Technologies are improving and so are the safety measures on the devices to prevent them from getting hacked. Those were the days when there was only one option called a text-based password that needs to be entered into the system for logging.
But now you have many ways to log in to the system and Windows Hello Face is one of such ways for secure login which makes use of the web camera installed on the system, which recognises the user and allows them to log in.
Many Windows users started complaining that they were unable to log into the system using the Windows Hello Face method because they were getting an error message while trying to log in.
The error message that they received on the login screen is displayed below.
Windows Hello Face
This option is currently unavailable
We couldn’t find a camera compatible with Windows Hello face
This did not allow the users to sign in to the system. On analysing the error, we got to know about the factors that could be responsible for this problem in the system and they are listed below.
- Outdated web camera driver.
- There is no Facial recognition optional feature installed.
- Corrupted system files.
- Windows Biometric service is stopped.
Don’t worry if you are having this problem with your system, we have compiled a set of fixes explained below in this article.
Fix 1 – Update the Camera driver
When the web camera driver is not updated, this might create issues like this since the web camera is responsible for recognizing the face of the user. So let us try updating the camera driver using the device manager.
Follow the steps below on how to update the camera driver.
Step 1: Press the Windows key and type device manager on the keyboard.
Step 2: Select the Device Manager app from the search results as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: After the device manager window opens, double-click on the Cameras option from the list of devices for expanding it.
Step 4: Then right-click on the Integrated Camera under the Cameras option and click Update driver from the context menu as shown below.
Step 5: Now click Search automatically for drivers option in the popped-up window as shown below.
Step 6: This will check for the latest camera driver online and starts updating it.
Step 7: Once updating is done, close the Device Manager.
Fix 2 – Check if the Facial Recognition (Windows Hello) is installed
In order for Windows Hello to run smoothly, it needs an optional feature to called Facial Recognition (Windows Hello) to be installed on the system. If it is not installed, please select it and install it.
Here are the steps on how to check if facial recognition is installed.
Step 1: Press the Windows key on the keyboard and type optional features.
Step 2: Select the Optional features system settings from the results as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: Once the Optional features page opens, type hello in the search bar.
Step 4: If the Facial recognition (Windows Hello) does not appear in the search results, you need to click View features of the Add an optional feature section on top of the page as shown below.
Step 5: In the Add an optional feature window, type hello in the search bar and click the Facial Recognition (WindowsHello)‘s checkbox and click Next to proceed.
Step 6: Here you need to ensure you have selected the Facial Recognition feature and click Install.
Step 7: This starts installing the feature and once done, it will appear under the Installed features section on the page.
Step 8: Restart the system for the changes to take effect.
Fix 3 – Restart the Windows Biometric Service on your system
Windows Biometric service is mainly responsible for all types of biometric tasks on the system. If this service is stopped, it leads to the problem mentioned above in this article. So let us restart the Windows Biometric service and refresh the Biometric database by clearing it.
Step 1: Press the Windows and R keys together to open the run command box.
Step 2: Type services.msc in the run box and press the Enter key.
Step 3: When the services app window appears on the system, locate the Windows Biometric service from the list of services.
Step 4: Right-click on the Windows Biometric Service and select the Restart option from the context menu.
Step 5: Once it has restarted, you need to open File Explorer by pressing together the Windows and E keys.
Step 6: Type C:\Windows\System32\WinBioDatabase in File Explorer’s address bar and hit the Enter key.
Step 7: In the WinBioDatabse folder, clear all the files by deleting them.
Step 8: After it is cleared, close this folder.
Step 9: Now press the Windows key and type sign-in options on the keyboard.
Step 10: Then select the Sign-in options system settings from the results page as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 11: On the Sign-in page, click the Facial recognition (Windows Hello) option to expand it and click Setup.
Step 12: Next, follow the onscreen instructions to set up the fresh facial recognition data on your system.
Step 13: Once done, restart the system and see if this worked.
Fix 4 – Perform System File Checker Scan for corrupted files
When corrupted system files are present in the system, it creates numerous types of problems including the one discussed above in the article. So we suggest our users perform the system file checker scan on the system and repair all the corrupted system files using the steps explained below.
Step 1: Press the Windows and R keys together which opens the run box.
Step 2: Type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together on the keyboard.
NOTE – You may have to accept the UAC prompted on the screen to continue.
Step 3: Once the command prompt window is opened as an admin, type sfc /scannow in the command prompt and press the Enter key.
Step 4: It then starts to check the corrupted files and tries to repair them.
Step 5: Once done, you need to execute the below command to restore the system’s health using the DISM tool.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Step 6: When it is done, close the command prompt and restart the system.
Fix 5 – Try using the Get Help app for getting help
There is an excellent app especially for getting help from a bundle of sources to get the right possible solution called Get Help. You can get any information related to the system problems.
Step 1: Press the Windows key and type get help.
Step 2: Select the Get Help app from the search results as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: Once this app opens, you can enter the problem in the textbox given there.
Step 4: For troubleshooting this facial recognition issue, type I need help with Windows Hello face recognition in the textbox and press Enter key.
Step 5: Next, follow the onscreen instructions and get the best possible solution.
Fix 6 – Install the files inside the FaceDriver
There are a few files inside the FaceDriver folder in the system which need to be installed on the system. But when they are not installed, it throws such issues as facial recognition problems.
Here are the steps on how to install the files in the FaceDriver folder.
Step 1: Press the Windows and E keys together to open File Explorer.
Step 2: Type the following path in the address bar and press Enter key.
C:\Windows\System32\WinBioPlugIns\FaceDriver
Step 3: Once you have reached the FaceDriver folder, right-click on the HelloFace setup file and click Install from the context menu as shown below.
Step 4: When this is done, you can restart the system and see if this worked.