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If you don’t use Smart Lock to automatically unlock your Chromebook when your phone is nearby, it can get pretty annoying to type your password every single time you want to log in. Fortunately, there’s a tweak that allows you to use a PIN instead of a password, making the unlocking process much faster.

Go ahead and jump into the Settings menu by clicking the system tray and selecting the cog icon.

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You’re looking for the “Screen Lock” entry, which is in the People section.

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When you click it, you’ll need to input your current password.

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The next screen is simple, with only a handful of options: “Password Only” and “PIN or Password.” Choose the latter, then click “Set up PIN” to input the PIN you’d like to use.

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You’ll enter it twice, then click “Confirm.”

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And that’s it—from here on out, when you open your Chromebook, you can quickly unlock it by entering your PIN either on the keyboard or by using the available touch pad (on touch screen devices, of course).

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Profile Photo for Cameron Summerson Cameron Summerson
Cameron Summerson is ex-Editor-in-Chief of Review Geek and served as an Editorial Advisor for How-To Geek and LifeSavvy. He covered technology for a decade and wrote over 4,000 articles and hundreds of product reviews in that time. He’s been published in print magazines and quoted as a smartphone expert in the New York Times.
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