Can’t enter a password on Windows 11? Here’s the culprit and a workaround

If you’re currently having trouble signing in to Windows 11 with your password, it’s not your fault. Microsoft has confirmed that August 2025 update KB5064081 could cause Windows 11 to hide the password option on the login screen.

Not all Windows 11 users are affected by this annoying issue, as apparently several factors must come together for the KB5064081 update to cause this issue. But if you are affected, please note that Microsoft has not yet provided a fix for this problem.

Microsoft writes as a known issue for update KB5064081:

After you install the August 2025 Non-Security Preview Update (KB5064081) or later updates, you may notice that the password icon is not visible in the sign-in options on the lock screen. If you hover over the space where the icon should appear, you will see that the password button is still available. Select this placeholder to open the password text box and enter your password. After entering your password, you can log in normally.

You can work around the problem by moving your mouse pointer to the position on the login screen where the password option would normally be. Windows 11 will then display the password login option. However, if you don’t know this, you will be lost and wondering why Windows no longer accepts passwords.

Windows 11 only shows the password option if multiple sign-in methods are allowed on a computer (that is, you can sign in with a password, but also with a PIN or fingerprint).

Patch KB5064081 is an optional preview update that Microsoft released in late August 2025, so it is not automatically installed on all computers. This is just the latest problem that can be caused by KB5064081. For example, the update also causes Windows 11 users to suddenly appear red and may prevent you from watching videos on your PC.