Windows Hello is no longer working

[14M60D]

Hi. I just noticed that my laptop can't start its IR camera so I cannot use Windows Hello anymore. I think this has to do with Windows update. It used to work before.

On the Windows logon page, when a face is detected, the camera used to flash its red lights and regonise my face and logon to Windows (I only have 1 user account on it and it is mine).

Now it just won't work becasue I don't see the flashing red lights anymore. When I check Windows settings, it says Window Hello is not available on my device.

I think this is a driver issue so I updated the drivers with Windows again and I restarted my laptop again. The drivers are:

HP IR camera

HP wide vision FHD camera

It didn't work. I even uninstalled the drivers and deleted the driver files and reinstalled it before I restart my laptop and it still won't work.

I tried different solutions like turning off fast startup so the camera can be detected and making sure Windows biometric service is running. Fast startup is disabled and Windows biometric service is set to automatic but Windows Hello is still unavailable and not working.

I am running out of idea. Please help me.

[Echo_Lake]

@14M60D
Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.

I understand the difficulty with the problem and appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue.
Don't worry as I'll be glad to help,  I have a few troubleshooting steps we could try to fix the issue:  

Let's enable Biometric in Local Group Policy:

• Use Win + R to launch the Run.
• Type “gpedit.msc” and then hit the Enter.
•  Expand Computer Configuration and then go to Administrative Templates -> Windows Components –> Biometrics.
• Double-click it and then open the Allow the use of biometrics setting.
• Check the Enabled option.
•  Click the Apply and then OK.
• Apply the modification one more time to Allow users to log on using biometrics setting.
• Restart your computer and let the modification take effect.

Reset Facial Recognition and/or Fingerprint Options:

• Press Windows key + I to open Settings.
• Under the Accounts menu, select Sign-In.
• Locate Fingerprint or Facial Recognition options and click Remove under them.
• Choose to Get Started and then follow the on-screen instructions to reset Fingerprint and Facial Recognition.
• Reboot your computer to check whether this reset helps to troubleshoot unresponsive Windows Hello functionality.

Update Webcam/Fingerprint Drivers via Device Manager:

• Press the Win + X to open Device Manager.
•  Expand the entries for your biometrics device.
• Right-click the device and choose Uninstall.
• Go to the Action menu.
• Select Scan for hardware changes.
• Then Windows 10 will detect and update the camera or the fingerprint scanner drivers.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[14M60D]

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Let's enable Biometric in Local Group Policy:

• Use Win + R to launch the Run.
• Type “gpedit.msc” and then hit the Enter.
•  Expand Computer Configuration and then go to Administrative Templates -> Windows Components –> Biometrics.
• Double-click it and then open the Allow the use of biometrics setting.
• Check the Enabled option.
•  Click the Apply and then OK.
• Apply the modification one more time to Allow users to log on using biometrics setting.
• Restart your computer and let the modification take effect.

I have Windows 10 Home so group policy was not available. But I did some online search and made group policy work anyway. I already tried this but Windows Hello still won't work.

Reset Facial Recognition and/or Fingerprint Options:

• Press Windows key + I to open Settings.
• Under the Accounts menu, select Sign-In.
• Locate Fingerprint or Facial Recognition options and click Remove under them.
• Choose to Get Started and then follow the on-screen instructions to reset Fingerprint and Facial Recognition.
• Reboot your computer to check whether this reset helps to troubleshoot unresponsive Windows Hello functionality.

Windows cannot detect the correct hardware that supports Windows Hello so Windows turned that option off for me. I don't have the option to change anything on facial reginition (Windows Hello) anymore. It just says Windows Hello is not available on your device on Windows settings.

Because I cannot do this on Windows settings, I even went to control panel and search for "facial recognition" and variations of this term. I got no result on control panel. I searched for it manually under user account and still got nothing. I even deleted my password hoping it will ask me to setup facial recoginition again along with my new password. But I didn't happen. I setup my password again alright but no picture was taken for facial recognition. Facial recognition is still not available and not setup.

Update Webcam/Fingerprint Drivers via Device Manager:

• Press the Win + X to open Device Manager.
•  Expand the entries for your biometrics device.
• Right-click the device and choose Uninstall.
• Go to the Action menu.
• Select Scan for hardware changes.
• Then Windows 10 will detect and update the camera or the fingerprint scanner drivers.
  

---

That is the first thing I tried. I update it. Restart computer and did't work. Uninstalled it and deleted the driver file and restart. Didn't work. I even turned off fast startup hoping the cameras will be detected correctly. When I restart and logon, the logon screen say there is something wrong (probably it cannot detect the correct camera hardware/driver issue?) and there  is no facial recognition. The drivers are from Windows. They were downloaded automatically when Windows detected that I have hardware without a driver.

Is there a place where I can download the driver manually so that I can install them manually? I looked for the driver on the support page for Envy x360 but I can't find the driver for the IR camera and the RBG camera.

I really suspect the problem is the IR camera driver because the red lights for IR camera that used to flash are not working. But tthe white light for RBG camera works and I can take a photo with Windows camera app.

Thank you.

[Echo_Lake]

@14M60D
 

Follow the below steps and check if it helps.

1. Download the RGB Camera firmware update tool from hp.com (sp81543.exe).
2. Run the firmware update tool on the PC connected to the monitor.
3. In Desktop mode, right-click on the Windows Menu (lower left corner of Device Manager.screen) and select
4. Expand Imaging Devices.
5. Right-click HP HD Camera (or similar device), and select Remove.
6. Reboot the PC.

 Then, Disable Windows Hello and the run the Hello setup again

1. Select Settings > Account > Sign-in Options > Face Recognition then click the Remove button.
2. Select Settings > Account > Sign-in Options > Windows Hello > Face, then click the Setup button.

Let me know how it goes and you have a great day!

[14M60D]

I tried the and I still get there is something wrong on logon screen. Windows Hello is still not available. I guess I just have to restall Windows and see if that works. 😞

[Echo_Lake]

@14M60D

Thank you for posting back. 

That sounds very correct, please perform a system factory recovery reset and check:

Click here to Perform a System Recovery (Windows 10)

Keep me posted for further assistance.

[jmgreg]

I have the exact same issue, also on my ENVY laptop. It was fine up until the last bios update. I don't want to go all the way back to fresh windows reload start as I will lose many updates and add-ons. I certainly don't want to lose all I have added since I bought the envy about 8 months ago. Since it was the update causing the error, there must be an easy fix to restore it back to before the fix? Yes/no?

[KrazyToad]

@jmgreg

If it's an issue with the Updates and you do not want to do a Reset, you could try a System Restore

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel, and then choose it from the list of results
2. In the Control Panel search box, type recovery.
3. Select Recovery > Open System Restore.
4. In the Restore system files and setting box, select Next.
5. Select the restore point that you want to use in the list of results, and then select Scan for affected programs.
    

   Notes

   • If you don’t see the restore point that you want to use, select the Show more restore points check box to see more restore points.
   • If you’re not seeing any restore points, it might be because system protection isn’t turned on.

You can refer to this Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options

Keep me posted how it goes 😊

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.
 

[jmgreg]

Thank you. But, unfortunately, the updates routinely shut the restore point off so I have no restore points to restore to. Any other suggestions?

[KrazyToad]

@jmgreg

I suggest you run the SFC Scan first to correct any Windows file errors

Please follow the instructions in this Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026529/windows-10-using-system-file-checker

If the issue persists you will need to do a Reset

Keep me posted 

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.