Accidentally Uninstalled Biometric using Device Manager and its not coming back

Anonymous

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).

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114 answers

Anonymous

2020-05-11T20:14:20+00:00

I have had this issue sense I updated my finger print scanner about a month ago. I have tried a lot of fixes and nothing has worked until now. Thanks for the great information and easy fix......
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Anonymous

2020-05-11T21:45:02+00:00

wait are you talking about PC windows 10 or phone? Description I gave you was for a computer though not phone
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Anonymous

2020-05-18T18:10:10+00:00

Yours was the only advice I found that worked! Spent over 90 minutes last week with HP Tech Support, at the end of which they told me to contact their Premium ($$) support service to get help. Your advice worked within minutes. Thank you!
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Anonymous

2020-06-30T08:40:59+00:00

Deniz - thank you so much. Your suggestion worked! It was actually the ONLY advice that worked after my wasting HOURS trying different suggestions offered by so-called MS experts!!! I originally deleted the Biometric Devices in the Device Manager at the advice of a Microsoft 'expert' because it had stopped working properly. He advised that it would re-instal at Start-up. It did not re-instal at Start Up (no surprise there!) so I was then left without the Windows Hello option. Your suggestion was spot on! Many thanks!!!!! :))
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Anonymous

2020-07-01T08:06:24+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!

^This above solves the issue. Right click & install. Thank you for this

DenizSelçok
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