Accidentally Uninstalled Biometric using Device Manager and its not coming back

Anonymous
2019-01-10T04:37:08+00:00

Hello,

I seem to have permanently deleted the "biometric devices" category in the Device Manger. Windows Hello using a biometric device no longer works. 

I have a home built desktop with a Mouse Cm-01a Window Hello camera. It was working very well for about a year. Some combination of the 1809 update and new AMD Graphics Card Drivers stopped it from working consistently.

I began trying to roll back graphics card drivers and do other troubleshooting. I even performed a recovery and it did not solve the issue. I read that I could uninstall the camera and have Windows reinstall the drivers. When this didn't work, I attempted to uninstall biometric devices and have it reinstall the divers. Unfortunately this category has never returned.

Now my Window Hello setting in Sign-in options says "Face and fingerprint recognition are not available on this device".

I have tried a lot of the steps you would see from other troubleshooting sites (edit group policy settings, restart the Windows Biometric Service), but no luck. 

I'm at my wits end here. I would rather not have to do another restore (that state wasn't working perfectly well as it was). Perhaps I have to do a Repair Install. Let me know if I have any other options (or if I just need to bite the bullet). Thanks!

Here are some system stats:

Processor: Intel i5-4690

RAM 16 GB

OS: Windows 10 Pro

Version: 1809

Build: 17763.253 (I am in the release preview track)

GPU: Radeon RX 580 Series (XFX brand)

Radeon Software Version: 18.40.21.06

Edit: Some of the responses have asked that I contact the manufacturer. Unfortunately, that would be me since this is a home-built desktop. I will see if I can find anything through Intel or ASRock (motherboard manufacturer).

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-03-23T06:56:52+00:00

    I found this file also another location. You can search in the windows directory for helloface.inf

    C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-hello-face_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.17763.168_none_7602b0b5b863fb92 its for example for me. All you need to do is, right click and install.

    Please try!

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-21T14:58:46+00:00

    I did what you recommended, but I do not have the HelloFace.inf file, only the HelloFace.dll.

    What should I do?

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-03-01T11:08:31+00:00

    Someone above mentioned to go under C:\Windows\System32\WinBioPlugIns\FaceDriver and reinstall the driver by right-clicking on HelloFace.inf and click install. That did not work for me....

    What worked for me was 

    1. launch powershell as admin
    2. cd into the C:\Windows\System32\WinBioPlugIns\FaceDriver directory
    3. use PNPUtil to first remove the HelloFace driver. Command: pnputil.exe /delete-driver .\HelloFace.inf
    4. now use PNPUtil to install the driver. Command: pnputil.exe /add-driver .\HelloFace.inf /install
    5. the biometric driver should now show up in device manager

    Let me know if this helps!

    This really works! I have tried the previous about install hello.inf but did not work. But this did work for me!!! Thank you so much!

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-05T17:16:51+00:00

    Did you Scan for hardware changes in Device Manager?

    Did you restart the computer?

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-01-11T02:36:31+00:00

    I went with the nuclear option and used Reset this PC. It seems to have worked. So far its working better than at the beginning of this saga, so maybe it was all worth it.

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