Despite enabling PIN login each time on the Bitwarden browser extension my Windows 11 PC - using the latest Chrome browser, I am finding increasingly that I have to keep re-entering the master password - even after a hibernate session and browser still being open - despite disabling the ‘require master password on browser restart’.
And each time this happens, I then have then re-enable the ‘Unlock with PIN’ and specify a PIN - both are cleared out.
And even more frustrating is an empty vault after login. This has happened several times in the past week or so. I have a 500mbps Fibre internet and accessing other websites works fine. Forcing a resync in the extension fixes the problem.
I have installed the App onto my Windows device and that seems to allow PIN login - but this is not as convenient as the Browser extension.
Version: 2026.1.0
SDK: ‘main (8e5efd8)’
Server version: 2026.1.1
There is no such thing as “PIN login”, only “Unlock with PIN” — and the difference is important.
Go to Settings > Account Security > Session Timeout and change the Timeout Action value from “Log out” to “Lock”.
Thanks - apologies for not using the right terms - but as mentioned further down, I am talking about the Unlock with PIN feature.
And I always set it to Lock and never Log Out - but the issue persists.
@remuallan Make sure that you have your BW login credentials to be able to log in again, and then deinstall the BW extension, make sure that the local data of the extension was deleted, restart your PC, reinstall the BW extension and log in again.
Just FYI, if you can create and store PRF-capable passkeys, then passkey login and unlock might be a new alternative (the Chrome extension is capable of that): Log In With Passkeys | Bitwarden
Thanks - will try the uninstall when I get time.
I will also look into the PRF Passkey option.