I've been having this weird problem with my Windows PC. Every time I lock my computer and come back to it, I can't enter my PIN. It always gives me this error: "Something went wrong and your PIN isn't available (status: 0x0000234, substatus: 0x0)." After restarting, I could use my PIN again, but when I tried locking it once more, the problem returned. After another restart, I couldn't enter my PIN again at all. Finally, I did a system restore from a few days back, and that seemed to fix it for now. But now I'm worried—am I hacked, or is this just a corruption issue? I only have a local account and I can't recall my password or figure out how to reset it since there's no option for password recovery. I also ran a command (sfc scannow) to check for integrity issues, and it said everything is fine. Any insights?
2 Answers
If you're comfortable with using PowerShell, here’s a way to try and fix the issue:
1. **Open PowerShell as Administrator** by pressing `Win + X` and selecting **Windows Terminal (Admin)**.
2. Run these commands in order:
- Stop the Windows Hello PIN service: `Stop-Service -Name "NgcCtnrSvc" -Force`
- Take ownership of the NGC folder: `takeown /f C:WindowsServiceProfilesLocalServiceAppDataLocalMicrosoftNGC /r /d y`
- Grant full control to administrators: `icacls C:WindowsServiceProfilesLocalServiceAppDataLocalMicrosoftNGC /grant Administrators:F /t`
- Delete all contents to reset the PIN: `Remove-Item C:WindowsServiceProfilesLocalServiceAppDataLocalMicrosoftNGC* -Recurse`
3. Restart your computer and set up a new PIN under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.
This should hopefully get you back on track!
It’s tough to say for sure whether you've been hacked or not. If you're unsure about your password being changed, there's really no way to confirm that. Since you're using a local account and didn't set up recovery questions, you won't have an easy way to reset your password. One option is to create a new local account, log in to that, copy over your files, and then delete the old account. Just make sure to answer the password questions this time or keep your password somewhere safe in case you forget your PIN again!
I tried that, but now I can't log into my computer because I forgot the password! What do I do?