Unable to unlock browser extensions with Hello+face biometrics

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1

For a long while, I’ve been happily using “unlock with biometrics” with the Chrome extension. However, for the past few days, it hasn’t been working for me. I’m not sure but this may have happened since version 2025.1.2 was launched.

Here is what happens when I click Unlock with Biometrics. The first sign that something’s different is that the Windows Hello popup window opens in the taskbar instead of in the middle of the desktop. This in itself is very annoying as it means another mouse click is required.

When I click on the taskbar icon, the camera activates, the Windows Security (Windows Hello) popup opens and acknowledges my identity. However, when I press the OK button I keep getting Something went wrong. Please try again.

No matter how many times I try, it fails. I have to use another method to unlock.

It’s worth adding that this problem is only happening on the Chrome extension. Unlock with Biometrics works perfectly well with the desktop version.

Has anyone else experienced this behavior? Any advice/workarounds appreciated.

1 Like
2

Because biometric unlock of the browser extension relies on interactions between the extension and the desktop app, it would be helpful if you could share what version of the desktop app that you have installed. If older than 2025.1.2, try updating the desktop app.

3

Yes, this same behavior has been happening to me, but not on all my computers and not consistently. If you can reproduce on demand, you might consider reporting it as a bug (click on “new issue”).

4

My desktop version is 2025.1.3:

Version 2025.1.3
SDK ‘main (28c7e29)’
Shell 33.2.1
Renderer 130.0.6723.137
Node 20.18.1
Architecture x64

5

Thanks @DenBesten. That’s a good idea as it’s doing it every time although I don’t have another PC running Windows 11 that I can check. If I can’t figure it out soon, I’ll raise a bug report as you suggest.

6

There has been a change about how the clients interact with Windows hello. Your clients will need to be v2025.1.3 versions (v2025.1.2 for browser?) for this to work well again; meanwhile, you may want to use PIN unlock.

There are these comments from the author in this GH report:

Edited: as of now, the latest browser is v2025.1.2

1 Like
7

Thank you @Neuron5569. It seems from your links that Bitwarden developers are already aware of this anomaly. I’ve set my extension for PIN unlock as you suggest and hopefully a new version with a fix will become available soon.

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8

The Bitwarden Chrome extension on my Windows 11 devices has recently begun intermittently failing to unlock my vault. I have “Unlock with Biometrics” enabled and it usually fails with a “Something went wrong…” error, though it ocassionally it does correctly work. When it fails, as it usually does, and I switch to “Unlock with master password” that also fails.

Bitwarden is at 2025.1.3 and chrome extension updated.

Lock/Unlock Vault and Login/Logout all works normally for the desktop app and the vault.bitwarden.com web account access.

Any suggestions?

9

On my one PC experiencing this most consistently, The hello prompt starts out without auto-popping to the foreground. After I click it (to bring it frontmost) and click “OK”, I typically get one of these:

image
image459×434 12.7 KB
image
image382×602 8.19 KB

Nothing beyond unfounded speculation as to why sometimes one behavior and sometimes the other.

My versions are:

  • Desktop: 2025.1.3
  • Extension: 2025.1.2
  • Server: 2025.1.3 (us)

Unlike @davistom, my master password always works.

10

I’m having the exact same problem with Edge browser. I’ve opened a ticket with support. This doesn’t happen with Firefox, though.

1 Like
11

I am experiencing this exact issue as well. At first I thought it might be a Windows Hello issue. Glad it seems the devs are aware and working on this.

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12

This is an update to my original post.

I noticed that the Chrome extension had updated to version 2025.1.3 so I thought I’d try to unlock with biometrics again.

I’m happy to confirm that this feature is now working again. BUT… the Windows Hello popup still opens to the taskbar so is easy to miss if you’re not looking, and requires an additional mouse click to open. I think this is still a bug!

1 Like
13

Hello,

I think the recent biometrics troubles stemmed from the January 2nd Tuesday patch from Microsoft, with the fixes (said to be both the extensions and the desktop) from BW.

If you have latest everything (Microsoft Jan patch, extension v2025.1.3, desktop v2025.1.4), and can duplicate this bug consistently, perhaps after obligatory uninstall/reinstall, it’s probably better to report biometrics bugs to Github.

Maybe this bug for chrome: Chrome extension biometric unlock not functioning correctly with Windows Hello · Issue #13291 · bitwarden/clients · GitHub

14

Unfortunately, I think I spoke too soon! As of this morning, it’s back to not working with biometric unlock - Something went wrong. Please try again.

I have no idea why it has reverted to this behavior :thinking:

15

Thanks @Neuron5569 , I think that’s exactly the same issue. I’m glad the Bitwarden team is working on it.

16

I have updated pretty much everything relevant since my prior post.

The following updates did NOT improve the issue:

  • Desktop: 2025.1.4 (was .3)
  • Extension: 2025.1.3 (was .2)
  • Chrome 133.0.6943.60 64-bit (was 132.0.6834.160)
  • Windows 11 2024h2 Cumulative Update 2025-02 ( was 2025-01)

:hand_with_index_finger_and_thumb_crossed: That the 2025-03 cumulative update fixes it.

4 Likes
17

Also seeing this same issue.

I am running Desktop 2025.2.0 with Extension 2025.1.3

Chrome 133 on Windows 10 22H2

Sadly the 2025.2 update did not fix anything. I am following the Github issue 13291 which seems to be the problem I am having.

1 Like
18

Hi am having the same issue when I got a new macbook air (M3) chip. Unable to login using biometrics on chrome. I can still login to the desktop app w biometrics, just not chrome.
my bitwarden version is 2025.2.0

19

Sidenote: As OP meant “Unlock with Biometrics”, I changed the title now from “Unable to log in with biometrics using Chrome Extension” to “Unable to unlock with biometrics using Chrome Extension”, to make it more clear.

1 Like
20

Just to be sure, you’re logged in on the Chrome extension, but “unlock with biometrics” doesn’t work?

Is that your desktop app version? - I guess, the Chrome extension is on 2025.2.1?

PS: @NYC_BBDE_PTON Welcome to the forum!