on those as don't have a load
Of software and stuff that may be cause
Of the problem
Can also just clone those to recover as well

Main thing is have a back up/recovery solution
That's doable even if Windows absolutely won't boot up
System restore from repair option
Doesn't always work
And is slow too
Image backup stored in more than one place too
Just in case
I am definitely a belt and braces guy
When it comes to this
Probably because I have made Windows unbootable
So many times over the years
Messing with things I shouldn't just to find what happens
But safe in the knowledge I could recover with a backup

Though in the old days with Norton ghost
A recovery wasn't a fast thing to do
An hour or more depending how much data
Now with multiple nvme drives
It's literally finished before I even get back
With a cup of tea
 
Vimes said:
When I changed motherboards the other day, from a Z690 to a Z790, Windows 11 booted as far as the prompt for me to enter my PIN, and stopped. It asked for me to verify it was me as the PIN needed to be changed, due to hardware changes. And to verify it in the authenticator app on my phone.
Great, no issues.......

Except it had gone from a Realtek to an Intel NIC on the new board and drivers would only be installed when at the desktop. It could not get to the desktop until the authentication has taken place and could be verified.
It could not be verified due to not having Internet on the PC, due to the Intel NIC.

Such is life with Windows.......
Click to expand...
Out of interest, are you logging into Windows using a regular Microsoft Account or a business account? I've never seen a Windows login prompt for the authenticator app.
 
andshrew said:
Out of interest, are you logging into Windows using a regular Microsoft Account or a business account? I've never seen a Windows login prompt for the authenticator app.
Click to expand...


Regular Microsoft account. I think it was due to changing hardware and a security "thing". It has happened before when certain hardware changes have occurred. Just using that app resolves the issue.
On that occasion though, although it was resolved, it did not work due to the authenticator app being able to generate the appropriate code but the PC could not access online. I took a photo of the issue and just checked, it noted "the PIN was no longer available due to a change in the security settings on this device. Click to setup a new PIN again."
 
Vimes said:
Regular Microsoft account. I think it was due to changing hardware and a security "thing". It has happened before when certain hardware changes have occurred. Just using that app resolves the issue.
On that occasion though, although it was resolved, it did not work due to the authenticator app being able to generate the appropriate code but the PC could not access online. I took a photo of the issue and just checked, it noted "the PIN was no longer available due to a change in the security settings on this device. Click to setup a new PIN again."
Click to expand...
Thanks. Yeah, Windows Hello (which should handle PIN authentication) likely depends on the TPM which would have been invalidated when you swapped the motherboard - so that would likely be why it could no longer log you in with the PIN alone. But not being able to log in at all after that due to lack of Internet is a bit of a gotcha...

Seems like there's going to be lots of little things like this that crop up now because of Windows 11 being more secure by default.
 
andshrew said:
Seems like there's going to be lots of little things like this that crop up now because of Windows 11 being more secure by default.
Click to expand...
They seem to be making pretty much zero effort to communicate the pros/cons of these things, like turning on encryption, automatic backups to one drive.., MS definitely don't believe in the user making (or even being allowed to make) an informed choice.
 
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