Windows Hello webcams have stopped working in the dark. I don’t care

Will your laptop recognize you in the dark? Maybe. Maybe not.

An April patch update for Windows now “requires color cameras” to see a visible face when signing in, according to Microsoft via Windows Central. Technically, that means that Windows Hello is now using your webcam as well as the infrared depth camera to log you in.

Windows Central notes that the change has been made to solve a spoofing vulnerability.

The question is, will it really matter? My quick tests say that from a practical sense: no, it won’t. I took three laptops — a Surface Laptop 7th Edition, an Asus ZenBook S 14, and an MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo — and made sure that my Windows Hello facial logins were up to date. All three laptops had had the April update cited by Microsoft, KB5055523, which made the change.

I then took the laptops into the stairs leading into my “basement” office, where I work at home. (That office has two windows; the stairwell is lit by an open door at the top, if it’s open.) While in the dark, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I then opened up all three laptops and attempted to log in using just my face. All worked successfully.

I even turned on Windows’ anti-spoofing technology — a technology that promises to make it even harder for someone to impersonate you. I’m not familiar with what, if anything this changes in the process. Again, however, I logged in using Windows Hello’s facial login without issue.

In both cases, I found that my laptop’s screen was enough to illuminate my face without any problems, and provided enough light that the camera was able to recognize me. I used my laptop’s webcam to snap a spooky photo of me to illustrate how dark this area was.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

Weirdly, both my colleague Michael Crider as well as Windows Central reported that their laptop cameras couldn’t see them well enough to recognize them.

In any event, the problem basically resolves itself by simply turning on a light. Microsoft has always asked me for a numeric PIN as a backup, which you can use as well.

You might argue that this change enhances the security of your PC, as it now requires the webcam to “see” you using visible light instead of just recognizing you via your infrared signature. Practically, though, very little has changed.

The tech world often throws a fit when certain trivial changes are made. Here, I don’t think you need to worry.