The other day, and I’m still not sure why, I got locked out of my Lumia 950 XL. Instead of being able to use a PIN to unlock the device, I got this error message instead:
Two hours! that’s a lifetime! There had to be a workaround, and of course there is. In order to unlock your phone if this ever happens to you, or if you just want a bit more security by setting a 6 digit PIN instead of a 4 digit one, here’s what you do.
First, navigate to account.microsoft.com/devices while logged in to the Microsoft account associated with your phone, and locate your device:
From there, click on Find my phone, and select Lock. You’ll be given an opportunity to set a new PIN, a 6 digit one (if you get an error saying to try again later, just try again. On two different occasions, I was able to get the phone to set a new PIN on a second try.)
From there, once you get a successful attempt, your phone will be locked, you’ll get an email from Microsoft Devices, and your phone will be all set up with a new 6 digit PIN. If you happen to get locked out of your phone, as I was, you’ll be able to get back in. If you just want a PIN that’s a bit harder to crack, well there you go.
By the way, I have no idea why I was locked out. Either I “butt-dialed” a PIN too many times, which is possible but not likely (it’s never happened before), or there’s some kind of bug, which is a bit more worrisome. Still, after a quick Bing search I was back up and running, and with a 6 digit PIN, too.
