Unable to disable windows Hello

Question

Even though I turned off Windows Hello in Sign-in options screen,

when my computer is woken up, the camera light goes on, little camera icon appears on the screen along with the text  " Turning on camera.  Making Sure it's you. Couldn't recognize you ... use pin ..."

So, despite turning it OFF in sign-in options, Hello and use of camera continue to be on.  They just stop recognizing my face.

Anybody knows how to _really_ turn Hello off?  (Supposedly it is one of the culprits of my battery drain issues). 

Thanks,

Marina

ps.  I am on a Surface Book.  In sign-in options, I hit "Remove" under "Face" and set "Automatically unlock the screen if we recognize your face to" "OFF".

Answer 1

Hi Greg,

I have version 1511 (OS Build 10586.36)

While trying a few things out to respond to your post, I both resolved my issue and came across what looks like a bug.  Here is the info for a bug report.

Below is what my options screen looked like.  Hitting "Remove" did something so that the system no longer recognized me, but it did nothing to change what options screen looked like.  In other words the screenshot below remained the same after hitting Remove.  And I could continue to toggle "Automatically unlock the screen ..." on and off.  And while Hello no longer recognized me, it wasn't getting disabled.

The way out of this turned out to be to click "Improve recognition", which set up my face recognition all over again.  Then come back to this screen and click "Remove", and this time it worked, really disabling Hello.

Why it didn't work the first time - don't know.  Maybe some sequence of conditions or actions that prevented it from completing the removal completely the first time and hitting "Remove" again no longer had any effects.

Answer 2

Hi Marina, after you tap Remove the "Automatically unlock the screen..." should gray itself out and be disabled. Are you saying you can slide this to Off after tapping Remove? Tapping Remove should be sufficient in disabling Windows Hello.

What version of Windows 10 are you using. Can you check for me? This can be found in Settings> System> About or by running winver.

Thanks,

Greg

Answer 3

Thanks for the details. That is odd and good job tracking it down. You may wish to add it into the Windows Feedback app. I did a quick search and found one report of this. You can add to it or upvote it if you wish.

Windows-Feedback:?contextid=107&feedbackid=23d6995f-45b1-4624-b564-be9801c87f9a&form=1&src=2

Thanks,

Greg

Answer 4

The point was that NO, it did not turn it off. That happened to me as well. Despite removing windows hello, rebooting several times, and trying a bunch of other things, it still searches for me, but I have to use the pin to sign on. Clearly a bug. I am up-to-date on everything. I then re-set it up, and shut off automatic and then removed windows hello. Seeing if that fixed that problem.

(I shut mine off because I am doing everything in my power to fix battery life). When I am undocked on my book, I get 45 minutes battery life from a full charge!!)

Answer 5

When you say you're undocked on your book, does that mean that you're not connected to the keyboard and using the system in Clipboard mode?  If so, you should be seeing at least triple that amount of time while on battery power.

You must either have a bunch of processes running on your system consuming tremendous amounts of CPU time and generating lots of heat or you have a problem with the battery in your system.  I would suspect the latter.

If you're near a Microsoft store, get it in there so they can look at it.  If not, I'd call MS for a replacement.

First of all even with the remaining bugs, most SBs are doing reasonably well with their battery life, so it shouldn't be an issue at this point.  Secondly, something like the Windows Hello camera triggering at login should be essentially imperceptible as far as battery life impact is concerned.  Finally, and I'm sure that you already know and feel this way, you shouldn't need to be seeking out and destroying every possible little thing that might drain the battery.  It should just work.

45 minutes is not even close to what you should be seeing, so looking for small potential battery-draining items is going to be of no use.

Best wishes on getting a working SB!