Unable to Set Windows Hello PIN

What is Windows Hello?

Windows Hello is a great feature that allows you to login in with just your Face. But setting it up can be a bit troublesome at times and there appears to be an issue impacting a number of users where it doesn’t allow you to set a new Windows Hello PIN code. 

The issue shows itself when you first create a Windows account. You enter your account information, scan your face and it prompts you to enter a PIN code. After doing so you receive an error: 

Something went wrong
We weren’t able to set up your PIN. You can try again, or skip this step and set up a PIN later. 

So you try it again. Same error. You reboot and retry. Same error. But fear not Windows user, we have you covered with THREE solutions to try.

Solution 1 – Delete the contents of your Ngc folder

There are some users that have found the following steps work:

1. Sign-in to Windows with an Administrator
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to*: C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\Microsoft
3. Right click on the ‘Ngc’ folder and select Properties from the popup menu
4. Under the “Security” tab, choose “Advanced”
5. Next to where it says ‘Owner’, left-click on the “change” link.
6. In the ‘Enter the object name’ to select option, enter in your username
7. Click on Check Names and then click on OK
8. You should be able to doubleclick the ‘Ngc’ folder
9. Delete all the files from inside the folder
10. Now go back and add a PIN:
    1. Click on Start Menu
    2. Settings app
    3. Account Settings
    4. Sign-in Options
    5. Add a PIN

If this works for you, Great! Grab a tea and celebate. If it doesn’t, then we have something extra you can try.

*If you can’t see the AppData folder, you need to set File Explorer to show hidden files. You can do this by: Clicking View in the top toolbar, hover over Show and choose Hidden Items. 

Solution 2 – Change your account type

From our tests, it seems to be a problem with setting up the account as a network account. We’ve found that by converting the account to a local account, you can then create your Windows Hello PIN and then convert it back to an online account should you wish to. 

You might be asking how? Well we’ll tell you: 

1. Click on Start
2. Select Settings
3. Select Accounts
4. Choose Your Profile within the right side of the screen
5. Underneath the Account Settings section, select: Sign in with a local account instead
6. Follow the onscreen prompts to convert the account. The process will ask you for a username and password plus some security questions should you forget your password

Solution 3 – Create new local user account

If the previous solutions didn’t work, then this one should. It essentially requires you to create a completely new local account on your PC, set up Windows Hello and PIN, and then convert this local account back to an online account, if you wish to. You can keep it as a local account if you prefer to.

First we need to turn off Windows Hello from your online account:

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Accounts
3. Select Sign-in Options
4. Click Facial Recognition
5. Choose Remove
6. Choose PIN (Windows Hello)
7. Choose Remove

Once this is done, we can go ahead and create a new user account. The only major downside to this process, is you will lose your data and possibly apps if you haven’t installed them for all users on the PC. Your data will need to be backed up before doing this process. Please do this before moving onto the below steps.

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Accounts
3. Scroll down to Other Users
4. Click Add Account found under the ‘Other Users’ section
5. In the window the will appear, choose I don’t have this person’s sign-in information
6. On the next screen you need to choose the last option Add a user without a Microsoft account
7. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process
8. When done, go back to Settings
9. Choose Accounts
10. Select Sign-in Options
11. Click Facial Recognition
12. And go through the process to set it up which will include adding a new PIN.

Now that you have done this, you can restart your PC and test to make sure that Window Hello signs you in without any issue. Assuming that works, you can either leave the account as it is, or convert it back to an online account which will happen if you start to sign into any Microsoft services such as Rewards or OneDrive. If you do convert the account, then you can restore the data you backup at the start of this process.