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
    2019-04-05T18:17:29+00:00

    Did you do that in the Device Manager not the Control Panel?

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-04-05T18:34:32+00:00

    Sorry, I misspoke - yes, in the Device Manager, not the control panel.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-05T20:45:39+00:00

    Worked great ! Easy solution.

      Thanks so much.  I had spent WAY too much time trying to install all of my Surface Pro 4 drivers with no luck.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-05-10T19:27:26+00:00

    For weeks, I have been trying to fix the problem with "Face and fingerprint recognition are not available on this device"!   Nothing worked until now.   Thank you for your suggestion to install the HelloFace.inf file.   It worked!

    THANK YOU!

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-07-29T03:22:44+00:00

    My Windows Hello failed after installing the July 2019 cumulative (security) update on my Surface Pro 5.

    The Biometrics driver failed so I had it removed. Fortunately I didn't remove the driver files.

    Scanning for new hardware doesn't work.

    I also installed the July 2019 cumulative (quality) update yesterday but that too didn't work because the driver is missing.

    So I tried @DenizSelcok's solution and it worked for me. Yay! 

    Edit: Oh I also tried to install the driver/firmware package from Microsoft... That didn't bring the Biometric driver back.

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