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
    2020-11-19T11:06:43+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!

    Thats work for me too.

    many many many thanks ...

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-11-18T17:21:53+00:00

    I have tried this, however, when I did a scan in device manager, biometric devices did not show up and nothing changed. I have tried installing the inf file in both locations provided, however, it resulted in no changes.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-06T01:55:34+00:00

    Everyone, this worked.  You just have to do the process using PowerShell.  Thank you leopitcher.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-05T17:55:24+00:00

    As I stated: "According to the fix the device would reinstall when I clicked Scan for Device Changes in the control panel menu - it didn't.  I tried a cold boot and it still didn't return."

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  5. 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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