Windows Hello Fingerprint not working

Anonymous
2019-12-17T11:18:46+00:00

Hi

I have a problem with windows hello on my laptop. In the normal settings, it says "We couldn't find a fingerprint scanner compatible with Windows Hello Fingerprint".

This problem has been around for about a month a half now, hoping that a software update would fix it. It hasn't been fixed. My laptop is a hp envy x360 convertible ds-0xxx. This laptop has a fingerprint reader on it, and it worked for when I got it.

I have tried all of the obvious things, like shut down and restart. I have looked into other people's similar problems, non of those fixes work.

In device manager, it doesn't say that there is a biometric catergory, to find the device in said catergory. [see photo...]

I have check mostly everything to check if something needs updating, but nothing does.

On the lock screen, it says "Something went wrong on our end".

Can someone help please, nothing makes any sense at all.

***Modified title from: windows hello won't work***

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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2020-10-14T04:07:04+00:00

I had the same problem as everyone else and finally decided to try and fix the problem.  Under my device manage I had the little yellow triangle that signaled an error of some sort.  Synaptics WBDI SGX was the driver name.  Tried everything listed in the various replies of this thread without any luck.  I even tried updating the drivers and got the message that they were already up to date.  Finally I decided to try a different update that I had dismissed previously and it worked instantly!  

What I did that finally worked was this:

windows + X

click on device manager

right click on the driver under Biometric Devices (If it is hidden click view and then show hidden devices to see it)

click update driver

click the SECOND option which says BROWSE MY COMPUTER for drivers. (The first option just told me the best drivers were already installed.)

Click let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

Click the driver listed.  (I only had one listed and it was the same as the one I was trying to fix Synaptics WBDI SGX)

Click next

Let the install complete.

At this point my yellow triangle vanished.

I then went straight to my sign in options setting screen (which you can type in the search bar for easy access) and when I clicked windows hello fingerprint it said it was ready for me to use!  No restart required.

I share this in the hopes that it helps someone else who had no luck with any of the other methods listed.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-10T01:35:51+00:00

    I'm really glad it worked for you!  Unfortunately I'm in the same boat as BeachMom2020, it didn't work for me and my laptop isn't that old.  Mine came configured with the power button also functioning as a fingerprint reader, which is super cool or was :-(.  I don't have a roll back option on my driver.

    And it says the device can't start.

    I uninstalled it, told it to delete the driver, let it find it again and no change.

    I appreciate that you shared your steps that worked, I was hopeful...alas...

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-13T08:09:49+00:00

    Hi guys,

    I just wanna say that I had this same problem since I bought my computer in January.

    Two days ago I got some updates, KB4497165 and KB4560960.

    After the update I thought "let me check if it works now", and lo and behold suddenly the message about "not finding a compatible fingerprint scanner" was gone, and I could start using it!

    I think it was KB4560960 that fixed it, because I haven't done anything else special with my computer before that, and that update was some security updates stuff.

    So I hope maybe this update fixed the problem for some of you too, and that it was not just my computer that suddenly decieded to be nice to me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-13T18:49:16+00:00

    I just checked and my computer has done both of those updates but under Windows Hello Fingerprint I still get "This option is currently unavailable".  Bummer, I got so excited to see if it was fixed :-(.  Under Biometric devices in Device Manager mine still has the yellow triangle and says "this device cannot start".  Maybe my specific driver fix is coming soon, I hope so.  I keep seeing other people's get fixed and am jealous.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-13T19:45:11+00:00

    Don't feel alone--mine is also still not working and without a microsoft fix for this specific issue I'll continue to only be able to use PIN for logging in...

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