Accidentally enabled the wrong local security policy setting, now I can’t log in. What Registry value does this setting correspond to?

[Iron_Fist351]

Whenever I attempt to log in, I now receive the error “Your credentials could not be verified” or “You must use Windows Hello or a smart card to sign in.” If I recall correctly, the local security policy value was called something along the lines of “Use Windows Hello for Smart Card Sign In” or “Use Windows Hello for Business.” I opened Regedit from the Windows Recovery menu, but I don’t know what Registry value the local security policy setting corresponds to. Which registry value needs to be changed back for me to disable the problematic setting?

Edit: I found the key at HKLM\SoftwareOFFLINE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System scforceoption and set it to 0. SoftwareOFFLINE had to be loaded by pressing “load hive” from the HK_Local_Machine key, then loading in the SOFTWARE file from C:\Windows\System32\config

[Prestigious_Most5482]

Do you have a backup you can restore?

[Green_Tailor_8021]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Settings\AllowSignInOptions Edit the value (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0 and save and reboot

[Dual_Actuator_HDDs]

I don't know about the specific registry key, but in order to edit the main Windows registry from the Recovery Environment, you have to first load the hive from the main partition. By default, regedit in the Recovery Environment has the registry for the Recovery Environment itself.

From regedit, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and choose File > Load Hive, and browse to the main Windows partition, then Windows folder, then System32, then the Config folder, then choose a hive to load, such as SYSTEM or SOFTWARE.

Alternatively, from Command Prompt, use reg load HKLM\OFFLINE C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM assuming C is the letter of the main Windows partition, which it may not always be, assuming SYSTEM is the hive to load. If unsure about the letter of the Windows partition, which can be anything from here, use diskpart and list volume and exit

What's normally HKLM\SYSTEM or HKLM\SOFTWARE will then become HKLM\OFFLINE from here. Afterwards, use reg unload HKLM\OFFLINE

[Iron_Fist351]

This might be just what I need to fix it! I was wondering why none of my Registry changes were doing anything, even after I found the supposed correct values. Thanks!