Cannot Sign In To My Win 11 PC With Passkey

Question

I shut down my Win 11 PC, and attempted to power it on. I received a message on lock screen that my PIN could not be found. It gave me 2 options. One to find my pin, which did not respond. The other had me use my password, which let me in. However I received system error messages saying that various apps could not be used because they were either disabled or had no enabled devices. Other apps, such as gmail made me sign again as if I wasn't recognized. When I go to Settings>Accounts>Sign In Options I get the spinning circle. When I go to Account settings>Manage>Win Security>Choose A Passkey> 1) Iphone,Ipad, or Android or Security Key. There is no option for windows hello. I always log into this pc with my PIN. Please help.

Answer 1

Welcome Jeff Warner,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.  

I understand how frustrating it can be when that after restarting your Windows 11 Home PC, your PIN was no longer available, Windows Hello options are missing or stuck loading, and passkey settings do not show Windows Hello even though you normally sign in with a PIN. 

Before proceeding, I’d like to narrow this down a bit: 

• Are you signing in with a personal Microsoft account or a local account on this PC? 
• Did this issue start immediately after a recent Windows update or security update? 

In the meantime, you can try the steps below to troubleshoot the issue:  

Option 1: Sign in using your account password, then restart the Windows Security service 

• Press Windows key + R > type services.msc and press Enter 
• Locate Windows Security Service 
• Right-click it and select Restart 

Option 2: Check whether Windows Hello is temporarily restricted 

• Open Settings > Accounts > select Sign-in options 
• Turn off the option that allows only Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts on this device, if it is enabled 

Option 3: Try creating a new PIN from a different entry point 

• Open Settings > Accounts > select Your info 
• Confirm the account is signed in correctly 
• Return to Sign-in options and check if the PIN option loads normally 

Option 4: Verify that required services are running 

• Open Services from the Start menu  
• Ensure the following services are running and set to Automatic  
  • Microsoft Passport 
    • Microsoft Passport Container 

Option 5: Run a system file check 

• Open Command Prompt as administrator 
• Run sfc /scannow 
• Restart the PC after the scan completes 

I really hope that the information I gave above was helpful to you. Please feel free to reply below and let me know if you have further concern on this matter.   

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