PIN entry not supported at startup

[DennisLfromGA]

There are posts in the Chromebook forum and on Reddit that (some) users are no longer seeing the option to sign-in using a PIN code at startup / cold boot.

The PIN sign-in and unlock option was introduced behind a flag at one time using:

• #quick-unlock-pin-signin

It was then removed from flags and (possibly) made a part of the OS but, AFAICT, recently the option to sign-in at startup was removed from some devices, the unlock feature is still available though.

 

We surmise that the newer Chromebooks using the Titan C  chips for TPM security still have the PIN sign-in at startup / cold boot option available since many of us can use it.

 

Our question to the ChromeOS team is, what devices can use the PIN sign-in option at startup / cold boot, is it just the ones with a Titan C chip or are there others?

 

As a follow-up question, if it is determined that only those devices with the Titan C chip can use a PIN code on cold boot is one able to determine if their device has the Titan C chip by looking at the vendor code as mentioned in this security blog?:

Supported Chromebooks
Starting with Chrome 76, most latest-generation Chromebooks gained the option to enable a built-in FIDO authenticator backed by hardware-based Titan security. To see if your Chromebook can be enabled with this capability, you can navigate to chrome://system and check the “tpm-version” entry. If “vendor” equals “43524f53”, then your Chromebook is backed by Titan security.

Thanx,

~DennyL