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 Type Cover or keyboard 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 camera on the following Surface devices recognizes your face and iris, which allows you to sign in to Windows 11 with just a look:

• Surface Pro 6 and later generations, Surface Pro X (Wi-Fi)

• Surface Laptop 2 and later generations, Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Studio

• Surface Book 3, Surface Book 2 (8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8350U or i7-8650U processor)

• Surface Studio 2+, Surface Studio 2

• Surface Go 4, Surface Go 3, and Surface Go 2

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

• Surface Laptop Go, Surface Laptop Go 2, or Surface Laptop Go 3 that has a Fingerprint Power Button with One Touch sign-in through Windows Hello

• Surface Pro Type Cover with Fingerprint ID

• Surface Pro Signature Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader

To set up Windows Hello, see What is Windows Hello? or Learn about Windows Hello and set it up.

To find out which Surface device models can be upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11, see Which Surface devices can be upgraded to Windows 11?

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.

2. Under Ways to sign-in, select Picture password, PIN (Windows Hello), or Security key, 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.

2. 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.

Related topics

Create a local user account in Windows

Change your Windows password