Typing the same password into your laptop every morning is one of the easiest habits to drop, and one of the riskiest if anyone is ever looking over your shoulder in a Leith café or on a Lothian Buses commute. Windows Hello is the built-in replacement: a PIN, your fingerprint, or your face unlocks the machine instead. It's faster, it's harder for a stranger to copy, and it's built into every Windows 11 install. This guide walks Edinburgh users through setting it up properly and getting it working again when it suddenly refuses to.
If Windows Hello has stopped recognising you and a Windows reset hasn't fixed it, our software troubleshooting team can diagnose driver and sensor issues across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
What Windows Hello Actually Is (and Why It's Safer Than a Password)
Windows Hello is Microsoft's biometric and PIN sign-in system. The key thing most people miss is that the PIN and biometric template are tied to that one specific device — they're stored inside a hardware chip called the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and never leave it. Even if someone steals your Microsoft account password, they cannot sign into your laptop with it remotely. That's why we recommend Hello to every customer who walks into the workshop from Morningside to Musselburgh with a "my account was hacked" story.
Before You Start: What You'll Need
Every Windows 11 PC supports a Hello PIN. Fingerprint and face sign-in need extra hardware:
- PIN — works on any Windows 11 device, no special hardware needed.
- Fingerprint — needs a built-in fingerprint reader (most modern business laptops) or a Windows Hello compatible USB reader.
- Face recognition — needs a Windows Hello compatible IR (infrared) camera. A normal webcam will not work, and that catches a lot of people out.
You also need a Microsoft account or work account signed into Windows. Local accounts can use a PIN but lose some of the syncing benefits.
Step 1: Open the Sign-In Options Screen
Click Start → Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options. You'll see three Windows Hello entries: Facial recognition, Fingerprint recognition, and PIN. Anything marked "This option is currently unavailable" means the hardware isn't present or its driver isn't installed.
Step 2: Set Up a PIN First (Even If You Want Fingerprint)
Windows requires a PIN as the fallback before it will let you enrol a fingerprint or face. Click PIN (Windows Hello) → Set up, verify your Microsoft password once, then choose a PIN of at least four digits. Tick "Include letters and symbols" if you want something stronger than digits — the PIN can be as long and complex as you like. Avoid the obvious ones: birthdays, postcodes, 1234, the last four of your phone number.
Step 3: Enrol a Fingerprint
Back in Sign-in options, click Fingerprint recognition (Windows Hello) → Set up. Windows will ask you to touch the sensor repeatedly, slightly repositioning your finger each time so it captures the whole print. Most customers we help in Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith get cleaner reads if they enrol the same finger twice under two different "finger" slots — once dry and once after washing — because skin moisture changes the print enough to confuse a cheap sensor.
Step 4: Enrol Face Recognition
If your laptop has an IR camera, click Facial recognition (Windows Hello) → Set up. Look straight at the camera while it scans — it takes around ten seconds. Then click Improve recognition and run it again with your glasses on (or off), and once more in different lighting. Three passes usually eliminates the "we couldn't recognise you" message that haunts users in dim Edinburgh winter mornings.
Step 5: Turn On Sign-In Required After Sleep
This is the step everyone skips. In Sign-in options, scroll to Additional settings and set "If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again?" to When PC wakes up from sleep. Without this, anyone who lifts your laptop lid on the train back from Waverley walks straight into your desktop.
Common Problems and How to Fix Them
"This option is currently unavailable" — the biometric driver isn't installed. Open Device Manager, expand Biometric devices or Cameras, right-click the sensor and choose Update driver. If nothing's there, check the manufacturer's support page (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) for the correct fingerprint or IR camera driver. Our guide to updating drivers covers the safest method.
"Something went wrong" during enrolment — usually a TPM glitch. Open tpm.msc, confirm the TPM is "Ready for use", then sign out and back in. If the TPM shows errors, that's a deeper hardware issue worth bringing to our laptop repair workshop.
Fingerprint stopped working after a Windows update — the most common cause we see. Settings → Sign-in options → Fingerprint → Remove, then enrol again. If that fails, roll back the biometric driver from Device Manager.
Face recognition fails in low light — the IR camera should work in the dark, so if it doesn't, the IR emitter is faulty. Currie and Penicuik customers often report this after a screen replacement — the IR module is part of the webcam ribbon and can be knocked loose. Our microsoldering team can usually reseat the connector without replacing the panel.
A Note on Privacy
Your fingerprint and face template never leave the device. Microsoft doesn't upload them, your IT admin can't pull them, and a factory reset wipes them entirely. That makes Hello safer than many third-party biometric apps. If you're handing the machine on to someone else, our secure wipe guide covers how to make sure no trace of your account remains.
Lock Your Edinburgh PC Properly
Windows Hello takes ten minutes to set up and pays you back every single time you open the laptop lid. If you want a technician to configure it properly, audit your sign-in security, and check your TPM and biometric drivers in one go, we offer in-workshop and on-site help across Edinburgh and the Lothians via our home and office callout service. Book a security check online and we'll make sure no one signs into your computer except you.