Issue with Windows Hello on Windows 11 - fingerprint recognition option currently unavailable

just found a solution that worked for me and want to spread the word.

this was with a brand new out of the box USB fingerprint reader form FocalTech. i had tried all of the solutions in many different posts to no end. in a last ditch attempt i was looking though the Event Viewer for any clues and saw some verbose level messages under:

Event Viewer (Local) / Application and Services / Microsoft / Windows / Biometrics / Operational

with the message:

The Windows Biometric Service cannot complete a request because biometric operations are disabled by current system policy.

if you see this message, then you can try the following which worked for me:

as Administrator open Policy Editor

select Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Biometrics

double click "Allow the use of biometrics", which should say "Not Configured"

click the Enabled radio button, then Apply

click the Not Configured radio button, then Apply

you should not need to reboot, but you can if you like

go to the Accounts > Sign-in options and the fingerprint recognition option should now be available

hope this helps someone!

Same problema here. First it was the fingerprint reader, then the bluetooth connection with my mouse, then some other minor things, but now??!! Wifi is not showing. The option literally doesn’t appear. Went to look on device manager and some network driver is not working… And yes, I did a windows update a few days ago… I don’t know what else to do… I will try to get it repaired tomorrow but not sure if they will be able to fix it…

When I purchased this computer it came with Windows 11 pre-installed. The fingerprint reader worked just fine at that time. The only time it stopped working was after a reinstall of Windows 11, more than one year after it's purchase. Obviously, there have been numerous updates to Windows 11 since the original purchase. None of those updates should have stopped the fingerprint reader from working on a cold startup.
Incidentally, periodically the fingerprint reader will work on a cold startup. It regularly does not. But every now and then it will work. And again, it always works on a restart, wake up from sleep, or to unlock the system.

I have checked various methods and applied all of them but in vain, I even tried to uncheck "the battery optimization" of BIOMETRICS in DEVICE MANAGER. But soon as I try to setup fingerscan, it again goes to the default setting where its written"Allow windows to stop this service to preserve battery"

I personally think that this setting is the main issue...

If it didn't work out I have to downgrade to Windows 10

I turned on my computer this morning and all of a sudden the fingerprint reader started working. This happened once or twice before after my last windows installation, then all of a sudden it stopped working again. I didn't do anything different than I do normally. Last night, I shut my computer down. It always shuts down without fast start enabled. This morning, I started it up, the login screen appeared with the fingerprint symbol showing at the top, and the fingerprint reader logged me in. What's going on with this Windows?