I had to reset my laptop for personal reasons. I think my laptop was on windows 10 when I reset it, and I was forced to set security questions so I picked the 3 questions and typed in random answers because I plan to remove/delete them after the setup. However I forgot to do that and updated my laptop to windows 11 home. When I go to settings > accounts > sign-in options > password I dont see the option to remove/delete the security questions. Instead it says "You're all set up" with a "Change" button beside it. I pressed on the change button and after tying my current password I was led to a page that only showed "New password" "Confirm password" and "Password hint". In other words it only lets me change my password and set a hint (take note hint is different from security questions) and I really want to delete/remove them. Do you know why this is happening and what I should do?
Additional info: I'm using a local account after resetting my laptop, and I'm not signed into microsoft
Hi dkgraham,
Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.
Please paraphrase this sentence. Based on the description you posted, you have an issue with Surface Pro7+ wherein you want to change the security question on your account.
To change your security questions on your Surface Pro 7+, you will need to follow these steps:
- Go to the Microsoft account security page by visiting account.microsoft.com/security.
- Sign into your Microsoft account.
- Click on the "Security questions" option.
- You will be prompted to answer your current security question. If you cannot remember it, click on the "I don't remember my answer" option.
- Follow the prompts to verify your identity using other methods such as email or phone number.
- Once you have verified your identity, you can then change your security questions.
Another option is to change the security question.
- Go to Settings.
- Click on Accounts.
- Select Sign-in options.
- Click on Update your security questions under the Password section.
- Answer the security questions that you set up.
- Enter your new password.
I hope this helps resolve your issue. Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Kind regards,
Christopher.
Following the suggestion allows for password reset, not resetting security questions. I had to do some searching in old family photos to find my answer. Thanks
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The available security questions for a local windows account (there are only 6 to choose from) are useless to me. I can only answer 1 of them (where I was born). I didn't have a pet, I didn't have a nickname, etc. Is there no way to change these questions or add new ones? Every other security question situation I've encountered allows you to create your own question. Why is Windows so obtuse and assuming about my personal life? This leaves me to have to write the question/answer pairs down somewhere, which defeats the whole purpose if I lose that. The questions should be something I can answer without having to consult anything.
Hey everyone,
I'm curious about how Windows handles security questions for local accounts. For those who may not be familiar, security questions are typically used as a method to recover your account if you forget your password. You can update your security questions by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and selecting Update your security questions.
If you update your security questions, does this completely invalidate the old questions and answers, or are they still stored somewhere? I'm trying to understand how secure this process is. Any insights would be appreciated.
Instead of setting the password during the OOBE wizard, set it later. This hasn’t changed from earlier versions of Windows where you had to enter a password hint.
After the setup process is complete, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and select “Change a password”. You will be prompted to enter your old password (empty) and your new password.
If you already entered security questions, you’ll probably have to remove your password first and then use the Ctrl+Alt+Del method. Depending on the how you remove the password, you may lose access to EFS-encrypted files.
Like the password hint on earlier Windows versions, this probably cannot be deactivated on non-domain accounts.
Starting with Windows 10 build 18237, a new group policy was added for preventing the use of security questions for local accounts. Open Local Group Policy Editor and go to:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Credential User Interface
Prevent the use of security questions for local accounts
Look for a policy called "Prevent the use of security questions for local accounts" and enable it. Source
If you want to delete the security questions that was already set up for local account, open Registry Editor and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY\Policy\Secrets. Delete any subkey that begins with L$_SQSA_. Source
Remove security questions for Windows 10 local account
I recently was having some weird performance issues on my pc so I did a diagnostic reboot. It no longer allows me to use my pin to log in and it turns out i have forgotten all the other sign in info for the device. It is a local account so changing the microsoft account password doesn’t work and i dont have a reset disk. Did i brick my pc?
I don't forget my password and I'm sure millions others don't and if I do I will just hack it with a USB ty
Don't make it mandatory...
For every PC we install the first local user account, which is only there to join the domain with and then disabled until needed, we need to provide answers to 3 questions.
That's just ridiculous MS.