Windows 11 keeps kicking me back to the Login Screen

I am having the same issue. I reinstalled Windows 10, still having the issue. I have set all sleep options to Never, still have the issue. I do not have a PCI Express option to disable in my advanced power settings nor do I have Intel Ready installed. I am at the point where I want to throw my Surface across the room and stomp on it. This is so incredibly frustrating. I never had this issue before purchasing a Surface Pro 8 with Windows 11 pre-installed. This issue makes the device effectively useless. Please, for the love of God, can someone help me?

Have any of the previous solutions not worked for you?

No, none of the solutions have worked.

So, no Dynamic Lock set up, and your power options are not set to turn off the device screen at any given time?

What do your power settings look like, are you using default values for any particular plan, or have you modified anything at all?

Dynamic Lock is not turned on. Sleep settings (and now screen) are set to never turn off for both battery power and when plugged in.
I am not sure how to answer your second question, but the only thing I have modified are the sleep settings in efforts to stop this glitch from reoccuring.
For what it's worth, I downgraded back to Windows 10 as a nuclear option but this issue persists.

Sorry about that - what I meant is that if you edited any of the power plan settings, or just use them as they are. With the newer power options in Windows Settings, things get a bit murky, but you can always open the old Control Panel version:

In Windows Run, paste the following:

Rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL powercfg.cpl

Or, alternatively, you can just type in control in the run dialog and then select Power Options when the control panel opens.

From there you can select power plans, and you can edit power plans, and that is what I was referring to.

But if this is doing it on Windows 10 as well as Windows 11, you might want to contact Microsoft directly, as it would seem there may be a hardware issue that they may need to investigate.

Here, there is a "balanced" power plan and it gives me the option to create a custom plan, but even here I have sleep set to Never. I have also set the "Turn off Display" option to Never for both battery and when plugged in.

Hmm. So, to recap, no funky settings, display set to never turn off, using balanced power plan, no dynamic lock, and yet it randomly takes you back to the log in screen.

Are you logging in with a Microsoft account, and are you using other Microsoft apps? I'm reaching here, but it's either tied to a login / software somehow, or else it is a hardware issue.

Unfortunately I don't have a Surface of any kind, so I can only spitball and see if the answer can be found.

Also, BTW, welcome to Eleven Forum (11F for short).

I am logged in with my Microsoft account, yes. I am using Office products and Slack (not sure if that's a Microsoft product).
Although, after installing Windows 10 and trying to login to my web-based Microsoft account, it tells me I cannot login using my personal account. I have to find a variety of different links before I'm able to access my Microsoft account online.
The reason I purchased this tablet is because I cracked the screen rather severely on my Surface 7 and decided to upgrade since the battery on the 7 was rather kaput anyway. Aside from the poor battery and cracked screen, the Surface 7 works fine (of which I am logged in with the same Microsoft account).

I would definitely contact Microsoft about this, then. Something is not right, and I cannot think of anything else off the top of my head.

Just the fact that it happens on both Win10 and Win11 seems to support my premise above (about it being a hardware issue). At the very least, it discounts it being a 'Windows 11 quirk'.

Did a bit of searching, and found this, relating to an older Surface Pro 6 exhibiting the same behavior:


Solutions offered were to run diagnostics and reinstall drivers. Since you reverted to 10, did you verify all devices in Device Manager are working and have a driver (IOW, are not listed as 'unknown')?

There is also this ancient thread (10 years old!) that says check the screensaver -


and I just remembered, that there is a setting in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 to enable the logon screen if when the screen saver kicks in, though that is usually disabled.

Thanks for your continued replies. I ran a lot of checks on the drivers beforehand (I am no computer whiz by any stretch of the imagination) and I'm fairly certain they were all working properly. I would need pretty explicit instructions to check them properly, however.
And I'm not sure it's an issue with the screensaver as this happens when I'm in the middle of a Zoom call or when I'm typing or otherwise actively using the device. It's incredibly frustrating and makes me use words I wouldn't utter in front of my grandmother.

You're welcome, these types of problems intrigue me, and I love finding solutions to them, as do many others here as well.

re: Drivers - I just meant that check Device Manager to see if anything shows as either not working (usually code 10 or code 45) and a yellow triangular shape with an exclamation mark in it, or else is listed specifically in the section `Other devices` - to check Device Manager, right click on the `Start button` and select `Device Manager` from the menu that pops up.

re: screensaver - I suspect that it is not a factor in this issue, but it doesn't hurt to rule it out - a bad screensaver could activate when it is not supposed to.

Also, another thought - did you buy this brand new?

I bought it on Amazon and it wasn't advertised as used, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Just verified that the screensaver is indeed off.

After inspecting the drivers, none of the code or triangle you described but I did notice there are 3 PCI Express Root Port drivers and 1 PCI Express Root Complex driver under "System Devices." Could disabling these fix the problem?

Do not disable them.

Generally, anything in System devices should be left alone until you have exhaustively researched them. In years past, I've disabled a single item and lost all ability to boot my machine. I have one Root Complex and 5 Root Port in my system. That makes sense to me, as I have a PCIe GPU, 3x NVMe PCIe drives, and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port also connected to PCIe. I suspect your three are in use by the onboard GPU, SSD/ Storage, and possibly the Wi-Fi module.

Seriously, contact Microsoft and have the serial number ready - have them verify if it is new or not when you bought it.