I can't seem to get into Windows anymore.

[sage flame]

You'll need to use external tools to enable the default administrator account as well as clear your password. Then, log into the admin and use group policy (or registry) to disable pin and windows hello

[earnest umbra]

How do I use external tools.

[sage flame]

Bootable USB

Windows installer or hirens

[earnest umbra]

Ah damn, can I just use the reset this PC option or will that just give me the same problem.

[sage flame]

I mean if you want to lose all of your files and have to reinstall all of your programs, yes you can do that

I generally prioritize preserving data

[earnest umbra]

I only have the USB which I used to install windows 11 on it the first time around does that qualify as a bootable USB.

[sage flame]

Yes

Erm wait no

I just double checked

You can't enable accounts from an installer

You specifically need hirens or some similar tool

Do you have access to another computer?

[earnest umbra]

I don't know if it will work but I'll try and boot it up.

[sage flame]

What do you mean by that?

Is it older than windows 10?

[earnest umbra]

It's my old windows 11 laptop, I used it to install windows 11 on to the USB before but shortly after it stopped working.

[earnest umbra]

I have a list of options here but I am not sure which one I need specifically.

[sage flame]

Download Hirens Boot CD, it is an ISO file https://www.hirensbootcd.org/

Use Rufus or Balena Etcher to make the flash drive bootable for Hirens

Boot into the flash drive on your main PC

There should be a folder on the desktop for tools, or something similar. It's been a while so bear with me

In that folder should be something like security tools, and then something like password tools. I believe there are 3 options.

Use NT Password Edit or Windows Login Unlocker to do two things - set the password of your account to any arbitrary value (not blank) and enable the Administrator account

From there, in theory, you should be able to just boot into Windows normally, log into the Administrator account (no password), and then use group policy OR registry to disable convenience pin sign in (and/or windows hello as a whole)

After that, reboot, sign into Administrator again, and delete the pin files. I don't remember where they are, google is your friend (same with the GP stuff)

Finally, reboot one more time and you should be able to log into your actual account without the pin, just the password you set earlier.

After that, if you want to, reverse the changes you made to GP and set the pin back up (you might need to reboot)

[earnest umbra]

Thanks, I'll try this when I get to another PC, my laptop is still broken. The download on this one keeps breaking.

[grand plank]

oh i had that happen after a bios update but it just needed to do a 2fa thing

[sage flame]

Considering they already attempted to reset the pin, that likely isn't an option

[long sand]

I had this problem and tried resetting it twice, and it worked. If you don’t have a Microsoft account, it probably wouldn’t work

[sage flame]

Regardless, the method I have outlined is guaranteed to work every single time, provided the drive isn't bitlocker'd

Even then, if you can access MS account then you can get the key

[earnest umbra]

I tried it. It hasn't worked. I changed all the passwords there. Because I wasn't sure which exact account was mine.

I might just consider resetting my PC, but I am worried about the bit locker.

[sage flame]

Your account would be "Me"

Password is marked as unknown, and admin is marked as disabled

Hang on

Use Windows Login Unlocker to set Administrator to enabled. Sometimes that alone doesn't work, and when that happens you can give it whatever password after enabling it

Then use NT Password Editor (NTPWEdit) to change the password on the "Me" account (do not click unlock, do not make the password blank)

From there, you should be able to follow the rest of the steps to the letter and it'll work

You mentioned being worried about bitlocker. That screenshot shows that it was able to access your drive, which means it either isn't bitlocker'd or you have your recovery key. In either case, you're fine

[earnest umbra]

I see, thanks. I'll try it now.

[earnest umbra]

I couldn't get into accounts, for some reason that setting just closes settings whenever I clicked it. So I went into the registry and deleted NGC folder I think it was. But it still hasn't worked when I restarted.

I also had a look at the group policy editor and nothing has been configured.

I tried powershell as well, but it cannot be done through safe mode, which I don't know how to safely exit.

I think I will next have to try and exit through command prompt but I want to make sure, I don't do anything that accidently runs me into bit locker, before I see you say that it's not activated or I have my code, but I don't know what my code is, so that must mean it's not activated I presume. If so, then perhaps I can try command prompt?

If nothing works, I don't mind resetting my PC, since I am worried that I have corrupted my OS anyway.

[sage flame]

Not configured means use defaults

And default is enable

[sage flame]

Nothing you do in cmd would trigger bitlocker

But yeah it isn't even turned on to begin with

If it was, hirens wouldn't have been able to access the drive

[earnest umbra]

I managed to get in by removing turning off safe mode in MS config but I think my windows is corrupted. I cannot connect to the internet, or even troubleshoot the network.

[sage flame]

Are you logged in as yourself?

[earnest umbra]

Yeah, I made it back into my personal account.

[sage flame]

Try running sfc /scannow in admin cmd

Windows is definitely messed up

You can also try running dism using the WIM file from an installer

[earnest umbra]

For some reason the image is noisy, sorry about that.

I tried command and IP config and nothing worked. I tried to update drivers as well but I am not sure.

[sage flame]

What's in device manager?

[earnest umbra]

These are the network adapters I updated scanned, it just says it's up to date.

[sage flame]

Open up services and make sure these are set to auto start:

WLAN AutoConfig
Network Connections
Network List Service

You can also use netsh wlan show interfaces in cmd to verify it's actually seeing the adapter

Sometimes it'll show up in device manager but windows won't use it

Oh and also make sure the wifi card isn't disabled in control panel

That's separate from device manager

[earnest umbra]

Sorry the image quality is so bad. I have only delayed start option here.

[sage flame]

What do you mean you only have delayed start

You're literally hovering over automatic

Regardless, set all 3 of those services to automatic. Or delayed start if that's the only option available. Then restart

With some luck, that'll fix it @earnest umbra

[earnest umbra]

Oh my mistake. I'll select automatic for each then.

If I have Ethernet, would it be wise to select wired autoconfig as well.

[sage flame]

If you have access to ethernet, then yes you should also ensure its services are active

[earnest umbra]

Still no luck.

[sage flame]

Did you restart your pc after setting them to automatic start?

If not, do that. If you did and it's saying that, run net start wlansvc and see what happens @earnest umbra

Oh and make sure you're clicking apply after changing the startup type

[earnest umbra]

Yeah, I restarted it and I checked services and cmd to see if the settings were still the same and even though it says automatic now, cmd still says not running.

[sage flame]

So try manually starting them and see what happens

net start wlansvc will start the first one

[earnest umbra]

It gave me error 1068.

[sage flame]

Make sure these 3 services are running. Start with the bottom two as RPC depends on them

These too. Check in this order (and activate in this order):

RPC
Network Store Interface Service
DHCP Client
DNS Client
WinHTTP Web Prox Auto-Discovery Service
Windows Connection Manager

[earnest umbra]

RPC is running but the locator is disabled.

[sage flame]

locator?

[earnest umbra]

This one.

[sage flame]

It's a deprecated function

Meaning it isn't used

If it wasn't in the list I gave, it isn't relevant

[earnest umbra]

Ah nice, it worked but windows still feels super buggy. I'll see if maybe installing a bunch of updates fixes it hopefully.

Thanks so much for all the help.

If the updates don't solve it. I might still have to reset or change some more settings.

[sage flame]

Run through all the available updates, if that doesn't fix it you can try using "Reset This PC" with the online option, make sure you pick the one that preserves data

I never recommend that feature because it sucks, but with how badly messed up your Windows is, it might actually fix some stuff

If all else fails, do a full reinstall from a flash drive

Now that your PC works again, check the health of your boot drive with crystaldiskinfo, and check for memory errors with memtest86. We want to make sure this wasn't caused by a hardware problem

[earnest umbra]

Something seems wrong with the updates. I'll try memtest and crystaldisk and maybe reset.

Oh no. Nothing is downloading anymore. I can't even download crystaldiskmark. It just seems to automatically cancel.

Next, I'll try memtest86

[sage flame]

Just start the test you don't need to configure anything

[earnest umbra]

It's asleep now, is that okay?

[sage flame]

Do you see how right next to that there's a countdown for when sleep ends?

Let it run through all of the tests. It will either say PASS in big green letters, or there will be errors listed at the bottom

[earnest umbra]

Oh I see, mb, I'll continue to wait.

[sage flame]

Looks like it was most likely windows bad

Do what I said above, reset with keep data, online not local

If that doesn't fix it, you'll need to do a full wipe from a usb installer(unless you want to try more crazy stuff, but I don't feel like working on this any more than I have so you'd be on your own)