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.
AÂ PINÂ is a set of numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers, that you choose yourself. Using a PIN is a quick, secure way to sign in to your Windows 11 device. Your PIN is securely stored on your device.
If your account’s PIN becomes unusable for some reason, you may see the Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your PIN again. error message at sign in.
This tutorial will show you how to fix the Something happened and your PIN isn’t available. Click to set up your PIN again. error for your account in Windows 11.
The Network icon on the sign-in screen can allow users to change the network connectivity state of the computer without having to sign in to Windows.
This tutorial will show how to add or remove the Network icon on the sign-in screens for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The Power button on the sign-in screen can allow users to sleep, hibernate, shut down, or restart the computer without having to sign in to Windows.
The Shutdown: Allow system to be shut down without having to log on security policy setting determines whether a device can be shut down without having to log on to Windows.
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the Power button on the sign-in screen for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The Display information about previous logons during user logon policy displays information about previous logons and logon failures to the user (local account or Microsoft account).
A message appears after the user signs in that displays the date and time of the last successful sign-in by that user, the date and time of the last unsuccessful sign-in attempted with that user name, and the number of unsuccessful sign-ins since the last successful sign-in by that user. This message must be acknowledged by the user clicking on OK before the user is presented with the Windows desktop.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable to display information about previous logons during sign-in for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Narrator lets you use your PC without a mouse to complete common tasks if you’re blind or have low vision. It reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text and buttons. Use Narrator to read and write email, browse the internet, and work with documents.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off automatically start Narrator after sign-in for your account in Windows 11.
Narrator lets you use your PC without a mouse to complete common tasks if you’re blind or have low vision. It reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text and buttons. Use Narrator to read and write email, browse the internet, and work with documents.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off automatically start Narrator before sign-in for all users in Windows 11.
Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and desktop settings.
You can add a local user account (an offline account) or Microsoft account for a user to sign in to the PC with.
When a user signs in to Windows, the system loads their profile. Because each user has a unique user account, this allows multiple users to share a computer. When a user signs in, the desktop settings, files, favorites, and history they see are theirs; they cannot be accessed by other users. When that user signs out, their profile is preserved for the next time that they sign in.
This tutorial will show you how to sign in to Windows 11 with your account.
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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
If your Windows 11 device has a built-in fingerprint sensor or connected fingerprint reader, you can set up the fingerprint recognition sign-in option.
After you set up fingerprint recognition, you can set up and add another finger as wanted to use to sign in.
This tutorial will show you how to remove the Windows Hello fingerprint recognition sign-in option from your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
If your Windows 11 device has a built-in fingerprint sensor or connected fingerprint reader, you can set up the fingerprint recognition sign-in option.
After you set up fingerprint recognition, you can set up and add another finger as wanted to use to sign in.
This tutorial will show you how to set up another finger to add to the Windows Hello fingerprint recognition sign-in option for your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
If your Windows 11 device has a built-in fingerprint sensor or connected fingerprint reader, you can set up the fingerprint recognition sign-in option.
This tutorial will show you how to set up the Windows Hello fingerprint recognition sign-in option for your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
You can set up facial recognition sign-in with your PC’s infrared camera or an external infrared camera.
After you set up your face with Windows Hello, you can turn on or off to automatically unlock the lock screen when Windows Hello recognizes your face to sign in.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off automatically dismiss the lock screen if Windows Hello recognizes your face in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
You can set up facial recognition sign-in with your PC’s infrared camera or an external infrared camera.
If Windows Hello can’t always recognize your face (ex: with and without glasses, different lighting conditions, or face angles) while trying to unlock and sign in to your PC, then you may need to improve recognition for your face to help.
This tutorial will show you how to improve recognition for the Windows Hello facial recognition sign-in option for your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
You can set up facial recognition sign-in with your PC’s infrared camera or an external infrared camera.
This tutorial will show you how to set up the Windows Hello facial recognition sign-in option for your account in Windows 11.
You can speed up the Windows sign-in process by turning on Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up after an update to automatically sign in and set up your PC after an update or restart. Windows will then lock your device to help keep your account and personal info safe.
During a Windows Update, there are user specific processes that must happen for the update to be complete. These processes require the user to be logged in to their device. On the first login after an update has been initiated, users must wait until these user specific processes are complete before they can start using their device.
When Windows Update initiates an automatic reboot, ARSO (Winlogon automatic restart sign-on) extracts the currently logged in user’s derived credentials, persists it to disk, and configures Autologon for the user. Windows Update running as system with TCB privilege will initiate the RPC call to do this.
After the final Windows Update reboot, the user will automatically be logged in via the Autologon mechanism, and the user’s session is rehydrated with the persisted secrets. Additionally, the device is locked to protect the user’s session. The locking will be initiated via Winlogon whereas the credential management is done by the Local Security Authority (LSA). Upon a successful ARSO configuration and login, the saved credentials are immediately deleted from disk.
By automatically logging in and locking the user on the console, Windows Update can complete the user specific processes before the user returns to the device. In this way, the user can immediately start using their device.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable automatically sign in and lock last user after an update or restart in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
If you forgot your PIN, you can reset the PIN if you know your account’s password.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable reset PIN at sign-in for all Microsoft accounts in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
This tutorial will show you how to change the PIN for your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
If you forgot your PIN, you can reset the PIN if you know your account’s password.
This tutorial will show you how to reset the PIN for your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
This tutorial will show you how to add the Windows Hello PIN sign-in option from your account in 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.
These options help make it easier and safer to sign into your PC because your PIN is only associated with one device and it’s backed up for recovery with your Microsoft account.
How is a PIN different from (and better than) a password? On the surface, a PIN looks much like a password. A PIN can be a set of numbers, but enterprise policy might allow complex PINs that include special characters and letters, both upper-case and lower-case. Something like t758A! could be an account password or a complex Hello PIN. It isn’t the structure of a PIN (length, complexity) that makes it better than a password, it’s how it works.
You can remove the PIN sign-in option from your account if wanted.
This tutorial will show you how to remove the Windows Hello PIN sign-in option from your account in Windows 11.
The lock screen is the screen you see at startup and when you lock (Win+L) the PC. You will need to dismiss the lock screen to to see the sign-in screen and sign in to Windows.
By default, the sign-in screen background image has an acrylic blur effect as part of Windows 11 transparency effects.
If you would prefer to have a clear sign-in screen background image without affecting other transparency effects for users, you can enable the Show clear logon background group policy.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the acrylic blur effect on the sign-in screen background image for all users in Windows 11.