SOLVED: Windows Hello in Desktop application not working

Ask the Bitwarden Community
#1

Hi all,
I’m facing a strange issue on my desktop with Windows 10 Home.

I’ve already installed Bitwarden on two other PCs with Windows 11 Pro and had no issue at all.
On the other hand on my Windows 10 Home desktop the integration with Windows Hello seems not to be working.

The machine supports fingerprint reading via Windows Hello and I use it for login and to authenticate in various applications (e.g. myki).
When I enable the “Unlock with Windows Hello” setting, the usual Hello popup appears asking for my fingerprint. I provide it, it gets recognized and the “Unlock with Windows Hello” in bitwarden settings is enabled and remains enabled if I close and reopen the Settings window.
After I lock the vaulti in the desktop app, though, at the login only the “Unlock with PIN” is available, no Windows Hello popup appears and there is no “Unlock with Windows Hello” button.

Also, if I try to enable the option to “Unlock with Biometrics” in any browser extension, the desktop app opens up Windows Hello prompt, my fingerprint gets recognized but an error appears saying: “Unable to enable Biometrics. Action was canceled by the desktop application”. After that the option is not enabled.

Any suggestion on how to fix this issue?
The solution proposed in some other threads suggesting the installation of VB redistributable is not working, at least after installing the latest redistributable from MS web site.

Best Regards
Paolo

Windows Hello in Bitwarden Desktop Application version 1.33 not functioning properly
#2

Hi all,
looks like I’ve managed to fixed the problem and will post it here in case it might help for others in the future.

The solution was launching Bitwarden desktop as Administrator (I didn’t have to do that on the other PCs) and then re-enable the “Unlock with Windows Hello” option.
After providing the fingerprint as requested by Windows Hello the option was set and this time the “Unlock with windows Hello” button was available on the unlock screen.

Even restarting Bitwarden in user mode (no administration) windows Hello kept working and being available.

I’ve then been able to enable the “Unlock with biometrics” in the browsers add-ons.

I suppose some registry key or data file could not be written due to some protection restriction and launching the app as Administrator allowed the information to be correctly stored (just an educated guess…)

Best Regards
Paolo