Are we tired of having to enter your Microsoft account password every time to log into Windows? Let’s replace it with a convenient security PIN
To obtain the maximum level of security on your PC, it is advisable to use theMicrosoft account to sign in: we will thus make it impossible to reset the password for the encrypted account and we will also be able to obtain password recovery online, without having to use dedicated tools.
If we have chosen a fairly secure password it can be very annoying having to type it every time that the PC starts or we return to the computer on the lock screen; for this reason Microsoft has introduced the possibility of using a convenient security PIN for accessing your personal account, while maintaining a high level of security.
In the following guide we will show you how to enter PIN instead of password on Windows 11 and on Windows 10as well as showing you how to get out of a possible block if we forget both the password and the access PIN.
READ ALSO -> Reset Windows 10 and 11 password to access your PC
1) Create a PIN for Windows 11
To create a PIN in Windows 11, right click on the Start menu, press on Settingslet’s go to the menu Accountclick on Login options and press on PIN (Windows Hello) to start the procedure for entering the PIN.
The PIN cannot be selected if a password is not active on Windows: it can be either the password of theaccount locale and your Microsoft account password.
Ticking the box Include letters and symbols we can create a more complex and difficult to guess PIN; the advice we can give you is to use only the numbers and memorize a PIN of at least 6 numbers, possibly far from dates of birth, dates of anniversaries or particularly important dates for us (the easiest to guess if someone knows us).
After creating the PIN we press WIN+L on the keyboard for lock screen on windowspress again on the personal account and enter the PIN to immediately access the desktop.
2) Create a PIN for Windows 10
On Windows 10 the procedure for entering the PIN instead of the password is in fact identical to that seen on Windows 11. We press WIN+I to immediately open the system settings, let’s go to the path Account -> Login Options and, if we already had an active password for the account in use, just press on the section PIN di Windows Helloclick on addenter the password for security and choose the new access PIN.
Also in this case we can activate the check on the item Include letters and symbols to create a slightly more complex PIN than one based solely on numbers, a precaution that can make all the difference in the workplace (where everyone knows everyone’s dates and events).
3) What to do if we forget our PIN and password
Have we forgotten our Windows login PIN? Since this is a secondary access method, we can still try to log in with the local account password (or with the Microsoft account password) by pressing on Login options and clicking on the icon Password (shaped like a key).
After gaining access to the Windows desktop we open the path again Settings -> Accounts -> Sign-in optionswe press on the menu PIN Windows Hello and press on Edit to change the PIN (which we advise you to do) or on Remove to remove it from the system.
If, on the other hand, we have forgotten both the PIN and the password, we have several procedures that we can follow:
- Account locale: we can use a password reset tool from USB or optical discas seen in the how-to guide find the login password of the PC.
- Account Microsoft: we can start the password recovery procedure from another PC by opening the link Microsoft password recovery from any browser, by entering the username or Outlook email and following the recovery wizard.
With the password removed or changed we log back into the system and we repeat the steps seen in the previous chapters for add a new PIN (this time not to be forgotten).
On the same subject we can read our guide on how to remove login PIN and/or password on Windows 11 and 10.
Conclusions
A PIN is much simpler and more immediate than a password and can protect your PC from prying eyes and unauthorized users with the same effectiveness, especially if you choose a numerical sequence of at least 6 numbers.
We can also add the PIN to the PIN unlock with the fingerprint reader or what face unlockso as to obtain even faster access to the system (leaving the PIN as a backup in case of problems with the biometric recognition).
To learn more we can read our guides on how to remove the password prompt on windows startup come on how to change password windows 10 and 11.
