Solved Unable to add fingerprint after fresh re-install

hsehestedt · Jan 14, 2025

One more idea:

Check to see if there is a newer driver for your fingerprint sensor available on Microsoft update. I did this, and while there was indeed a newer driver for my laptop, it did not solve the problem, but might be worth trying.

I would wait for today's updates first, but then this might be worth a shot. Here is how:

Open Device Manager, locate the fingerprint sensor, right-click on it, select properties, and go to the details tab. Select "Hardware Ids".

Go to the Microsoft Update Catalog and search on the Vendor ID and the Product ID as shown in the screenshot below. NOTE: Omit the revision.

Link to the Update Catalog:

Microsoft Update Catalog

If an update is available it will likely be in a CAB file. You can extract the contents using File Explorer. Once you have the extracted files, right-click the .INF file and choose to install it, or choose to update the device from Device Manager, pointing to the extracted driver.

IMPORTANT: CVheck the version number and compare to what you have. Install only if what was available on the Update Catalog was newere than what you have installed.

hsehestedt · Jan 15, 2025

@deepakpc007,

How'd you do with the updates today? I'm glad to be able to report that on my laptop, the fingerprint sensor issue has been resolved.

deepakpc007 · Jan 15, 2025

andrew129260 said:
Do this:

Remove Linked Devices from your Microsoft Account

This tutorial will show you how to remove linked Windows 10 or Windows 11 PCs and Xbox consoles devices from your Microsoft account. When you sign in to a device with your Microsoft account, that device will get added and linked to your Microsoft account. When you add a device to your...

www.elevenforum.com

Unlink Device from Microsoft Store for Microsoft Account

This tutorial will show you how to unlink a device from the Microsoft Store for your Microsoft account. The Microsoft Store allows you to use up to 10 devices with your Microsoft account. If you can't download apps and games (content), you've reached your Microsoft Store device limit. Unlink a...

www.elevenforum.com

And then log back into the microsoft account on your pc after a reboot after a few minutes of removing it. Then try the fingerprint enrollment again.

Thanks. But this also didn't work.

deepakpc007 · Jan 15, 2025

@hsehestedt

Glad that your issue is sorted. Mine is still there even after the update. I checked in the Microsoft Catalog for driver updates as you said. Look like I'm on the latest one. I was on a local offline account. I tried logging in with my outlook account. It prompted the fingerprint setup. But that also showed the same error.

I'll try reinstalling Windows with the latest updates to see if it fixes on a fresh install.

garlin · Jan 15, 2025

hsehestedt said:
There is a known bug where certain fingerprint sensors are currently not working. I recall reading about it in known issues somewhere. Microsoft has generated a bunch of new bugs in recent Windows updates and this is one of them. Technically, it's possible that it may be the fingerprint sensor driver at fault, but the problem was introduced by MS, so more likely a Windows bug since these sensors worked in previous builds.

This problem has been ongoing for several months I believe. I have a Lenovo laptop affected by this issue. Since today (Jan 14) is patch Tuesday, it is my hope that this, along with some other annoying bugs that have been around for several months, will finally get fixed today. Since there were no Jan 2025 preview updates, i have no idea whether this issue finally gets fixed or not until I try the updates later today.

If you apply the updates today, or in the near future, post back here whether or not they resolve the issue. I'll post back how I do with my fingerprint sensor.

Fingerprint sensors might experience problems after a device is locked

The posted solution is to install October 2024 or a later update. I presume if you're re-installing from a clean ISO, the order should be:
1. Install from clean ISO.
2. Open System Settings, check Windows Updates and wait until Windows updates itself.
3. Now enable Windows Hello. And not before the current updates are installed.

deepakpc007 · Jan 15, 2025

garlin said:
Fingerprint sensors might experience problems after a device is locked

The posted solution is to install October 2024 or a later update. I presume if you're re-installing from a clean ISO, the order should be:
1. Install from clean ISO.
2. Open System Settings, check Windows Updates and wait until Windows updates itself.
3. Now enable Windows Hello. And not before the current updates are installed.

Thanks. I'll try this.

deepakpc007 · Jan 16, 2025

Update on the issue: I installed 23H2 with the ISO I got from UUPDump. In that version, I'm not seeing the same error. But still I was not able to enroll. It said something went wrong.

Since @hsehestedt got his fingerprint sensor to work after the update, I guess that this is related to my specific sensor.

I have now switched back to 24H2 and I'll wait for a driver update or a windows update which will fix this.

Thank you all for the help.

Mathias · Jan 16, 2025

I have the same problem with windows saying i already have 10 fingerprints even though its a fresh installation. This happened after i got a new motherboard, cpu, ram, and ssd so i knew that they weren't stored locally on my pc. I thought that they might be stored on my Microsoft account but when creating a new local account without Microsoft it had the same error. I then did some digging on my fingerprint reader and i believe that how it works is that the fingerprints are stored on the fingerprint reader when you add a fingerprint and it then gives windows a key or something. Then when you go to use your fingerprint reader (fx. logging in or using windows hello) windows sends that key to the fingerprint reader and tells the reader that windows is looking for a fingerprint. The reader then checks if the key is correct and if it is it will scan for a finger. If the fingerprint is correct it then tells windows that it has gotten the correct fingerprint. Now if you want to delete a fingerprint from your reader (you should normally be able to do this in setting > accounts > sign in options > security key) windows will give the fingerprint reader the key and tell the fingerprint reader to delete the fingerprint. But if you have reinstalled windows (like i did) the new windows installation wont have the key that you need to tell the reader to delete the fingerprint.

Now im not entirely sure that this is exactly how it works as i couldn't find much information about it. Also i believe that not all fingerprint readers work the same way so your fingerprint reader might work differently from mine.

Fortunatly for me if im correct i will be able to use my old drive which still has the old windows installation to delete the fingerprints stored on the fingerprint reader.

if im correct and it works i will update but as you probably cant access your old windows installation it wont help you much. Im currently looking into if its possible to reset the fingerprint reader but i haven't found any way to do it yet (at least not the one im using).

I hope this helps in one way or another.

deepakpc007 · Jan 16, 2025

Mathias said:
I have the same problem with windows saying i already have 10 fingerprints even though its a fresh installation. This happened after i got a new motherboard, cpu, ram, and ssd so i knew that they weren't stored locally on my pc. I thought that they might be stored on my Microsoft account but when creating a new local account without Microsoft it had the same error. I then did some digging on my fingerprint reader and i believe that how it works is that the fingerprints are stored on the fingerprint reader when you add a fingerprint and it then gives windows a key or something. Then when you go to use your fingerprint reader (fx. logging in or using windows hello) windows sends that key to the fingerprint reader and tells the reader that windows is looking for a fingerprint. The reader then checks if the key is correct and if it is it will scan for a finger. If the fingerprint is correct it then tells windows that it has gotten the correct fingerprint. Now if you want to delete a fingerprint from your reader (you should normally be able to do this in setting > accounts > sign in options > security key) windows will give the fingerprint reader the key and tell the fingerprint reader to delete the fingerprint. But if you have reinstalled windows (like i did) the new windows installation wont have the key that you need to tell the reader to delete the fingerprint.

Now im not entirely sure that this is exactly how it works as i couldn't find much information about it. Also i believe that not all fingerprint readers work the same way so your fingerprint reader might work differently from mine.

Fortunatly for me if im correct i will be able to use my old drive which still has the old windows installation to delete the fingerprints stored on the fingerprint reader.

if im correct and it works i will update but as you probably cant access your old windows installation it wont help you much. Im currently looking into if its possible to reset the fingerprint reader but i haven't found any way to do it yet (at least not the one im using).

I hope this helps in one way or another.

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that this was the case. Earlier I was using a different fingerprint sensor, and when I changed my CPU, it was giving me errors when enrolling and I had to change it to my current one to make it work.

Mathias · Jan 18, 2025

Mathias said:
I have the same problem with windows saying i already have 10 fingerprints even though its a fresh installation. This happened after i got a new motherboard, cpu, ram, and ssd so i knew that they weren't stored locally on my pc. I thought that they might be stored on my Microsoft account but when creating a new local account without Microsoft it had the same error. I then did some digging on my fingerprint reader and i believe that how it works is that the fingerprints are stored on the fingerprint reader when you add a fingerprint and it then gives windows a key or something. Then when you go to use your fingerprint reader (fx. logging in or using windows hello) windows sends that key to the fingerprint reader and tells the reader that windows is looking for a fingerprint. The reader then checks if the key is correct and if it is it will scan for a finger. If the fingerprint is correct it then tells windows that it has gotten the correct fingerprint. Now if you want to delete a fingerprint from your reader (you should normally be able to do this in setting > accounts > sign in options > security key) windows will give the fingerprint reader the key and tell the fingerprint reader to delete the fingerprint. But if you have reinstalled windows (like i did) the new windows installation wont have the key that you need to tell the reader to delete the fingerprint.

Now im not entirely sure that this is exactly how it works as i couldn't find much information about it. Also i believe that not all fingerprint readers work the same way so your fingerprint reader might work differently from mine.

Fortunatly for me if im correct i will be able to use my old drive which still has the old windows installation to delete the fingerprints stored on the fingerprint reader.

if im correct and it works i will update but as you probably cant access your old windows installation it wont help you much. Im currently looking into if its possible to reset the fingerprint reader but i haven't found any way to do it yet (at least not the one im using).

I hope this helps in one way or another.

Update.

I finally had some time to try and boot up with my old drive and parts and a random psu i found lying around and i fortunatly or unfortunaly for you confirmed my theory. I could succesfully remove my old fingerprints and now my fingerprint reader works just as before i upgraded my pc. I still haven't found a way to reset a fingerprint reader. Im guessing that all of this is due to security so you cant immitate the fingerprint reader and bruteforce your way into the pc. If you have an external reader you will probably need to buy a new one or if you have an integrated one you can either try to get it replaced or get an external one that connects via usb. If i find any way to reset a fingerprint reader i will update and if you find a way please let me know.

hsehestedt · Jan 18, 2025

Mathias said:
I still haven't found a way to reset a fingerprint reader.

Just go into settings and completely REMOVE the option to logon using fingerprints, then set it up again from scratch.

deepakpc007 · Jan 25, 2025

Update on the issue:

I checked my fingerprint scanner on another PC having an older version of Windows 11. It showed "Something wrong" error.

I bought Verimark Desktop fingerprint sensor to test on my PC and I can enroll my fingerprints now without any issue.

I think what @Mathias pointed out was the issue. I did reset my PC quite a few times without knowing I had to unenroll the fingerprints beforehand. So, that might have hit the limit of 10. I couldn't find a way to clear the fingerprint information stored on the fingerprint sensor.

Solved Unable to add fingerprint after fresh re-install

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