Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your pin again.

IGill · Aug 23, 2025

Good day fellow members,
Firstly I am sure this problem has been addressed many times before, so my apologies in advance.
Win 11 Home Premium – Safe Mode

I recently acquired a Dell Vostro 15 3000 Core i5 10th Gen.
Prior to accessing the www for the first time I went to sys.config & clicked on safe mode.
After the standard re-start I had this message "Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your pin again."
However, after clicking the onscreen link nothing happened, this was repeated in a number of occasions with the same result.

I did a restart using F2 to get to the BIOS setup but was unsure of the options available to remedy the problem, has anyone had a similar
problem which they managed to resolve?

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards.

IGill

Brink · Aug 23, 2025

Hello IGill, and welcome to the forum.

You can see if the method in the tutorial below may fix this for you.

Fix Something happened and your PIN isn't available on Windows 11

Windows Hello is a more personal, more secure way to get instant access to your Windows 11 devices using a PIN, facial recognition, or fingerprint. You'll need to set up a PIN as part of setting up fingerprint or facial recognition sign-in, but you can also sign in with just your PIN. A PIN is...

www.elevenforum.com

Fabler2 · Aug 23, 2025

Force the computer to enter recovery mode by interrupting the startup process multiple times (turning the device off and on before Windows loads).

Once in WinRE, open the Command Prompt and use the following command:

bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot

Restart and it should start in normal mode and the Pin should now work again.

FrancoDT · Aug 23, 2025

If I read right you were booting into Safe Mode correct? A pin will not work in Safe mode only a password. Neither will face or fingerprint. I get that same error in Safe mode and no point in trying to reset the pin as it won't work. That's the sole reason I don't go passwordless cause I still need my password to access Safe mode.

Fabler2 · Aug 23, 2025

FrancoDT said:
If I read right you were booting into Safe Mode correct? A pin will not work in Safe mode only a password. Neither will face or fingerprint. I get that same error in Safe mode and no point in trying to reset the pin as it won't work. That's the sole reason I don't go passwordless cause I still need my password to access Safe mode.

Using the PIN should work in safe mode but sometimes it glitches and if you've not allowed the option to also use a password in settings, then if you've used msconfig to get to safe mode, you'll find yourself in a safe mode boot loop. Hence I always use the shift key + restart to get to safe mode. Saves the recovery method to get back to normal boot if ever there's an issue.

FrancoDT · Aug 23, 2025

Fabler2 said:
Using the PIN should work in safe mode but sometimes it glitches and if you've not allowed the option to also use a password in settings, then if you've used msconfig to get to safe mode, you'll find yourself in a safe mode boot loop. Hence I always use the shift key + restart to get to safe mode. Saves the recovery method to get back to normal boot if ever there's an issue.

No, the Windows 11 PIN does not work in Safe Mode because Safe Mode disables the necessary services and external connections that the PIN login relies on. To sign in during Safe Mode, you should click the "Sign-in options" link on the login screen and use your Microsoft account or local account password.

Fabler2 · Aug 23, 2025

FrancoDT said:
No, the Windows 11 PIN does not work in Safe Mode because Safe Mode disables the necessary services and external connections that the PIN login relies on. To sign in during Safe Mode, you should click the "Sign-in options" link on the login screen and use your Microsoft account or local account password.

I've logged in using my PIN in safe mode just now

FrancoDT · Aug 23, 2025

Fabler2 said:
I've logged in using my PIN in safe mode just now

I have never been able to do that including my current machines. May be machine specific though but I would say it's the exception not the rule.

Spunk · Aug 23, 2025

If you are not logged in with Safe Mode with Networking, you will not be online and Windows will not be able to access your pin to authorize you.
Hold down the Shift key and restart the computer. If Windows tries to load, press the power button until computer shuts off.
Restart the computer holding down the Shift key. After 3 times doing this it should start the Troubleshooting menu.

Hold down the Shift key press F10 to enter the Command Prompt. Here type
bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot?

Restart the computer and it should boot normally. If your PIN doesn't work, try your Password.

If you just got this computer and don't have any files on it, you can just do a clean install of Windows and start again.

Winuser · Aug 24, 2025

Spunk said:
If you are not logged in with Safe Mode with Networking, you will not be online and Windows will not be able to access your pin to authorize you.

Just a FYI, This option won't work on most if not all newer computers if using WiFi. For security reasons the WiFi drivers will not load.

FrancoDT · Aug 24, 2025

Winuser said:
Just a FYI, This option won't work on most if not all newer computers if using WiFi. For security reasons the WiFi drivers will not load.

I've noticed I can only connect with ethernet in Safe Mode, no wifi.

Fabler2 · Aug 24, 2025

I don't use networking in safe mode for security reasons. As I said it works on my Acer laptop but get same error that PIN not available on my Asus laptop. Safe mode in Win 11 is certainly messed up.

From ChatGPT

does windows pin work in safe mode without network
ChatGPT said:

Yes — Windows Hello PIN still works in Safe Mode without Networking.

Here’s the breakdown:

The PIN is stored locally and doesn’t need internet access or domain controllers to validate.

Safe Mode still loads the basic Windows login subsystem, so you can sign in with your PIN (or password).

If you normally sign in with a Microsoft account, the PIN works offline in Safe Mode the same way it does when your PC is disconnected from the internet.

However, if your PIN sign-in is disabled in Safe Mode due to a system policy or corruption, you may be required to use your account password instead.

One catch: if your system has been set to require domain/network validation for sign-in (common on work PCs), then in Safe Mode without Networking, you’d need the cached credentials (usually the last used password). In that case, the PIN may not be available.

mccmw · Sep 19, 2025

I encountered this on one of my machines. My desktop and wife's laptop worked fine...i.e. no error and PIN worked fine for logging into to normal or safe mode. One of my laptops had the issue though. I looked online and someone posted a fix. After backing up my machine, I booted to the BIOS, disabled TPM, and rebooted the machine. As expected, even for normal login I had to now enter my password. Once logged in to Windows I created a PIN again, rebooted back into BIOS, reenabled TPM, and booked back normally into Windows. It worked fine. I did a single test to log in to Safe Mode and this time, there was no error and PIN worked.

Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your pin again.

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