- Windows Hello Facial recognition no longer works in poorly lit parts
- This is due to a movement that Microsoft makes to consolidate safety with the functionality
- The change to demand a “color camera to see a visible face” means that connections are now failing in dark rooms, where before infrared allowed them to work
Windows Hello, the system that allows secure connection to your Windows 11 PC (or 10), no longer works when using facial recognition in a dark environment.
Indeed, this has been the case for a few months, because as Windows Central reports, Microsoft made this change in the April update for Windows 11, but he stole under the radar.
When some Windows Hello users noticed that they could not successfully connect because their faces were sometimes not recognized, they may have supposed that it was a bug (or the functionality being educated, which is sometimes). However, this is an intentional change from Microsoft, as the company clearly indicated it in the publication of the April corrective.
Microsoft said: “For improved safety, Windows Hello facial recognition requires color cameras to see a visible face when connecting.”
This improvement in security was necessary due to a discovery vulnerability which could potentially allow an attacker with access to the Windows PC to strive after the protection of Windows Hello.
This trick obviously involved playing with the infrared camera-taking advantage of “opponent input disturbances” because Microsoft supports it in a speed-speed-speed-speed-to avoid this feat, the company added the requirement of a color camera.
Why did these connected have been scouting in dark environments? Before the April update, Windows Hello could only leave the infrared sensor to make a low light connection (the infrared scan works well without light, of course). However, now the functionality needs your face to be visible for the camera, the connections under these conditions will simply work.
Analysis: there is a bypass solution, but it is not useful
There is no way to get around this as such, and if you are in an ill -lit room, the facial connection of Windows Hello could well fail (while before it would not).
Okay, so Windows Central stresses that there is a bypass solution here, that you can deactivate your webcam in Windows 11 (the actual camera can be deactivated in the peripheral manager). With this, Windows Hello will be authenticated with the infrared sensor – because it is the only option – and therefore it will work again in the semi -black.
Presumably, if you take this path, you can be vulnerable to the feat mentioned (unless it requires that the camera is active, a point in which Microsoft does not enter). In any case, deactivation of the webcam is hardly a good solution, because it means that you will not be able to use it for video chat (obviously, or anything else).
It is a shame that Microsoft must have tightened security in this way, but the software giant cannot risk leaving the door open to a feat that someone who stole a Windows 11 laptop could be able to take advantage in order to access the device.
