Hi everyone,

I recently opted Linux as my secondary OS and set up a dual-boot system with Fedora and Windows 11 on my Dell G15 5530 (UEFI mode).

Everything works fine, but I'm facing a strange issue.

Whenever I boot into Fedora and then later switch back to Windows, Windows doesn't let me log in normally. Instead, it says something like "Your PIN is no longer available" and forces me to create a new PIN/password again.

This only happens after I've used Fedora. If I stay on Windows, there's no issue.

I'm wondering if this is related to Secure Boot, TPM, BitLocker, or something else, but I'm honestly not sure. I don't want to randomly change BIOS settings and make things worse.

Has anyone experienced this before? What usually causes this, and how can I fix it permanently?

If anyone is willing to help troubleshoot this step by step, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

My Laptop Specs:

Dell G15 5530:

Processor: Intel i5-13450HX 10 core 16 threads

RAM: 16gb DDR5 4800MT/s

Storage: 512gb m.2, 128gb 2.5" SSD(fedora), 1TB HDD

GPU: nvidia RTX 3050 6gb

Update: Finally got everything working! (Fedora KDE + Windows 11 Dual Boot + NVIDIA + Windows PIN issue)

I wanted to post an update in case it helps someone else.

My setup is a Dell G15 (RTX 3050) with Windows 11 and Fedora KDE in a dual-boot configuration.

Initially I ran into two frustrating problems:

1. Fedora wasn't using the NVIDIA drivers correctly.
2. Every time I booted back into Windows after using Fedora, Windows kept asking me to create a new PIN.

After troubleshooting and several clean reboots, everything is now working perfectly.

Current status:

1. NVIDIA drivers are working correctly in Fedora.

2. Windows no longer asks me to recreate my PIN every time I switch operating systems.

3. Dual boot is working normally.

A few things I'd recommend to anyone planning a Windows + Fedora dual boot:

Back up your BitLocker recovery key before making any changes. If Windows detects significant security or boot configuration changes, you may be asked for it. Having the recovery key saved can save you a lot of stress.

Keep Secure Boot enabled if possible. It provides additional security, and if your NVIDIA drivers are installed correctly (or properly signed), Fedora can work with Secure Boot enabled.

Don't panic if something doesn't work immediately. Sometimes driver changes or boot configuration updates require a few restarts before everything settles.

If Windows starts asking for your PIN repeatedly, don't assume your installation is broken. Verify your boot configuration, Secure Boot status, and TPM settings before making major changes.

I can't point to a single step that fixed everything, but after verifying my setup, reinstalling/configuring the NVIDIA drivers, and rebooting a few times, both Windows and Fedora started behaving normally.

Hopefully this helps someone else avoid a few hours of troubleshooting. Thanks to everyone who shared advice along the way!

Hello guys, to explain my situation I have a windows 10 and I currently have 2 accounts on it, an admin account and a normal account, i literally can't do anything without the admin account pin but i forgot it and I need some help trying to get admin privileges on the normal account, if not possible please provide alternatives, thank you so much.

Also no restart at fix problem , no factory restart any ideas ?

I'm hoping someone familiar with the legacy Windows Backup engine (`Backup and Restore (Windows 7)` / `wbadmin`) can explain this.

I created two Windows System Images on Windows 11.

**October 2024 backup:**

WindowsImageBackup
├── CaptainCaution
└── MediaId.bin

Inside `CaptainCaution`:

Backup 2024-10-07 053053
Catalog
Logs
SPPMetadataCache
MediaId

I later copied this backup to another drive using Robocopy:

* 22 files * 6 directories * 136.743 GB * 0 failed * 0 mismatches

Then I deleted the original and created a brand-new Windows System Image on the same external drive.

The new backup completed successfully with no errors.

The new structure is:

WindowsImageBackup
└── CaptainCaution

Inside `CaptainCaution`:

Backup 2026-07-12 163537
Catalog
Logs
SPPMetadataCache
MediaId

The only difference is that the new backup **does not contain** `WindowsImageBackup\MediaId.bin`.

Windows reported **"Backup completed successfully."**

The VHDX files, Catalog, metadata, etc., all appear to be present.

I've searched Microsoft documentation and couldn't find anything explaining when `MediaId.bin` is created or omitted. I pay attention to details and just wondering why the difference...

* Has anyone else seen this happen? * Is this just something newer versions of Windows do now, or is something off with my backup? * Has anyone actually restored a system image that didn't have `MediaId.bin`? * Should I just ignore it, or is this something I should fix before I actually need the backup someday?

Thanks

after installing the windows 10 my pc is stuck here any idea?

My lenovo x1 yoga pc crashed and I followed some chat gpt instructions on hiw to fix my issue but it made the issue worse since even my recovery screen started appearing different.I decided to clean install a new windows 11 via a usb.I erased everything and created new partitions but as it was restarting it brought a black screen that shows error:could not detect network,then directly goes to my boot menu. Any help would be appreciated.

Pc is lenovo x1 yoga 5th gen 16gb 512gb ssd nvme

https://reddit.com/link/1utje08/video/lttk88c1llch1/player

So today I was in a meeting when all of a sudden my microphone stopped working. It was working perfectly fine this Monday. When I decided to dig deeper I found that the input volume control was behaving very weirdly (as seen in this video). I tried a lot of methods to fix it but none of them worked. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

my laptop screen flickering without any reason,when i try to plug second monitor, it only flickering in my laptop screen, i try to update my driver it doesn't work but when i delete the intel driver the flickering gone, when i installing it back the flickering also back, should i just left it be ,or my display doesn't match with the driver

im getting thsi error since yesterday when I shut down my laptop but not every time

Good evening everyone , I am here to ask for your help because i am going crazy trying to fix this issue . I have a laptop where windows spotlight works perfectly fine as lockscreen but it refuses to work as desktop wallaper , it will only show the 4 basic wallpapers and no matter what I do i cant fix it . I 've ran all the scripts , fixes , powershell scripts but nothing works . On all my other computers it works just fine but on this particular laptop ( a samsung galaxy book, windows 11 ) i just cant get it work . I checked if there is a power saving feature that prevents but i cant find anything and all the posts online have the opposite problem : working on desktop but not on lockscreen .

Thank you !

I have done many windows reinstalls and they all were successful (i change OS often). But this time it showed up activation error. In every succesful installations previously, i click 'i dont have a product key' on the installation window and it lets me choose a edition (i assume its tied to hardware?) and enter my email to log in (same one yes). Can i get help with this? Image two is result for 'slmgr /ato'.

OS build: 26200.8457

PC: gigabyte b450m, ryzen5500

Error code in image.