PIN stop working on Windows login. Cannot change or reset the PIN.

I was using PIN to unlock my Windows 10 computers for years. But one day my laptop requested Password instead of PIN. Moreover the PIN option disappeared from the Welcome screen completely :(

Finally, I've remembered my password, get logged and decided to set the PIN again.

But System Settings worked weird: "Add New PIN" button was available, but when I clicked it, the system asked for the PIN instead of Password! Moreover, there was no "Reset PIN" or "Forgot PIN" option :(

I've been Googling this bug for about 30 minutes but none of the solutions worked for me… Then I tried to remove the PIN settings manually and solve the problem :)

Here is a step by step instruction:

You need a file manager with Administrator access level and enabled view for "hidden files". You can use Windows Explorer but you have to add permissions for some folders manually.

Go to "[Windows]\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Ngc" folder:

Delete or rename "{xyz}" sub-folder.

Open "System Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options", press "Add" button and create a new PIN code for your account.

After that the PIN will work on the Login screen. "Remove" button and "I forgot my PIN" options are also available:

Let me know if you have any issues with PIN on Windows login. Just write a comment to describe how and when the problem appeared. Thank you.

Cannot format flash drive or delete partition from SD card? I will help you.

Sometimes Flash drives, storage sticks and cards become useless even if they are not physically damaged. Such drive is recognized by operating system, but the size is wrong (less than should be) and very often the user cannot even format the disk.

Yesterday I've got 2 such devices at once! I was trying to install Chrome OS on my netbook, so wrote the image of Chromium bootable drive to 4GB flash stick and 16GB SD card…

As I understand Google developers think (can they?) that having many partitions on disk is a cool true hackers way! They use 10 (Ten!) partitions on a small 4GB drive!!!

The biggest problem is that you cannot delete all these strange partitions and unallocated spaces using standard programs. Even Disk manager administrative tool will not help :( So here is a step by step instruction on how to clear unnecessary partitions on the disk and get flash drive or memory card back to normal life.

• Press Win+R.
• Type DiskPart and press OK or Enter.
• Push Yes button in UAC warning window.

DiskPart.exe console should appear, next steps could damage your computer data, so be very careful!

• list disk - shows the list of all disks in the system.
• select disk X - where X is a number of disk you want to fix.
• list disk - call this command again, to make sure you've selected the right disk! You'll see * mark near the selected disk.

Next steps will destroy all data on the disk! Do you want to continue?

• clean - cleans the disk in 90% of cases.

If clean command fails, you have to delete each partition on the disk manually, by repeating the following 2-3 commands until all partitions are gone.

• list partition - shows the list of all partitions on the disk.
• select partition 1 - selects the currently first partition.
• delete partition override - override parameter allows deleting a locked partition.

When the disk is cleaned, you should create a primary active partition, then format the drive and assign some letter to it. Follow these commands:

• create partition primary - creates a partition for the whole disk.
• select partition 1 - choose current partition to perform other operation.
• active - makes partition active, so it could be a bootable one.
• format quick fs=fat32 - formats the disk, FAT32 is a standard file system for Flash Drives and SD cards.
• assign - sets some letter name for the logical drive.

That's all. Now you can close DiskPart.exe console, in a hacker style, by typing exit command or by clicking common x button on the right top corner of the Window :)

Hope this tutorial will help people to get disappeared megabytes back from memory cards and even fix some of "dead" flash drives.

List of software I've created

Another memory for keeping in the same place :)

Software created by KARPOLAN

Disk and Partition Recovery Software

I've published new software to recover data from computer disks. The program is called Data Remedy.

Also, I've started a special blog about disk recovery software, news, announces, and other useful information about data recovering.

New version of Data Cure software

Data Cure software version 1.5 is fully compatible with Windows 7 now. Get more information about this software release: File Data Recovery 1.5.

Now to undelete files

I've published new article to describe how to recover deleted files and folders.

File Recovering Software

I've published new software to restore accidentally deleted files and folders. This data recovery software is called Data Cure. Also I've created a thematic blog to post news, announces, and interesting information about data recovering.