Windows Hello for Business login - Pin screen behind spinning wheel

Erjen Rijnders 61

We configured Windows Hello for Business hybrid key trust; devices are joined on-premises. On my test laptop everything worked fine. But with the first test user, something strange appeared which I never saw before.
If the user logs in with username/password, the user gets the Windows Hello screen because it's added in Intune in the test group. First you must authenticate yourself with a second factor, after that you get the screen where you must set your Windows Hello Pin. But before you can set the pin, you see a spinning wheel. There is nothing you can do at that point as a user.

We found out that if we press “shift + f10” which opens a command prompt, you can use “alt + tab” and surprisingly the Windows Hello Pin screen was behind the spinning wheel and was never brought at front automatically.
Now if this was for one user only, that wouldn't be a problem, but we tested multiple users and they all have the same problem. We also deployed a brand-new laptop, fully updated, and experienced the same problem.

Did anyone see this before? Any idea how to solve this?
Thanks a lot in advance.

Doug Watson 1 Reputation point

2021-05-20T00:40:48.54+00:00

We have the exact same behaviour with all devices in our environment that I have tested.

Only occurs after Fingerprint setup, if you use Face Recognition then the PIN Screen works as normal.

Same issue regardless of device manufacturer or model. HP/LENOVO/TOSHIBA, all the same.

Latest Windows 10 2021-05 update hasnt fixed the issue.
Erjen Rijnders 61 Reputation points

2021-05-20T09:25:23.28+00:00

Good to know there are more organizations with the same problem.
We also have the same problem using Face Recognition. We didn't create the support ticket yet but will do so soon.
Miles 1,271 Reputation points

2021-05-21T03:06:48.853+00:00

Hi

Here is the link https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/contactus ,which could get support for Microsoft products and services.

The other link https://serviceshub.microsoft.com/supportforbusiness also offers support. However , this link is chargeable.

If you resolve it using your own solution, please share your experience and solution here. It will be very beneficial for other community members who have similar questions.

Best regards
Peyton 6 Reputation points

2022-02-21T15:31:02.913+00:00

I found a solution that worked!!

Try pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del, and then select Task Manager. Once task manager pops up you can End the Microsoft Account task!

]1

Let me know if that works for you!
Anonymous

2023-10-19T19:48:29.8166667+00:00

You can also do Ctrl+alt+del to sign out and sign back in and the issue will be resolved.

7 answers

Søren Hartvig Jensen 21 Reputation points

2022-05-13T10:51:26+00:00

UAC (User Account Control). If this is either set lower in your OS by policy, or your users have local admin rights and have lowered UAC themselves, this will cause the issue. Set UAC to the recommended level, reboot, try again.

Credit: Microsoft Support
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4 people found this answer helpful.
JamesCFI 1 Reputation point

2022-05-13T14:00:13.837+00:00

How exactly do you change the UAC level when this issue is occurring on the first time welcome screen.

BEFORE the user has access to the desktop.

HumbleSage 1 Reputation point

2022-05-13T14:06:36.41+00:00

I'd also like to add this isn't a solution. Maybe a workaround after the fact if you can get logged in at all (I have not tested if this actually works, just theorizing). There are plenty of networks that UAC is more a hassle then a help. We don't have to digress into that though.

MKinOZ 31 Reputation points

2022-07-14T05:55:49.55+00:00

Thanks, this did the trick for us!
We have an old business software that requires UAC to be on the lowest level.
Before onboarding into Intune I set UAC to normal and after onboarding set it to the required level again.

shockoMS 281 Reputation points

2023-04-21T08:08:29.38+00:00

Worked for me also. Set UAC to defaults
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Jeff Gellman 6 Reputation points

2022-01-27T20:46:08.527+00:00

Hello. Just wondering if anyone has a solution for this? I see the PIN screen when I alt-tab however I cannot bring it ahead of the spinning wheel screen. I did not set up the fingerprint reader so just trying t add the WHfB PIN.
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1 person found this answer helpful.
Holmes Networks 6 Reputation points

2022-01-28T04:20:17.147+00:00

Jeff,

It hasn't and it looks like MS is ignoring this altogether. Such a real problem and no answers. You can attempt tapping Shift-F10, then Alt-Tab. That seemed to work for me. Sometimes you have to tap Shift-F10 a couple times, then Alt-Tab. Hope this helps.

Nathan@MVPS 1 Reputation point

2022-05-02T18:06:54.083+00:00

I am having the same issue. Has anyone figured out a solution yet? Alt-tab works but we can't expect end users to do that in our environment.

Joe Puma 0 Reputation points

2023-09-30T20:32:43.7166667+00:00

I'm having the same issue. It only seems to happen with Azure AD admins who try to login for the first time on a bulk enrolled computer. I tried to remove the admin account from the local admin list in Azure or now Entra ID. Still no change. I tried pushing a policy to change the UAC, computer shows it took but it really didn't after I alt-tabbed to the pin screen, blindly entered a pin, hit tab entered pin again and then hit enter to complete. As long as this isn't happening to standard users, it wont kill us, but what a real silly problem to have.

Microsoft please fix this...

Joe Puma 0 Reputation points

2023-10-01T06:42:54.4933333+00:00

I had some luck with creating a policy to put the UAC back to default and after it pushes to device I reboot once and now can see the pin screen. I wish the policy applied without rebooting but since this only happens to admins who log on and not regular users, its no big deal for us to reboot once when we upgrade computers.
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Pham, Andrew 5 Reputation points

2024-02-14T21:09:19.59+00:00
If both of these conditions are true, the hidden PIN window issue will occur. In our case, we had Field Services personnel with local Administrator privileges install a custom legacy app that would set EnableLUA=0 causing this issue. To resolve, set EnableLUA=1

The enrolling WHFB user is a member of the local Administrators group and

EnableLUA is set to 0 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] "EnableLUA"=dword:00000000
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1 person found this answer helpful.
Daniel Kerber 0 Reputation points

2024-03-07T21:24:34.07+00:00

This fixed it for me, Thank you!
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Miles 1,271 Reputation points

2021-05-05T07:20:15.867+00:00

Hi

For windows hello related issue, you could ask for help from windows hello community.
Link : https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=All&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1
The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn.
Thanks for your understanding and cooperating.

Best regards
Miles
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Erjen Rijnders 61 Reputation points

2021-05-06T15:16:28.577+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I did post there but now they are referring me to this forum. Now where is the best place for my question?
Thanks again.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-hello-for-business-login-pin-screen-behind/9fcd0395-6dd8-4fe3-bbe1-f87d530f46cf?auth=1

Miles 1,271 Reputation points

2021-05-07T01:07:03.247+00:00

About your problem ,I have referred to some information may be helpful to you .

Pin screen behind spinning wheel, firstly check the status of internet connections

If the internet works well, please check windows hello for business policy:

Create the windows hello for business group policy object

Configure automatic certificate enrollment

Configure security in the windows hello for business group policy object

Deploy the windows hello for business group policy object

The specific information we can learn from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/hello-for-business/hello-cert-trust-policy-settings#use-certificate-for-on-premises-authentication

Erjen Rijnders 61 Reputation points

2021-05-07T12:41:09.577+00:00

Thank you for your reply.
I think these are the steps for enabling certificate trust with WH4B but we are using key trust.
The problem lies with the PIN screen behind the spinning wheel during login.

Miles 1,271 Reputation points

2021-05-11T03:18:16.53+00:00

Unfortunatelty, our current conditions could not reappear this problem .
We suggest you open a request ticket with microsoft support for further assiatance https://serviceshub.microsoft.com/supportforbusiness

Erjen Rijnders 61 Reputation points

2021-05-11T06:56:23.52+00:00

Thank you, we will do that.

Miles 1,271 Reputation points

2021-05-11T07:04:30.467+00:00

It's my pleasure.

JamesCFI 1 Reputation point

2021-10-06T13:57:50.113+00:00

Did you ever get a solution on this issue? Searches for this issue lead to this thread being the only one that has relevant data.

Did you all by chance just disable windows hello for oobe and just allow users to sign into it at their leisure as a work around?

satnix 1 Reputation point

2023-06-21T21:55:31.4966667+00:00

Was there any solution identified for this problem? Looks like it's a recurring issue and happens on different hardware models. I check UAC solution but that won't make the cut as this is autopilot and UAC will be updated post logon.
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Holmes Networks 6 Reputation points

2022-01-13T00:24:02.373+00:00

I have clients experiencing this exact same issue, did you ever find a resolution??? It's really throwing a monkey wrench into a customized desktop image I have created. This is clearly an MS bug where someone didn't properly set the proper foreground window during the process. MS needs to fix this ASAP. I know we aren't the only one's experiencing this issue. My clients are using Azure AD with Office 365 and there is no way I have found to turn off Windows hello or the PIN settings.
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