Assistance Required for Partner Center Account Registration for Windows Hello Certification

To certify a product for Windows Hello, a Partner Center account must first be created and successfully verified. When registration is failing and there is no access to a Partner Center workspace, use the following steps and support paths from the available guidance.

1. Confirm prerequisites for creating a Partner Center account
   • Ensure there is a primary contact person with a valid company email address (not a personal address such as hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com, and not a generic alias like info@, admin@, or marketing@). The email must be accessible because a verification code is sent to it.
   • Use a company work email or Microsoft 365 work account in the form ******@yourcompanyname.com.
   • Ensure the person registering has authority to sign legal agreements on behalf of the company.
   • Have the legal business name and address ready; the street address and postal code must match official records, and Western European characters must be used in the address.
   • If needed, purchase and configure a company email domain so that work email addresses can be created for employees.
   See the prerequisites section in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program enrollment guidance for details.
2. Create the appropriate Partner Center/developer account
   • For app- or device-related certification scenarios, a company developer account in Partner Center is typically required.
   • To open a company developer account:
     1. Go to the registration page at https://aka.ms/partnercenterregistration.
     2. Sign in with a Microsoft account (a personal Microsoft account is allowed at this step for sign-in; a work account is associated later). If there is no Microsoft account, create one.
     3. Join the relevant partner program (for app submissions this is Windows and Xbox; for device or other programs, select the appropriate program when prompted).
     4. Select the country/region where the business is located (this cannot be changed later).
     5. Select Company as the account type (if this is not available, follow the guidance under “Account type availability” in the documentation).
     6. If the company has a DUNS number, use it to auto-populate company information; otherwise choose I don't have a DUNS number and enter company details manually.
     7. Provide contact info, company website, approver contact, and a publisher display name that matches the registered business or trade name.
     8. Upload a legal document showing the company name and address (formation documents, government-issued letter/license, etc.).
     9. Accept the App Developer Agreement and pay the one-time registration fee for a company account.
   • After submission, the account goes through verification (name, association with the company, etc.), which can take from a few days to a couple of weeks.
3. If registration errors occur before the account is created
   • If the issue is related to company name or DUNS data (for example, the retrieved company name is reported as invalid after entering a DUNS number), use the option “I don't have a DUNS number” and manually enter the legal company details, then upload supporting documents.
   • Ensure the email address format and legal address meet the requirements listed above; invalid formats or mismatched address data can cause registration to fail.
4. Get support when sign-in or registration blocks progress
   • If sign-in or account access problems prevent completion of registration, a support ticket can be created without signing in:
     • Use the “create a support ticket without signing in” option described in the sign-in troubleshooting guidance.
   • For general Partner Center account access problems, use the Get help with account access problems support options appropriate to the partner type or sales channel.
   • If the problem is specifically that the Partner Center account cannot be found or created, follow the documented escalation path:
     • Use the Partner Center support ticket flow described under “Where can I get support for my Partner Center account issues?” and “Which support portal should I use?”
5. When to escalate further
   • If a support ticket has already been opened and there is no response within the documented timeframe (for example, seven business days in some Partner Center scenarios), follow the escalation instructions in the Partner Center developer account FAQ (for example, contacting the designated email with ticket number, seller ID, and screenshots). This pattern is used for Partner Center account issues and can be adapted to the specific Windows Hello certification registration case.

Once the Partner Center company/developer account is successfully created and verified, the Windows Hello certification program can be accessed from the appropriate area in Partner Center (or via the program-specific onboarding instructions) using the same account.

References:

• Create a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program account in Partner Center
• Create a Partner Center developer account
• Steps to open a developer account
• Which support portal should I use?
• Troubleshoot sign-in issues and account access problems