Windows 11 Not Showing Lock Screen? (9 Best Fixes)

The Windows 11 lock screen is the first thing you see when your Windows boots up. It shows a wallpaper or a slideshow along with additional information. You can also set up a password and biometric lock on the lock screen, through which you will have to enter the login credentials every time you sign into your PC.

Though this feature has been available in Windows for a long time, users can sometimes encounter issues. If you have set up a lock screen with PIN/password and the lock screen doesn’t appear when you turn on your PC, then it can be a major issue as you won’t be able to sign in to your account. 

So what can be done if one cannot log into their PC because the lock screen does not appear? We will guide you through all the troubleshooting steps to fix Windows 11′s lock screen not showing. 

What Causes the Windows 11 Not Showing Lock Screen Issue?

If Windows 11 is not showing the lock screen, then it can be due to the following reasons-

• The system files are corrupted
• There is some problem with the current account
• The recent update that you have installed is buggy.
• You can face this issue due to misconfigured settings. 

How to Fix Windows 11 Not Showing Lock Screen?

Is the lock screen not appearing when booting into the PC? If you are facing issues with the Windows 11 lock screen, then you can follow the steps given below to fix this issue-

1. Force Restart PC

If you don’t see the lock screen, you won’t be able to sign into your PC. To fix this issue, you can try force restarting your PC. To do so, press the Power Button until your PC turns off. 

Once your PC is off, please turn it on by pressing the Power button. Then, check whether the issue with the lock screen is fixed. 

2. Boot into Safe Mode

If force restarting the PC doesn’t help, you will have to boot your PC into safe mode to continue with the other steps mentioned in this article. Here’s how you can do it-

1. Press and hold the Power button to turn off your PC. Now, press the Power button to turn on your PC. 
2. Repeat the above steps 3-4 times, and you will see the Automatic Repair Screen.
3. Now, click on the Advanced Options.
4. After this, click on Troubleshoot and then on Advanced Options.
5. Now, click on Startup Settings.
6. On the Startup Settings screen, click on the Restart button.
7. Now, check which buttons go for Safe Mode with networking. It should be 5 or F5. Press either of those buttons to boot your PC into safe mode.

Once you are in safe mode, you can move to the next step in this article to fix the Windows 11 lock screen not showing. Note that you will have to boot your PC into safe mode for all the steps mentioned ahead. 

3. Run SFC Scan

The issue can be encountered if the system files are corrupted. You can try running the SFC scan to scan and fix the corrupted system files on your PC. The steps given below discuss how you can run an SFC scan-

1. Press Windows + R, and type CMD in the Run dialog box. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run CMD as administrator.
2. Now, type the command given below, and execute it by pressing Enter–
   • sfc /scannow
3. Once done, wait for the process to complete and restart your PC. 

4. Update Windows 

The next thing you can do is update the Windows to the latest version. Sometimes the current version can be corrupted and can cause such issues. Try updating the Windows to clear off the bugs caused by the current version of Windows. You can do this by following the steps given below-

1. Open the Settings on your Windows 11 PC by pressing the Windows + I keyboard shortcut. 
2. On the left pane, select Windows Update. 
3. Now, click on the Check for Updates button on the right side.
4. Install all the available updates and then restart your PC. 

5. Turn Off Fast Startup

Fast startup ensures your PC boots and shuts down quickly, but it can sometimes be the root cause of the problem. You can try turning off fast startup to fix the issue. 

1. Press the Windows key, type Control Panel, and open it by pressing Enter.
2. Search for the Power Options here and click on it.
3. Now, click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
4. After this, uncheck the checkbox next to Turn on Fast Startup (recommended).
5. Now, click on Save Changes to save the changes. 

6. Manually Enable Lock Screen through Registry Editor

Another thing that you can do is make some changes to the Registry Editor to enable the lock screen manually. Here’s how this can be done-

1. Press the Windows key and type regedit. Now, press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path

   • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Window

3. Right-click on the Windows folder, and Click on New > Key. Name it as Personalization folder.
4. Now right-click on the empty space on the right pane and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it as NoLockScreen.
5.  Double-click on NoLockScreen, then Under the Value Data, change the value to 0 and then click on OK to save the changes.
6. After this, restart the PC to save the changes. 

7. Manually Enable the Lock Screen Through the Group Policy Editor

Windows 11 Pro users can use Group Policy Editor to enable the lock screen manually. Do note that this feature is not available for Windows 11 Home, so if you have Windows 11 Home edition try the Registry Editor method instead of this. 

1. From the Start Menu, open the Group Policy Editor.
2. Head to the following path here-

   • Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization

3. Here, double-click on Do not display the lock screen to make changes to it.
4. Select Disabled and click on OK.
5. Now, restart your PC to implement the changes. 

8. Disable Automatic Login

If you still cannot see the lock screen on Windows 11, you can simply bypass it by disabling the automatic login option. The steps to do this have been discussed below-

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run box. Here, type netplwiz and press Enter.
2. Under the Users account tab, uncheck the checkbox saying Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
3. Now, click on Apply and then on OK to save the changes. 

9. Reset PC

I reached the end of the article, but Windows 11 is still not showing the lock screen. There is nothing to worry about; you can try resetting your PC.

This will remove all the settings and the apps and give you a fresh start with your Windows PC. You can try resetting your PC by following the steps given below-

1. Open the Settings app. 
2. Now, click on the System tab and then on Recovery.
3. Now, click on the Reset PC button. 
4. You will be given two options: Keep my files and Remove Everything. Choose either of the options depending on whether you want to keep your files or not.
5. Next, select between Cloud Download or Local Reinstall. 
6. Now follow the on-screen instructions to reset the PC. 

Bottom Line

That should help you fix Windows 11’s not showing a lock screen. If you still face the issue even after the reset, you should try reinstalling Windows 11. We hope this article helps you solve the issue you have been facing with the lock screen of Windows 11.