- Windows Hello Face recognition no longer works in poorly lit rooms
- This is due to a step that Microsoft has done to create security with the function
- The change to demand a ‘color camera to see a visible face’ means that login is now failing in dark rooms where the previous infrared
Windows Hi, the system that allows for a secure login to your Windows 11 (or 10) PC, no longer works when using face recognition in a dark environment.
In fact, this has been the case for a few months, as Windows Central reports, Microsoft made this change in the April update to Windows 11, but it flew under the radar.
When some Windows Hello users noticed that they couldn’t log in because their face was not recognized sometimes, they may have just assumed it was a mistake (or the feature was flaky as it occasionally is). However, this is a intentional change of Microsoft as the company made it clear in April -patch -release notes.
Microsoft said: “For improved security, Windows Hello Face recognition requires color cameras to see a visible face when logging in.”
This security improvement was needed due to a vulnerability being discovered that could potentially give an attacker with access to the Windows PC to be falsified by Windows Hello Protection.
This trick apparently involved the mess with the infrared camera-utilization of “conflicting input disorders”, as Microsoft puts it in smart security figures to avoid this utilization added the company the requirement of a color camera.
Why did this frightened login in darkened environments? Before the April update, Windows Hello could go clean from the infrared sensor to achieve a low light login (infrared scanning works fine without light, of course). But now the feature needs your face to be visible to the camera, login under these conditions just doesn’t work anymore.
Analysis: There is a solution but it is not useful
There is no way to get around on this as such, and if you are in a poorly lit room, Windows Hello Facial Login may well fail (when it wasn’t).
Okay, so Windows Central points out that there is a solution here, namely that you can disable your webcam in Windows 11 (the actual camera can be turned off in device manager). With that done, Windows Hello will authenticate with the infrared sensor-fordi it is the only option and it therefore works in the semi-darkness again.
Presumably, if you go this route, however, you may be vulnerable to the said exploitation (unless it requires the camera to be active, a point that Microsoft does not enter). In any case, it is hardly a good solution to disable webcam.
It is a shame that Microsoft had to tighten the security in this way, but the software giant cannot risk leaving the door open to the exploitation that a person who has stolen a Windows 11 bearable computer may be able to utilize to access the device.
