Sign in to and out of your Surface

Sign in

1. Dismiss the lock screen by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen or by pressing a key if you have a Surface Keyboard or Type Cover attached.

2. If prompted, enter the password for your user account.

Sign out or lock

Sign out or lock—what’s the difference?

• Signing out closes all your open apps.

• Locking protects your account from use and lets someone else sign in with their account, without closing your open apps.

Here’s how to sign out of or lock your Surface:

1. Go to Start and select your account picture in the lower-left corner of the Start menu.

2. Select Sign out or Lock.
   You can also lock your Surface by pressing the Windows logo key  + L, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard and selecting Lock or Sign out.

Switch to another account

If you’re sharing your Surface with someone else, you can switch to their account without signing out or closing apps. Here’s how:

1. Go to Start and select your account picture in the lower-left corner of the Start menu.

2. Select an account.
   If you don't see the account you want, select Sign out and choose the account you want.

Sign in with Windows Hello

Windows Hello is a more personal and secure way to sign in to your Surface. The front-facing Windows Hello camera on the following Surface devices recognizes your face and iris, which allows you to sign in to Windows with just a look:

• Surface Studio (all models)

• Surface Pro 4 and later models

• Surface Pro X (all models)

• Surface Laptop 7th Edition, Surface Laptop 6 for Business, Surface Laptop 5, Surface Laptop 4, Surface Laptop 3, Surface Laptop 2, Surface Laptop (1st Gen)

• Surface Laptop Studio (all models)

• Surface Go (all models)

• Surface Book (all models)

You can sign in with a press of your finger if you have one of the following:

• Surface Laptop 13-inch 1st Edition and Surface Laptop Go (all models) that has a Fingerprint Power Button with One Touch sign-in through Windows Hello

• Surface Pro Signature Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader

• Surface Pro Type Cover with Fingerprint ID

To set up Windows Hello, see Configure Windows Hello.

Other sign-in options

You can also sign in by using a PIN or a picture password. (These options may not be available if you’ve added work email accounts to the Mail app or joined a network domain.)

To set up these options:

1. Go to Start , and select Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.

• On Windows 11: Under Ways to sign-in, select Picture password, PIN (Windows Hello), or Security key, and follow the on-screen instructions.

• On Windows 10: From there, select Picture password or Windows Hello PIN and follow the on-screen instructions.

To choose when a password is required to sign in to your Surface:

1. Go to Start , and select Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.

• On Windows 11: Under Additional settings, go to If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again? and choose an option from the list.

• On Windows 10: Select Require sign-in and choose an option from the list.

Related topics

• Manage User Accounts in Windows

• Change or reset your password in Windows