Windows Hello boke on Windows11 upgrade

[Pickaxe1]

Hi, I got a 3 year old HP ZBook Firefly G8 mobile Workstation. It came with Windows 10 originally and I put off upgrading as long as it was possible.  The upgrade actually was effortless  and it is running Windows 11 25H2 now.  The only glitch is the Windows Hello face recognition which stopped working. I have followed all the guides,  removed and reinstalling the IR and colour camera drivers. I tried the latest HP drivers and also manually upgraded to even newer drivers . They did not help a bit. I can get, with great difficulty, face recognition to be set up, but no recognition is ever made.  I noticed that the IR illuminator is never on any more. I think the IR camera is working but without the illuminator it really depends on the external illumination which has very little IR.

Is this an accidental HW fault which happened around the time of upgrade or is it a driver issue in Windows 11? The camera is manufactured by SunplusIT. My current driver version is 5.0.8.84, but I also tried the HP supplied 5.0.8.71.

Is there a way to test the IR illuminator hardware? 

Many thanks!

[Samrit26]

Hello,

Thanks for the detailed description — this is a good-quality problem report, and you’ve already eliminated most of the obvious paths. I’ll mentor through this carefully, because on this platform the IR illuminator behavior is the key clue.

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Platform context (important)

You’re on a HP ZBook Firefly G8, originally Windows 10, now Windows 11 25H2.

Hardware:

• SunplusIT RGB + IR camera module

• Separate IR illuminator (IR LED) controlled by firmware + Windows Biometric stack

• IR LED only turns on when explicitly requested by Windows Hello

So the fact that:

• IR camera enumerates ✔️

• Face setup sometimes works ✔️

• IR illuminator never turns on ❌

…narrows this down a lot.

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Is this likely hardware failure?

Unlikely.
IR illuminators don’t typically “half-fail” exactly during an OS upgrade window. When they fail electrically, they usually fail hard and are dead even in firmware-level tests.

What you’re seeing is much more consistent with:

Windows 11 biometric stack not triggering the IR LED enable call

This is not something the camera driver alone controls.

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Why Windows Hello breaks specifically on Win11 24H2 / 25H2

This is the mentoring part most guides miss.

Starting late Windows 11:

• Microsoft tightened Windows Hello security

• IR cameras must fully comply with Windows Biometric Framework (WBF) + DCH camera model

• Older OEM integrations relied on:

  • HP firmware hooks

  • HP System Event Utility

  • Power/thermal gating logic

On some G8 platforms, that chain breaks after upgrade.

Result:

• Camera streams ✔️

• Face enrollment sometimes ✔️

• IR LED never armed ❌

• Recognition never triggers ❌

Exactly what you’re seeing.

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Driver version reality check

You already tested:

• HP driver 5.0.8.71

• Newer SunplusIT 5.0.8.84

That was the right move — and it tells us something important:

This is not a driver-version problem.

If it were, one of those would have restored IR LED control.

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How the IR illuminator is actually controlled

Not by the camera driver alone.

It requires all of the following to be healthy:

1. Camera driver (you did this)

2. HP System Event Utility

3. HP Hotkey Support

4. Windows Biometric Service

5. TPM + Secure Boot + Hello policy alignment

If any part fails, Windows Hello will silently fall back to RGB-only behavior — which never works reliably.

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First thing to verify (most common miss)

Check HP System Event Utility

1. Open Apps & Features

2. Look for HP System Event Utility

3. If missing → install the Windows 11 version for Firefly G8

4. Reboot

I’ve fixed multiple Firefly G8 / ZBook G8 systems where:

• Everything looked correct

• But System Event Utility was missing or Win10-era

Without it, IR illuminator enable calls never reach firmware.

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How to actually test the IR illuminator hardware

There is no standalone Windows test for the IR LED.

But here are the two reliable methods:

Method 1 – BIOS-level test (best)

1. Power off

2. Press F2 → HP Hardware Diagnostics

3. Run Camera test (not just Windows Hello)

If:

• Camera test runs

• No IR glow even briefly
  → firmware never enabled the LED (software path issue)

If IR LED flashes here:
→ hardware is fine, Windows stack is the problem

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Method 2 – Dark-room smartphone test

(This is crude but valid)

1. Go into a dark room

2. Start Windows Hello face setup

3. Look at the camera area using your phone camera

   • Most phones can see IR glow as purple/white dots

No glow at all = LED never powered.

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Why setup “kind of” works

Enrollment uses:

• RGB fallback

• Ambient light

• Multiple frames

Recognition requires:

• Active IR depth + pattern

• Which never engages without the illuminator

So enrollment ≠ proof of working Hello.

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Is this fixable in software?

Sometimes ✔️

Guaranteed ❌

If reinstalling:

• HP System Event Utility

• HP Hotkey Support

• Latest BIOS

does not restore IR LED behavior, then this becomes a platform firmware / OS compatibility gap.

HP validated Firefly G8 primarily for:

• Windows 10

• Early Windows 11 builds

25H2 is outside the original design window.

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When this becomes hardware service

Only if:

• IR LED fails in BIOS diagnostics

• Or never flashes under any condition

Then:

Only option is depot repair (camera module replacement)
There is no field-level IR LED repair.

[Pickaxe1]

Thanks for the detailed response. 

I have tried the suggested solution. Installed the HP System Event Utility. It does not seem to do much apart from reporting my system configuration. It did not help resolving the problem.

I tried the camera test in BIOS. It show two cameras as expected. Both tests checks out. There is an option to do a capture test on the cameras individually. The capture test shows the colour camera in both instances. I verified it by covering the colour camera lens. Choosing either camera will test the colour. Consequently there is no IR glow at all. 

I assume this points to a Bios fault. Bios was updated prior to win 11 update. The bios was updated via Windows update.  Could the solution be as simple as reverting to an older BIOS? Is that actually possible?