How to turn off Facial Recognition (Windows Hello) when it says "This option is currently unavailable"

Hi Rosie,

Thank you for reaching to Q&A community! Please help refer bellow instruction to address the issue:

The issue where Face Recognition and other sign-in options are greyed out and show “This option is currently unavailable” can occur if a Group Policy setting has disabled biometrics. Specifically, the setting under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Hello for Business > Use Biometrics may have been set to Disabled. Even if the Group Policy Object (GPO) is no longer applied, the registry setting can persist and continue to block biometric features.

The respective registry key for this GPO is located under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winbio\Credential provider\Domain Accounts.

In this scenario, the registry key was configured as DISABLED:

Domain Accounts REG_DWORD 0x0

To resolve this, you need to manually remove the relevant registry key:

1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winbio\Credential provider
3. Delete the Domain Accounts registry key.

After removing this key, biometric functionality should be restored, and you should be able to manage Face Recognition and other sign-in options in Settings.

If you believe this information adds some value, please accept the answer so that your experience with the issue would help contribute to the whole community.

Best wishes,

Kate!