Forgot Nest thermostat pin and can't access it

[NevadaDad]

I can connect my locked NEST thermostat to my Win 10 computer via USB cable.  It shows up as an F: drive and I can navigate to the technical info.plist file. Now what?  How do I do a hard factory reset to remove the PIN or put it back to the factory default (if one exists - like 0000)?

[JenISlegitimate]

I am having the same problem! I have charged the nest, tried 3 PC's and 6 different cords with no luck! Did you get this to work? Thanks!

[CYBusiness]

Does anyone know if they are available to do this on the weekends? Your help is much appreciated. Thanks

[harshakula]

Support should be available on all days and should be able to assist.

[harshakula]

Thank you @NevadaDad for the detailed instructions and @enriqxxx for the contents of the file!!
I was able to reset my NEST and set it up again.

[MGR]

Here is what you need to do: 

1. Connect your Nest thermostat to your PC with an USB cable
2. Open your external device connected to your pc and see if you see a file called "Technical Info.plist"
3. If you see it move to the next step.
4. Download the following file from this URL: https://filebin.net/1p8h4nvbfv99g3ku
5. Move it with the technical info.plist file which is on your external device connected to your PC *(nest)
6. Open cmd prompt and run the following commands
7. Type the drive name (it can be D,E,G) then (press enter)
8. Copy and paste this command: rename ResetToDefaults.dropbox .dropbox
9. Close everything and your device has been reset
10. Thank me later

[Vk2]

The file bin does not have anything within it. I was hoping for a quick fix today, I couldn’t get in contact with support chat either to get this file. I suppose I’ll try another day. 

[BigJake]

Forgot my PIN and due to a job I was forced to bridge my modem so my NEST is no longer connected and I can't get it unlocked, what can I do?

[Diggitynes]

I was able to figure this out without Nest support. Here is a more clear list of instructions to reset a nest thermostat after you are locked out because there is a pin set on the nest and it is not connected to wifi. (I reset my router and changed the name of my Wifi and forgot what the old name was called.) 

Things needed: 

• micro usb cable
• Computer that can see the nest device when plugged in. Mac and PC should work

Instructions

• Connect nest thermostat to computer
• Open file explorer (Mac is Finder, PC is Explorer, or File explorer)
• You should see "Nest" on the left side of the window. For PC you might find a new letter with a colon. Usually you have C: or D:, just look for a new one. 
• Open that drive and make sure you only see one file "Technical Info.plist"
• Now use the code from the other post or copy from here: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Configuration</key>
    <dict>
        <key>ResetToDefaults</key>
        <string></string>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

• Open a new text document. (Mac is TextEdit and PC is Notepad)

• Paste the above section in the text file. 
• Save the file. 
• This will open an explorer window that you can see and browse to that "Nest" drive
• It will ask for a file name. Make the file name ".dropbox" (By default the file name will be "untitled.txt" but we need it to be the above name.) 
  
  1. For Mac, there will be a warning that you are creating a system file. You basically are and it may cause damage if you are not specifically saving directly to the Nest device. 
• Note, in Mac, you can rename it from here to ".dropbox" and save directly to the Nest device. PC may need extra steps to create a file named like this. This is probably why the original instructions were to go to cmd and rename from there. (I was going to give instructions on how to do rename that, but that is tedious. If you don't know how to rename a file through cmd, you probably should call support anyways.) 
• Once the file is save to the Nest, just unplug and the Nest should say "Please connect Nest to it Base to continue" or something close to it. 
• It will go through a reset once plugged in. 

Note that the Nest will be connected on the app, so you need to delete the device from the app to readd it. If you do not you get to put in the wifi password with a dial. So fun. 

[Jake]

Hey there,

I wanted to check in and see if you are still in need of any help with your device. Please let me know, as I would be happy to assist, and answer any questions you may have.

Best regards,
Jake

[Jake]

Hey there,

I want to ensure you are good to go, and everything is working properly. Please let me know if you are still having trouble, as I will be locking the thread in 24 hours due to inactivity.

Best regards,
Jake