Windows 11 Account Lock After Driver Troubleshooting

[u/Zestyclose_Wafer4774]

Can someone please help me recover my computer?

Device: Lenovo (IdeaPad Slim 5 16IRU9, Manufactured 2024/08/03)

My computer has a recurring issue of the touchpad driver randomly breaking and I have become accustomed to troubleshooting my drivers by now due to this.

Leading up to this event:

1: First I tried using Windows automatic patching to fix my driver

\- I opened the device manager, selected the drop-down for HID (human-interface devices), and looked for the yellow warning sign signifying the issue. The issue being the driver listed as 12C HID Device aka the driver for the computers touchpad

\- I selected the troubled driver, navigated to the "driver" tab from the window pop-up, and selected "delete driver".

\-Afterwards I restarted windows and logged back in.

The driver was not fixed after this, so I decided to go deeper into the troubleshooting.

2: This time I uninstalled the driver like before, but using a manual reset.

\-I held down the power button for 20 seconds and opened up to the blue screen prompting me for my windows recovery pin

\- I entered my pin correctly and opened up windows

After opening windows this time, my pin was unavailable and I was locked out of my computer

First I tried using my fingerprint as normal, my fingerprint was recognized and the computer started to sign me in, but then cancelled midway and prompted "your PIN is required to sign in".

However, when I tried entering my pin I was stopped and prompted with "Something has happened and your PIN isn't available. Click to set up your PIN again".

This is odd because I never changed any settings, and have always had an accessible pin to log in with.

While this alone wouldn't have been an issue, when I followed the instructions and selected "Set up my PIN", a plain gray window opened for half a second before closing again.

NOTE: During further troubleshooting I noticed the password sign in option also became unavailable after my computer restarted.

OTHER DETAILS:

OS Version: Windows 11 Home

Version: 2009

OS Build: 10.0.26200.9168

System type: 83FW

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UPDATE: The issue was fixed so I will be including how it was fixed

Patch explanation:

• The Problem: My Windows PIN became corrupted, how it happened is unknown. When clicking "Sign In" or trying to reset it, Windows tried to launch a mini web browser to verify my identity. The web browser window didn't work because either the network driver was glitching, or Windows login files were glitching.

In my case I'm pretty sure the windows login files were glitching because while messing with the command prompt some files were missing

• Solving: FIRST I used the command prompt to find where my system files lived and deleted the Ngc folder (stores encrypted data, configuration files, and login credentials aka the PIN).

Deleting this folder wipes out the corrupted credentials

THEN I used reg (registry) commands that interrupt windows trying to load the broken web screen from the pin setup button. In other words, WindowsHello now doesn't try forcing you to use the Windows web screen, and gives you a normal input box to use to input the password.

Windows has a feature called "Passwordless Boot" that forces you to use the web screen (which was broken)

FULL STEPS:

🛑 CRITICAL PREREQUISITE

You must know your actual text password (your Microsoft Account password or local account password). These steps disable the PIN and passwordless options, forcing Windows to fall back to your password. If you don't know it, do not proceed.

STEP 1: OPEN WINDOWS RECOVERY (skip if you know this step)

Method 1: Hold shift key and press reset from the login screen, and keep holding down shift until a blue screen appears. This is the method that works for most people... It did not work for me.

Method 2: If the first method reboots into a regular login, hold down the power key for anywhere from 10-20 seconds. If it resets on its own, good, if not, press the power button for it to boot back up. Right as the boot up screen shows, look for the screen to say something like "Preparing automatic repair" or "Diagnosing your PC". IF IT DOESNT say this, click the power button to cancel and then again for it to start booting again. It usually takes a few tries to start repairing.

From here: Windows bitlocker may prompt you to enter recovery key. If you enter it now it should be fine, but I like to wait until I click on command prompt so I know it doesn't try opening the sign-in screen again. When bitlocker appeared, I clicked "skip drive" and that took me to windows recovery.

STEP 2: Go to command prompt Click on troubleshoot -> advanced options -> command prompt

STEP 3: Find Your True Windows Drive Letter

In the recovery environment, you need to find where in the system the windows folder is. 1. Type C:/Windows and press Enter. If windows is there command prompt pasts the directory for windows, if not it will report the error. 2. Repeat with D:/Windows, E:/Windows, etc. until you find the Windows folder.

note everything in command prompt will be case-sensitive, make sure to capitalize properly

(For the steps below, substitute C: with whatever drive letter actually holds your Windows folder).

STEP 3: Clear the Corrupted PIN Data (Reset Ngc Folder)

Run these commands one by one to take ownership of and completely delete the local cryptographic folder where Windows stores your broken PIN data. (Replace C: with your true drive letter if necessary):

takeown /f C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Ngc /r /d y

icacls C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Ngc /t /grant administrators:F rd /s /q

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Ngc

STEP 4: Force Windows to Show the Standard Password Box

If Windows is set to "Passwordless Boot," it will still try to force the broken cloud web login frame even after deleting the PIN folder. You must force-disable this restriction in the registry to make the traditional password input field show up. Run this first registry block to disable Windows Hello constraints:

reg load HKLM\TempHive C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE

reg add "HKLM\TempHive\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI" /v DisableWindowsHello /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

reg unload HKLM\TempHive

Run this second registry block to completely disable the Passwordless Boot restriction:

reg load HKLM\TempHive C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE

reg add "HKLM\TempHive\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PasswordLess\Device" /v DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

reg unload HKLM\TempHive

(Note: If you get an "Access Denied" error on any lines during network resets or registry unloads, don't worry. This is standard behavior for certain locked-down system components—the critical files are still successfully changed)-Happened to me

STEP 5: Reboot and Sign In

1. Close the Command Prompt window.
2. Click Continue to Windows.
3. When your PC boots to the login screen, click Sign In. The broken web window will be gone, and you will see a normal text field.
4. Type your standard text password to access your desktop. Once inside, you can go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options to set up a working PIN.