How to Add or Remove a Fingerprint for your Account in Windows 10
Windows Hello is a more personal, more secure way to get instant access to your Windows 10 devices using fingerprint or face recognition.
Windows Hello, greets you by name and with a smile, letting you sign in without a password and providing instant, more secure access to your Windows 10 devices. Windows Hello introduces system support for biometric authentication – using your face, iris, or fingerprint to unlock your devices – with technology that is much safer than traditional passwords. You– uniquely you– plus your device are the keys to your Windows experience, apps, data and even websites and services – not a random assortment of letters and numbers that are easily forgotten, hacked, or written down and pinned to a bulletin board. Modern sensors recognize your unique personal characteristics to sign-you-in on a supporting Windows 10 device.
For more about Windows Hello, see:
- Windows Hello - Windows 10 hardware dev
- Extending the capabilities of Windows Hello | Windows Blog Archive
- Making Windows 10 More Personal and More Secure with Windows Hello | Windows Experience Blog
- What is Windows Hello? - Windows Help
- Windows Hello and privacy: FAQ - Microsoft Windows
If your PC has a fingerprint reader, then you will be able to setup and add a fingerprint for your account.
A fingerprint reader is a device that uses your fingerprint to identify you. It works by scanning an image of your fingerprint, and then saving a registered copy of it. When you need to identify yourself, such as when signing in to Windows or an app, the fingerprint reader scans your fingerprint and compares it to the saved version.
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove a fingerprint for your account that you can use to sign in to Windows 10, apps, and Microsoft services.
Local users (Microsoft and local accounts) are able to sign-in to Windows with a fingerprint by default unless disabled.
Domain users will not be able sign-in to Windows with a fingerprint by default unless enabled.
When you boot to Safe Mode, you will only be able to sign in with your password, and not with any other sign-in option (ex: Fingerprint or PIN).
Starting with Windows 10 build 18995, Microsoft is taking another step forward in the Passwordless sign-in journey by adding Windows Hello PIN sign-in support to Safe mode, so that you no longer have rely on your password when troubleshooting your device.
Contents
- Option One: To Set up a Fingerprint for your Account in Windows 10
- Option Two: To Add another Fingerprint to your Account in Windows 10
- Option Three: To Remove All Fingerprints from your Account in Windows 10
- Option Four: To Setup Fingerprint for your Account from Sign-in Screen
You would use this option if you have not set up and added a fingerprint to your account yet.
1 Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on Sign-in options on the left side, click/tap on Windows Hello Fingerprint on the right side, and click/tap on the Set up button. (see screenshot below)
If you have not already, it is required to have a PIN for your account before you can setup a Windows Hello fingerprint.
3 When ready, click/tap on Get started. (see screenshot below)
4 Enter your PIN to verify it's you. (see screenshot below)
5 Scan your finger on the fingerprint reader. You will need to scan your finger a few times to set up with Windows Hello. (see screenshots below)
6 When prompted to Now try another angle, click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
7 Rest and lift your finger at different angles on the fingerprint reader to capture the edges of your print. You will need to scan your finger a few times to set up with Windows Hello. (see screenshots below)
8 When all set, click/tap on Close, or click/tap on the Add another finger link and go to step 3 above. (see screenshot below)
You can use this option after you have already setup fingerprint using Option One, and would like to add another finger.
1 Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on Sign-in options on the left side, click/tap on Windows Hello Fingerprint on the right side, and click/tap on the Add another button. (see screenshot below)
3 Go to step 3 in Option One to continue.
1 Open the Settings app, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on Sign-in options on the left side, click/tap on Windows Hello Fingerprint on the right side, and click/tap on the Remove button. (see screenshot below)
This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 17083.
1 While on your sign-in screen, click/tap on the Windows Hello tile under Sign-in options. (see gif below)
That's it,
Shawn
Related Tutorials
- How to Add a PIN to your Account in Windows 10
- How to Set up Windows Hello Face Recognition in Windows 10
- How to Add Password to Local Account in Windows 10
- How to Add a Picture Password to your Account in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Windows Hello Biometrics in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Domain Users to Sign in to Windows 10 using Biometrics
- How to Enable or Disable Users to Sign in to Windows 10 using Biometrics
Add or Remove Fingerprint for Account in Windows 10
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New #1
Please help - I installed an update to SimplePass because my FP Scanner had stopped working. (PC would not wake up from sleep - always had to restart). Once updated - PC would wake up but FP scanner didn't work (I needed to log on using PW). So I followed instructions to remove all fingerprints and start over with new ones (your option 3). When I got to fingerprint set-up (your option 1) to enter new fingerprints and click on "setup" then "get started", the next box only provides the "cancel" option at the lower right of the box, nothing happens at the lower left and no fingerprint scanner option opens. ????? Thanks..
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New #2
Hello Steve, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)
Just to verify, do you have a working PIN setup for your account?
Please go ahead and post some screenshots from steps 2 and 3 showing what you see instead to see if anything stands out.
How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums Windows 10 Tutorials
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New #3
Hi Brink, I don't think I have a pin (it doesn't ask me for one). Here are the 3 screens. I'm OK in 1 and 2, but 3 is a dead end. Nothing happens.
1st Screen.docx
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New #4
Yep, your screenshots reveal that you haven't added a PIN to your account yet. A PIN is required to be able to setup and add a fingerprint.
Add PIN to your Account in Windows 10 Windows 10 User Accounts Tutorials
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New #5
PIN Added - still won't work...
Hi Brink. I want to thank you for your help and patience. I've added a PIN and rebooted my laptop. Now 2 issues. 1) (minor one) Is when I open TenForums there is a banner across the top asking me to swipe my fingerprint to log on.
But as we know, my FP scanner doesn't work. I can barely slide my cursor under the banner to click on the log-in box and manually log in. (screenprint attached) This is probably tied to the much bigger issue of my FP scanner not working. So, to proceed with that issue.... I entered a PIN and restarted my PC (several times). Now instead of clicking on "Set-up FP" and then "get started" and finally seeing the Finger Scan image I only get to the "get started" button before everything ceases to proceed. IOW - used to stall out in step 3, now stalls out in step 2. See attached screen prints for clarity. Again, appreciate anything you can offer to help. I get the feeling it is something simple that is causing the PC to misdirect and stall out. But finding that may be hard.
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New #6
Did screenprint docs attach?
I'm not seeing the attachments - I'll try again............
PrtScreen_with_new_PIN.docx
Swipe to sign in Screen.docxLast edited by Brink; 17 Jun 2017 at 16:01. Reason: attached your uploaded image
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New #7
Do you have some sort of password manager add-on installed for your browser that's requesting the fingerprint instead?
In addition, double check to make sure that you have the latest driver for your fingerprint scanner installed.
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New #8
Wow!! Phew!!
Wow Brink!! It took me over an hour to reply to this. I couldn't log on to TenForums because of the "Swipe" FP banner that covered the log-in boxes. I've done so many things I can barely recall. 1st - to answer your questions - I don't think I have a PW manager add-on installed. Pretty sure I don't. So, in the meantime, I tried updating SimplePass and the SP Driver again. I've downloaded sp63418.exe and sp71729.exe several times in the past 2 days. I also tried to uninstall the SP software but the uninstall failed. So I reinstalled just to be safe. One thing that came of my uninstall/reinstall/newdriver/rebot/restart/etc. attempts is that now the "swipe" banner no longer appears at logon to TenForums. . THat's progress.
Question - is there a difference between Windows FP reader and HP Simplepass reader??? I saw online that Windows 10 has its own reader SW. ????? Also, I noticed in uninstall that there were 2 SimplePasses installed, one from HP and one from Softex. I uninstalled the Softex one but could not uninstall the HP one. WHere does all this leave us? I entered a PIN (that's progress) and updated all softwares, etc. But when I return to set-up and try the FP Scanner set-up again it still locks up at the 2nd screen. (per the 2nd set of screenprints I sent)
Any ideas? Steve
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New #9
Also....
Also, I'm very confused as to which software/driver versions I should be running. Everything worked fine until Windows forced an update on my while I was on a road trip around 5/29/2017. That is when the FP scanner stopped waking the PC from sleep. Since then I've downloaded so many fixes I've lost track. :-( How many drivers are involved? By my count, there is the SimplePass software, a driver for SP and a driver for the BIOS??? Do these 3 things work in concert with one another? Are there more than 3 things involved here? Lastly, I don't think this has anything to do with anything, but I noticed the following in Firefox Extensions (see attachment).........
Also, is this a Windows issue or an HP issue? Or both???
Add or Remove Fingerprint for Account in Windows 10
How to Add or Remove a Fingerprint for your Account in Windows 10Published by Shawn BrinkCategory: User Accounts
11 Mar 2020
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