Windows Hello: Setting It Up, and When It Says Unavailable

Signing in with your face or a fingerprint instead of typing a password. It is the one Windows feature that people who try it keep. Two minutes to set up.

It also fails in a specific, maddening way, where the options gray out and read "This option is currently unavailable". I want to cover both. If you are here for the second one, the setup half will not help you.

Let me start with what it is. There is a real confusion in the naming.

What it covers, and what it does not

Documented by Microsoft on its Windows Hello page: "Windows Hello is a more personal and secure way to sign in to your Windows device." It offers three methods: facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and a PIN.

⛔ There is a second product with almost the same name. Windows Hello for Business is the managed, enterprise version. The edition tables people find online usually belong to that one.

⭐ Plain Windows Hello works on Home. Read somewhere that Hello needs Pro? You read the page about the Business variant.

⚠️ Windows Hello does not replace your password, it sits in front of it. The account password still exists and you will still need it occasionally.

Where your face and fingerprint actually go

The question worth answering before you enroll anything, and Microsoft answers it directly.

In Microsoft's words: "Windows stores biometric data that is used to implement Windows Hello securely on the local device only. The biometric data doesn't roam and is never sent to external devices or servers."

And the reason that matters: "Because Windows Hello only stores biometric identification data on the device, there's no single collection point an attacker can compromise to steal biometric data."

⭐ Nothing goes to Microsoft. That is the plain answer to the question everybody asks, and it is worth knowing before you decide.

Why the PIN is not a downgrade

The other objection. It is a fair one until you know how it works.

A four digit PIN looks weaker than a long password. It is not, because the two are protected in completely different ways.

Microsoft's explanation: a PIN is local to the device. It is not transmitted anywhere and not stored on a server. An online password is sent to the server, where it can be intercepted in transit or stolen outright.

And on the brute force worry: "The use of a PIN doesn't compromise security, since Windows Hello has built-in brute force protection, and the PIN never leaves the device."

⭐ So a stolen PIN is useless without the physical machine. A stolen password works from anywhere in the world.

⚠️ The trade-off is real but small. Somebody who has your laptop and watched you type the PIN is in. That is a shoulder-surfing risk, not a remote one.

Setting it up

Two minutes, and the order matters because the PIN comes first.

Go to Settings, Accounts, Sign-in options.

Set up a PIN first if you do not have one. Windows treats it as the fallback for the other two. Face and fingerprint will not offer themselves without it.

Then pick Facial recognition or Fingerprint recognition and follow the enrollment. Each takes under a minute.

⭐ Ours, and marked as ours: enroll two fingers, or the same finger twice in slightly different positions. Recognition improves noticeably, for another thirty seconds of your time.

⚡ Face enrollment is worth redoing if you wear glasses. Run it again with them on. Then again without, using the improve recognition option.

What the hardware has to be

Not every laptop can do every method. A legitimately grayed-out option often comes from that.

Microsoft's requirements: facial recognition needs "a Hello-compatible camera", fingerprint needs "a fingerprint reader", and external devices can be "connected to your device via USB".

⛔ An ordinary webcam will not do face recognition. Microsoft's Hello cameras use infrared. That is what lets them tell a living face from a photograph, and a normal camera cannot make the distinction.

⭐ So a missing Facial recognition option on a desktop is usually correct. Not a fault. Check Device Manager for an infrared camera before assuming otherwise.

When it says the option is currently unavailable

Now the fault, and the answer is probably not what you have been told.

An owner reported it in November 2021 on a Dell Inspiron 7415 with Windows 11: "The fingerprint reader was working fine at first, but now it appears to not be working with windows hello. The option to add a finger or remove the fingerprint are greyed out and not clickable."

They were given the usual driver advice and came back the next day.

In their words: "I tried the steps you suggested, but the issue persists… I found the latest driver online and it is already installed, so I do not believe this is a driver issue."

⛔ They were right. The answer came from another owner a month later. It is nowhere near the fingerprint driver.

The fix two owners confirmed, and it is a USB controller

This is the part worth the whole page.

Reported by an owner in December 2021, whose Biometric Devices section had vanished from Device Manager entirely.

Their route: open Universal Serial Bus Controllers near the bottom of Device Manager. Look for one carrying a yellow triangle and an exclamation mark.

In their words: "Right-click on it and select the driver tab. Click 'Uninstall Device.' Once you have uninstalled it, you can reboot and windows will reinstall it with the default (older) driver."

And the result: "When you return to the device manager, you should now see the 'Biometric devices' heading and if you open it you will see 'Goodix fingerprint.' When you return to settings, the fingerprint settings will no longer be greyed out and you can set it up. In my case, it reappeared with all my original settings intact."

A second owner confirmed it a few weeks later with a lighter touch, in January 2022. Rather than uninstalling, they opened the flagged device's properties, disabled it and enabled it again.

Their words: "YOUR PROBLEM IS RESOLVED!!! The exclamation sign will disappear and you will also find fingerprint options in sign in options."

⭐ Try the disable and re-enable version first. It reverses in a click. It also worked for the second owner without a reboot.

⚠️ The first owner was blunt about the wider situation: "Dell, Goodix, and Microsoft are stuck in a death spiral trying to resolve this."

The other things worth checking

Shorter list, and none of them beats the USB controller check above yours.

⚡ The Windows Biometric Service. Open services.msc and find it. Set the startup type to Automatic, and start it if it is stopped.

⚡ A work or school account. Look in Settings, Accounts, Access work or school. An account listed there can carry policy that disables Hello. Some owners report disconnecting it.

⚠️ And a Windows update can take it away. An owner in December 2021 reported all four Hello options unavailable after one, on an HP Envy 17: "Mine is completely gone since the last Windows Update."

⛔ Nobody answered that one. If a feature update removed it, still start with the USB controller check.

Removing it, and what happens to sign-in

Worth knowing, because people worry about being locked out by all this.

Go back to Settings, Accounts, Sign-in options, pick the method, and choose Remove.

⭐ Your account password is untouched. Removing a fingerprint removes a shortcut. Not your ability to sign in.

⚠️ Removing the PIN is the one to be careful with, because the biometric methods depend on it. Take those off first if you want to clear everything.

Setting all this up because you keep leaving the machine unlocked? A timeout plus a sign-in requirement is what does that job.

And if you use a local account rather than a Microsoft one, that changes what is on this screen. Worth understanding first.

Status: checked end to end 23 August 2026, across both versions. Microsoft documents the three sign-in methods, the Sign-in options route, the camera and reader requirements, the statement that biometric data never leaves the device, and the reasoning for a PIN over a password. The USB controller fix is a December 2021 owner report, confirmed by a second owner in January 2022.

Why does Windows Hello say this option is currently unavailable?

Often because a USB controller is faulted rather than the fingerprint reader. Open Device Manager and look under Universal Serial Bus Controllers for a yellow exclamation mark. Disable and re-enable that device. Two owners confirmed it restored the Hello options.

Is Windows Hello safe? Where does my fingerprint go?

Microsoft states that biometric data is stored securely on the local device only. It does not roam, and it is never sent to external devices or servers. There is no central store for an attacker to compromise.

Is a PIN really more secure than a password?

For signing in to that machine, yes. Microsoft's reasoning is that a PIN is local to the device and never transmitted. An online password goes to a server, where it can be intercepted or stolen. A stolen PIN is useless without the physical PC.

Does Windows Hello work on Windows 11 Home?

Yes. The edition tables listing Pro and Enterprise belong to Windows Hello for Business. That is the managed enterprise version, and a different product from the Windows Hello you set up in Sign-in options.

The Short Version

• Windows Hello and Windows Hello for Business are different products. The edition tables are for the second.
• Biometric data stays on the device. Microsoft says it is never sent to external devices or servers.
• A PIN is local and never transmitted. A password goes to a server, where it can be stolen.
• Set the PIN up first. Face and fingerprint will not offer themselves without one.
• Facial recognition needs an infrared camera, so an ordinary webcam cannot do it.
• Options currently unavailable is often a faulted USB controller, not the fingerprint driver.
• Disable and re-enable the device with the yellow exclamation mark. Two owners confirmed that.
• Removing a fingerprint or a face does not touch your account password.

Where to Next

If you are setting this up, do the PIN first and then enroll two fingers rather than one. Three minutes total, and the second finger is what makes it feel reliable.

If your options are grayed out, open Device Manager and scroll to Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Do that before you touch a single driver. The yellow exclamation mark is what you want.

If it went away after a feature update, try that same check anyway. It is free and it reverses. And it is the only route here that two separate owners confirmed.

And if the faulted device on your machine is something other than a USB controller, drop the make and model below. That list deserves to be longer than two entries.