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Forum Discussion
finwe
3 years agoSuper Contributor
Windows Hello unlock prone to weak PIN
Hi.
Disclaimer: Yes, I know that under the option to unlock with Windows Hello, there is a link to the knowledge base where the need for the strong PIN is explicitly mentioned. But.
People don'...
hzcRzdvdfxvWoZkdRmtY
3 years agoNew Contributor
Hi.
Yes, it could be an idea with a small explanation about PIN strength when enabling through the app (rather than link).
Bit of a guess on your fingerprint reader; Was it a Kensington Fingerprint Key VeriMark IT by any chance?
I got a new driver (6.0.20.1123) for it through Windows Update, and after that (and a reboot with the patch tuesday fixes), I had to manually enter my PIN at lock screen. When touching the reader, it gave the usual "fingerprint accepted", but Windows just said "We are having issues on our side, please try again later". Had to delete my fingerprints through settings, and add them again. Got this reader on two different machines, and happened on both. Also, haven't checked my parents desktop, which got a Kensington Verimark Desktop Fingerprint Key, but I reckon it's a new driver there as well.
Asked Kensington about this, and was normal when a new driver was released. Luckily it is not everyday there is a new driver for them, last one was from 2019. And I guess there is a security implementation in Windows Hello when it is detecting a new driver for the biometric reader, preventing any tampering (even if it is match on sensor, rather than host).
But it's those times you feel how long a 35 length random alphanumeric PIN is (manually entering for both logging in, and for adding new fingerprints).
Edit:
Also, rolling back the driver or unistalling did not work.