- Windows Hello, facial recognition no longer works in poorly illuminated rooms
- This is due to a movement that Microsoft made to prop up security with the function
- The change to require a ‘color camera to see a visible face’ means that the session now fails in the dark rooms, where previously infrared allowed them to work
Windows Hello, the system that allows a safe login on its Windows 11 (or 10) PC, no longer works when facial recognition is used in a dark environment.
In fact, this has been the case for a couple of months, because as Windows Central reports, Microsoft made this change in the Windows 11 April update, but flew under the radar.
When some Windows Hello users noticed that they could not log in successfully because their face was not sometimes recognized, they may have assumed that it was a mistake (or the characteristic is squamous, that occasionally). However, this is an intentional change of Microsoft, since the company made it clear in April Patch Communication notes.
Microsoft said: “For greater security, the facial recognition of Windows Hello requires color cameras to see a visible face when logging.”
This security improvement was necessary because a vulnerability was discovered that could allow an attacker with access to the Windows PCs to fail its path to the protection of Hello Windows.
That trick obviously meant to mess with the infrared chamber, taking advantage of the “adverse entry disturbances”, as Microsoft puts it in elegant Speak, so to avoid this feat, the company added the requirement of a color camera.
Why this scorn of session in dark environments? Before the April update, Windows Hello could leave exclusively the infrared sensor to achieve a login in the low light (infrared scan works well without light, of course). However, now the function needs your face to be visible to the camera, the session is no longer operated.
Analysis: There is a solution, but it is not useful
There is no way to avoid this as such, and if you are in a poorly enlightened room, the hello hello facial windows can fail (when they did not do it before).
Okay, Central Windows points out that there is a solution here, namely, that you can disable your webcam on Windows 11 (the royal camera can be turned off in the device administrator). With that done, Windows Hello will authenticate with the infrared sensor, because it is the only option, so it will work again in the semi-struggle.
However, presumably, if this route follows, it can be vulnerable to the aforementioned exploit (unless it requires the camera to be active, a point where Microsoft does not enter). In any case, disabled the webcam is not a good solution, since it means that you cannot use it to chat by video (obviously or anything else).
It is a shame that Microsoft had to harden security in this way, but the software giant cannot risk leaving the door open to a feat that someone who has stolen a laptop Windows 11 could take advantage of to get access to the device.
