I’ve set up Windows 10 on several laptops over the past couple of years, and each time run into a ‘requirement’ that really sticks in my craw. Every time I install Windows with my Microsoft account, the installer forces me to set up a PIN. I even tried to hit Next, then select “Cancel” on the PIN prompt, but then I get the message “Your account requires a Windows Hello PIN.”
What is this nonsense? Fortunately, once you know what to look for it’s pretty easy to override the PIN requirement post-install. But why on Earth is it required in the first place? Just a waste of time as far as I can tell. My password is far more secure than some stupid 4 digit PIN.
It’s a local pin tied to the sign on. Same as a pin on a phone. Windows Hello was really meant to be used with IR cameras although the pin is handy sometimes I will admit
Yes, I understand that it’s a local PIN. But M$ claims that it’s ‘more secure’ than using my cloud password. I really don’t understand that logic, especially since my Microsoft account has a password over 10 characters, with a nice mix of characters.
And this message puzzles me too:
“Your account requires a Windows Hello PIN.”
Why does my account require a Hello PIN? What’s special about it? I am an Office 365 subscriber, if that makes a difference.
Pretty much this. The PIN is tied to the device so stealing the PIN doesn’t compromise your account, just the single device if they also have the device.
Also having it as 4 digits is your choice, it doesn’t need to be. Though perhaps they should make that clearer on the setup screen.
@Dynamic_Gravity Thanks, that link makes Microsoft’s assertion make a lot more sense. Though I do wonder how it interacts with the TPM, and if there’s much point in a PIN if you have a laptop without a TPM. I supposed it’s still tied to the device, but w/o a TPM isn’t nearly as secure.
They should definitely make it clearer. I resisted putting a PIN on my install for a year, even looking up ways to get around it when I reinstalled Windows, before I finally realised it didn’t have to be a number and was in fact a device-specific, encrypted password that could be anything.
Designers trying to give things user-friendly names once again making things complex for those of us who actually know what we’re doing.
I agree, though I suppose an argument could be made for the ‘I don’t need to read the instructions’ people like us that it’s our own fault for not reading the instructions
I became aware as the whole windows hello thing I had read into for my job/interest. But yeah it’s not immediately obvious and for those one the know’ it may seem counterintuitive without reading the actual documentation
I suppose it’s a variation on the old “A little knowledge…” principle. People who are smart enough to consider what PIN means come off worse than people who don’t.
Personally I still haven’t forgiven marketing people for retrofitting a binary number system into SI units. MiBs indeed!
