Unable to setup Windows Hello: "it looks like you've already setup Windows Hello on another account."

Question

I suddenly find my Windows Hello has stopped working on my Surface Pro 4. So I remove it and try to setup again.

However, it displayed "Something went wrong: it looks like you've already setup Windows Hello on another account Remove face recognition from your other account and then try again."

Which other account is it referring to? I am only using Windows Hello on my own account, but on 2 Surface Pros. It used to work just now, if there a new bug/feature that prevents us from using Windows Hello on 2 PCs using the same account?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi Guys, 

I have been having issues over the past 7 days with this, and you could say I know a thing or two about Windows 10.

I have carried out the following procedure on both of my machines now and they worked a treat first time.

Use the follwing below at your own risk, I always recommend taking a backup.

1, Remove Windows Hello Pin.

2, Stop the The Windows biometric service under services.

(I unplugged my USB IR camera to stop this, you may need to uninstall the inbuilt camera drivers to stop yours)

3, Browse to C:\Windows\System32\WinBioDatabase\ and delete all entries, I had two for two user accounts.

4, Restart computer

5, Plug camera back in or reinstall drivers for inbuilt web camera.

6, Restart computer

7, Log in with account password, setup Hello by creating a Pin first.

8, Setup face recognition within Windows Hello

Answer 2

There is currently no list of official known issues in the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, but you can utilize the forums to search if an issue is being experienced by other users who are on the same version as you are running.

We also encourage you to send this issue that you are experiencing using the Feedback Hub.  You can either vote on an existing submission or submit a new issue. When you submit a feedback item we gather additional details and information about your issue that will help determine what’s causing it and address it. Feedback items regularly receive Microsoft responses on the submissions in the Feedback app so you can see what we are doing about your feedback. Please revisit frequently to see the status of your feedback items.

For more information on Feedback Hub, see our support article and YouTube video.

In order to submit new feedback, please follow these steps:

1. On a Windows 10 device, search for Feedback Hub in Cortanasearch, then launch the app.
2. Navigate to Feedback in the left menu, then press + Add new feedback.
3. Select the Problem, and share any details you think are relevant, and choose an appropriate category and subcategory.
4. Important: If possible, reproduce the problem(s) after clicking Begin monitoring(or Start capture) near the end of the form; Stop monitoring when you’re done.
5. Once you’ve completed the form and monitoring, click Submit.
6. Click Continue using Feedback Hub.
7. Click My feedback at the top, then find the item you submitted (it may take a while to appear).
8. Open the item you submitted, then click Share.
9. Click Copy link, then paste the link here in your response (it will look like https://aka.ms/<unique link>).

For further queries, feel free to post back.

Answer 3

Hi Angela,

I recently just experienced this Windows Hello error all of a sudden.

It is almost near the end of November, will there be an update to fix this issue?

Answer 4

It's good that you are posting such concern here so that other users will be aware of this known-issue. However, submitting a feedback or voting on an existing one is different, as it will be reviewed directly by our engineering team and incorporate them into product planning deliberation.

For further queries, feel free to post back.

Answer 5

Thank you. 

But I am NOT a Microsoft QA. I hope my feedback here is enough.