Setting up a Pin on Windows 10 for authentication

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 5, 2016
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Windows, Windows 10
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Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system ships with several means of authentication, including Pin authentication to sign in to the operating system.

Most Windows 10 users are probably using passwords, either for a local or Microsoft account, to sign in to devices running Windows.

Windows 10 ships with several alternative options to sign in to a user account, namely Pin, Windows Hello and Picture Password.

One question that may come to mind is why one would want to use different authentication means, and the answer to that question is convenience, and potentially limiting access if the data falls into the wrong hands as well.

A pin is not really more convenient than a password, apart from not having to tap on the enter-key to sign in after entering the pin if you set it up to be secure.

The main advantage however is that pins are linked to devices which means that they cannot be used to access the Microsoft Account online, or sign in to other devices the user has access to using it. For local accounts, it does not really make a difference unless the password is used elsewhere as well.

A Pin is mostly useful in situations where others may see what you enter when you sign in to the operating system, and not really beneficial at all in terms of security when no one is around and the screen is not recorded.

Setting up a Pin on Windows 10

create a pin windows 10

To set up a Pin on Windows 10 which you can use to sign in on the device, do the following:

  1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open the Settings application on the system.
  2. Navigate to Accounts > Sign-In options.
  3. Locate the Pin section on the page.
  4. Click or tap on the add button.
  5. Enter the account password for verification.
  6. Type the new pin you want to use, and confirm it. Only numbers can be used to set the Pin of which at least four need to be selected. There is probably an upper limit as well, but the system had no issues with a 32 digit pin

You may use the same configuration screen to change or remove the pin again from the device.

Pin Complexity Policies

pin complexity

Microsoft added several policies to Windows 10 to change the complexity of the Pin. The Group Policy is only available on Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 10.

  1. Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
  2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Passport for Work > Pin Complexity.

These policies allow you to configure custom Pin complexity rules, for instance that the Pin should contain upper or lowercase characters, special characters, or needs to be of a minimum length.

Require Digits

If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work requires users to include at least one digit in their PIN.

If you disable this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work does not allow users to use digits in their PIN.

Require Lowercase Letters

If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work requires users to include at least one uppercase letter in their PIN.

If you disable this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work does not allow users to use digits in their PIN.

Maximum Pin Length

Maximum PIN length configures the maximum number of characters allowed for the PIN.  The largest number you can configure for this policy setting is 127. The lowest number you can configure must be larger than the number configured in the Minimum PIN length policy setting or the number 4, whichever is greater.

Minimum Pin Length

Minimum PIN length configures the minimum number of characters required for the PIN.  The lowest number you can configure for this policy setting is 4.  The largest number you can configure must be less than the number configured in the Maximum PIN length policy setting or the number 127, whichever is the lowest.

Expiration

This setting specifies the period of time (in days) that a PIN can be used before the system requires the user to change it. The PIN can be set to expire after any number of days between 1 and 730, or PINs can be set to never expire if the policy is set to 0

History

This setting specifies the number of past PINs that can be associated to a user account that can’t be reused. This policy enables administrators to enhance security by ensuring that old PINs are not reused continually. PIN history is not preserved through PIN reset.

The value must be between 0 to 50 PINs. If this policy is set to 0, then storage of previous PINs is not required.

Require special characters

Use this policy setting to configure the use of special characters in the Microsoft Passport for PIN.  Allowable special characters are: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ .

If you enable this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work requires users to include at least one special character in their PIN.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work does not allow users to use special characters in their PIN.

Require uppercase letters

If you enable this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work requires users to include at least one uppercase letter in their PIN.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Microsoft Passport for Work does not allow users to use uppercase letters in their PIN.

Resources

The following resources offer additional information about the use of PINs on Windows 10.

Summary
Setting up a Pin on Windows 10 for authentication
Article Name
Setting up a Pin on Windows 10 for authentication
Description
Find out how to set up a Pin on Windows 10 as an alternate means of authentication, and how to change Pin complexity rules.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

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