We couldn't find a camera compatible with Windows Hello Face

Anonymous
2023-03-15T10:02:25+00:00

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T15g Gen 1 running Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit. I am having trouble trying to setup Windows Hello Face.

The initial problem was that the setup proceeded all the way to the phase where it showed my face and was supposed to recognize it, but then nothing happened and the only option available was to cancel the setup. In order to solve that issue I did according to the instructions here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hello/facial-recognition-not-working-for-windows-10/0253a932-4313-4536-858d-abebb50bfad9 i.e. removed the camera drivers ("Integrated Camera" and "Integrated IR Camera") and one driver with "Hello" in its name (can't recall the exact name anymore) from Device Manager. The camera drivers appeared back automatically but the Hello driver does not even if I scan for hardware changes.

Now after doing that the Windows Hello Setup does not even start but shows the error message "We couldn't find a camera compatible with Windows Hello Face" (see the screenshot). I contacted Lenovo support and they say the camera is compatible (after all, it showed the video in the setup before I removed the drivers), also the camera cannot be physically broken because no other application has any problems using it. Lenovo's solution would have been to reimage the whole computer, which I obviously cannot do because I have all my vital work related stuff installed in it.

So I'm quite stuck now and afraid to try things arbitrarily as my earlier attempt to do so only made the situation worse. My own guess is this has something to do with the drivers but I don't know where to get drivers that are definitely compatible with my device and will make this work. Help from anyone who understands how this thing works will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-19T09:51:06+00:00

    I was previously told to try older versions of the driver and apparently when I meant to go back to the latest version, I inadvertently selected the wrong driver because the drivers were not listed in order of version numbers.

    Now I have version 10.13.19041.28:

    But yes, this one had been there before, so the problem remains. I appreciate any further advice.

    By the way, it seems I may have a backup image of my pc from the time before I uninstalled the device/driver with "Hello" in its name, and I could try restoring it temporarily in order to recover important files but I cannot keep it in that state for long because I will need to be able to use my pc in its current state. Before I try that, is there any advice you can give to me about what I should particularly do or which files to recover while in the older state?

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-19T09:13:31+00:00

    I can try installing a driver from another pc manufacturer if the driver is for my camera model and installing it does not require me to install any bundleware.

    As I've mentioned a couple of times, I contacted Lenovo before. Their resolution was to restore my PC to the factory state, which I absolutely cannot do. They also said that issues related to Windows Hello Face must be solved with Microsoft, that's why I'm posting in this forum.

    I contacted Lenovo for the first time on February 2nd and before that I had uninstalled the "Hello" driver, so I suppose my System Image Restore Point from Jan 31st may still have it. But that's an image restore point, so it would replace all my hd contents. I can try restoring that image temporarily but after that I would have to restore the pc back to its current state. While in the older state, what files should I save to a memory stick so that I can use them when the pc is back in the current state?

    Another question: Is there a way to specify how long Windows keeps (non-image) restore points? Now the oldest non-image restore point on the list seems to be only 16 days old.

    Still another question: Is there a way to take the backup image of Jan 31st safe so that newer backups will not overwrite it even if the backup disk runs low on space?

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  3. JosephT71 9,220 Reputation points
    2023-03-18T16:44:16+00:00

    The screenshot you took said your driver is 10.13.19041.25 but the driver on the lenovo website said the driver download is 10.13.19041.28.

    Which means that you didn't install the driver correctly, maybe because you weren't doing it in admin mode.

    Read the lenovo link I posted for installation instructions.

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  4. Virginia M 42,075 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-03-18T14:22:20+00:00

    Unless you’re willing to try installing a driver from another pc manufacturer which may or may not work then your only option may be to contact Lenovo.

    Do you have a system restore point to before you uninstalled the driver?

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use...

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-18T13:52:00+00:00

    There is no key with a camera icon on it but I'm not sure how that would be related to anything? I have said many times that every other application in my laptop has no problem using the camera and my strongest suspicion for the culprit of the problem is the missing driver with "Hello" in its name which never appeared back after I removed it as per the instructions given in another thread in this forum.

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