This question concerns BitWarden on Windows 10; the desktop app and the Firefox and Chrome extensions are all implicated. Honestly that makes me wonder if it’s a Windows issue, but even if it is, maybe someone here can point me in the right direction.
I recently updated my BIOS in the hopes it would fix a bluescreening issue that has nothing obvious to do with Bitwarden. Since then, I can’t use my fingerprint to unlock any of the versions of Bitwarden listed above. I’ve tried resetting it in Windows and even deleting the biometrics database and redoing them from scratch - nothing works.
In most cases, Bitwarden still seems to ask for biometrics. Instead of the Windows Security window I used to get that directly asks for the fingerprint, though, I get one that asks for my PIN and has a “More Choices” link near the bottom. When I click that, it appears to give me the option to input a fingerprint. However, neither the PIN nor the fingerprint actually works. The Windows Security popup disappears like it normally did in the past when successfully unlocking Bitwarden, but Bitwarden is not unlocked.
With the Firefox extension it’s slightly different. It doesn’t even fake offering me biometrics like the desktop app and Chrome extension do, and biometrics are no longer checked in the login settings. When I try to set it, it says it needs to verify with the OS, and I get the same Windows Security popup described above, with the same lack of actual functionality.
There is no error message in any of these situations.
I quite intentionally have a big ponderous master password, and having to use it literally every time I want to open ANY of the three versions of Bitwarden listed above, when this used to be as simple as tapping my thumb on my reader, is a major annoyance. Does this sound familiar to anyone and if so, what worked to fix it?
There is an ongoing issue with Windows Hello, although your case does not seem quite the same in that PIN does not work for you.
In your firefox case, you might try disabling browser integration with the desktop and then reenabling it. I have seen the reenablement fail the first time, but succeed the second time, so you might try that too.
Suggestive though it might be that both problems involve Windows Hello, I don’t think that’s the same issue. The only part they have in common (and this is true even when everything else is working perfectly) is the recent-ish change from the Windows Security window appearing in the middle of the screen, to it being behind everything and needing to be clicked in the taskbar first. Which, while an annoyance, is a minor one compared to biometrics not working at all.
In any case, the following steps seem to have fixed the problem:
Delete the database Windows uses to store biometric info. (If you use Bitlocker, it is advisable to back up your keys first.)
Reboot.
Set up Windows Hello the way you want it.
Reboot again. If necessary, repeat until biometrics work as expected for logging into Windows; in my case this happened on the second try. (And was a big pleasant shock at first!)
Uninstall and reinstall the BitWarden desktop application. If necessary redo any settings that are no longer the way you want them (minimal but not zero in my case). Problem now fixed in the desktop app and in Chrome. (No changes specifically in Chrome were needed.)
Unlock the vault in the Firefox extension using the master password and set up biometrics there again, as though from scratch. Problem now fixed in the Firefox extension.
I also cleared my TPM around step 1 - it’s unclear whether that was necessary.