Windows Login with PIN with Auto-fill of Master Password

Hello @imichel,

first, welcome to 1Password! 🥳 I hope you're enjoying your trial so far, and our team is happy to help with any questions you may have as you try things out. This one is a great place to start.

To begin, I should say (for anyone who comes upon this thread later) that your account password is a central pillar of your security - so even when you're using a PIN, or a fingerprint sensor, or facial recognition, it's really important to still have this password memorized. It's the thing that opens everything (it's your "one password" - get it?). OK - moving on! 🤓

What I have found is if I unlock my computer with my PIN, and then go to the 1password app, Windows shows a popup "Making sure it is you". When I enter my PIN again, it prefills my master password.

You're correct about how this is currently working. If you open 1Password and go to ... > Settings > Security, you'll find an option called "Allow Windows Hello to unlock 1Password."

Windows Hello manages biometric options like facial recognition and fingerprint detection on Windows device, and also the PIN you use to unlock your device.

If you don't want to use your PIN to open 1Password, you can disable this Windows Hello integration option 👆, and your account password (plus Secret Key) will be the only thing that can open your 1Password app. Let me know if this proves a suitable solution for you! We provide the "Unlock with Hello" option because it increases convenience and some people prefer it, but you don't have to use it if you don't want to.

And then I would use 1password to enter my PIN instead?

It's not currently possible to use 1Password to unlock your Windows device itself - but it can unlock just about anything else you've got a password for, once the device is unlocked.

Your layers of security here are:

1. Your PIN or device password - this protects your device and the data on it.

2. Disk encryption - this is optional; it's something you can enable on your device if your device supports it.

3. 1Password's account password + Secret Key: this protects the data you store inside 1Password. If you have Windows Hello disabled, your data inside the locked 1Password app won't be accessible with biometric or PIN identification, only using the password and Secret Key.

Let me know if this has been helpful - we're here to answer any questions you might have! 😃