{"id":5219,"date":"2017-01-18T23:17:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T17:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=5219"},"modified":"2019-06-30T12:17:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T12:17:15","slug":"pin-sign-in-changes-password-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-sign-in-changes-password-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Default Sign-in Option Changes to Password from PIN Automatically in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you sign-in to your user account or unlock the workstation, the last used sign-in method (PIN, Password or Windows Hello) is saved to the registry, and the same will be used the next time. However, you may notice that the default sign-in option reverts to password at every restart, even though you used PIN sign-in<\/a> the last time to unlock the computer.<\/p>\n

\"windows<\/p>\n

You can click the “Sign-in options” link below the password field and select PIN option — but it requires two mouse clicks every time.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

::UPDATE::<\/strong> This issue seems to have been fixed in Windows 10 v1903<\/strong>. The PIN sign-in choice is preserved even with automatic login<\/a> enabled.<\/p>\n

\n

Why does the default sign-in option change from PIN to Password?<\/h4>\n

One reason why this problem happens is, you’ve configured automatic login<\/a> to your Microsoft account using username and password, with control userpasswords2<\/code> (netplwiz.exe<\/code>) method or using any other tool.<\/p>\n

With automatic login enabled, when Windows starts, it logs in to your account automatically and immediately updates the last used sign-in method or the authentication mechanism, in the registry. This applies for every successful authentication — whether it’s a workstation unlock, or fresh login either locally or through remote desktop.<\/p>\n

The last sign-in mechanism is stored in the following key, in the value name that matches your user account SID:<\/p>\n

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Authentication\\LogonUI\\UserTile<\/pre>\n
\"set<\/p>\n
The SID value data contains the last used credential provider<\/a> GUID. And manipulating the above key would be asking for trouble, as it might prove disastrous.<\/p>\n
I used a REG file to update the last credential provider using Task Scheduler at every login and it did work well for some time. After a couple of reboots, Windows 10 stalled at “Preparing Windows” screen and logged me into a temporary profile. Fortunately, it was a test system and I had created a System Restore point beforehand.<\/em><\/p>\n
Workaround<\/h2>\n
To set PIN as the default sign-in method always, disabling automatic login<\/strong> is probably the only option right now. To do so, start netplwiz.exe<\/code>. Enable the checkbox “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”, and click OK. This clears the saved auto-logon credentials.<\/p>\n
\"set<\/p>\n
Some users will say that would be the poorest trade-off, though. What users want is to automatically login to their account at startup, but set PIN<\/a> as the default sign-in option when unlocking the device while logged on. Unfortunately, there is no safe way to do that, yet.<\/p>\n
<\/a>What are Credential Providers?<\/h2>\n
You don’t have to read this section — it just provides a brief intro on credential providers.<\/small><\/p>\n
Credential providers are responsible for user authentication not just for Windows login, but also for authentication into apps, websites, etc.<\/p>\n
Depending upon the login method you use — Password, PIN, biometric devices (Windows Hello – Fingerprint, Face, and Iris recognition), the respective credential provider takes charge and does user authentication to verify your identity.<\/p>\n
Each credential provider is represented by a globally unique identifier (GUID). The GUID {D6886603-9D2F-4EB2-B667-1971041FA96B}<\/code> is the credentials provider for PIN-based sign-in. When you use a password to login to your Microsoft Account (not local account), the GUID used is {F8A0B131-5F68-486C-8040-7E8FC3C85BB6}<\/code><\/p>\n
This page<\/a> at Sophos lists most, if not all, of the system credentials providers in Windows 10. And, check out the Microsoft developer documentation about Credential Providers in Windows 10<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you sign-in to your user account or unlock the workstation, the last used sign-in method (PIN, Password or Windows Hello) is saved to the registry, and the same will be used the next time. However, you may notice that the default sign-in option reverts to password at every restart, even though you used PIN … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-5219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29317,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/something-happened-pin-not-available-diagnostic-mode\/","url_meta":{"origin":5219,"position":0},"title":"Error “Something happened and your PIN isn’t available” in Diagnostic Startup","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The System Configuration utility (msconfig.exe) has a mode called \"Diagnostic startup, \" which starts Windows with minimal drivers and services. Over 200 services are disabled in that mode. After enabling the Diagnostic Startup mode in the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) and rebooting, you may be unable to sign in to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"msconfig - switch to \"normal startup\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/msconfig-normal-startup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/msconfig-normal-startup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/msconfig-normal-startup.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24393,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/auto-login-user-account-windows-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":5219,"position":1},"title":"How to Automatically Login to your Account in Windows 11 and Earlier","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Every version of Windows, from Windows 2000 to Windows 11, allows you to automatically log in to your user account without typing the password. This is possible by securely storing the user account credentials using the Netplwiz.exe utility. However, on Windows 10 and Windows 11, some more steps are necessary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"automatic login sysinternals autologon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/w11-auto-login-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18534,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/users-must-enter-user-name-and-password-missing\/","url_meta":{"origin":5219,"position":2},"title":"“Users must enter a user name and password” option missing","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open the User Accounts dialog by running control userpasswords2 or netplwiz.exe to configure automatic login to your user account, the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option may be missing in that dialog. As a result, you're unable to configure auto-login to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"userpasswords2 password checkbox missing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/userpasswords2-option-missing-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8540,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-errors-8009002d-8007139f-80090030-80090032\/","url_meta":{"origin":5219,"position":3},"title":"[Fix] PIN Errors 0x8009002d, 0x8007139f, 0x80090030, 0x80090032 and 0x80090016","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When creating or changing the PIN for a user account on a Windows 10 computer, one of the errors 0x8009002d, 0x8007139f, 0x80090030, 0x80090032 or 0x80090016 may appear. 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When signing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"enable PTT in Dell BIOS","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/enable-ptt-dell-bios.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/enable-ptt-dell-bios.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/enable-ptt-dell-bios.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76731,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-password-missing-sign-in-options\/","url_meta":{"origin":5219,"position":4},"title":"No Option to Change Password in Settings (Sign-in Options)","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Sign-in Options in Settings in a Windows 10 or 11 system, the option to change the password may be missing. 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