How to Remove Facial Recognition Sign-in from Your Windows 11 Account

Facial recognition sign-in lets you log in to Windows 11 with your face through Windows Hello, the built-in system that checks your biometric data. Turning it off deletes your saved face scan from the device and sends your sign-in back to a PIN or password. The change takes under a minute in the Settings app, and you don’t need to restart.

Your PC stops using the infrared camera for sign-in the moment you remove the data. The steps are the same on Windows 11 Home and Pro. Windows keeps face data per account, so these steps only affect the account you are signed in to.

Before you start, make sure you know your PIN or account password. You will need it to sign in once the face option is gone.

1. Press the Win+I to open Settings. You can also right-click the Start button ⊞ and choose Settings.
2. Select Accounts in the left-hand list.
3. Select Sign-in options. You should see a list of ways to sign in, such as Facial recognition (Windows Hello), Fingerprint recognition (Windows Hello) if your PC supports it, and PIN (Windows Hello).
4. Click Facial recognition (Windows Hello) to expand it. You should see a short description and a Remove button. If you only see Set up, no face data is stored for this account.
5. Click Remove. Windows deletes your face data from the device. The Remove button should be replaced by Set up, which tells you the data is gone.

To test it, press the Win+L to lock the PC. The lock screen should no longer scan your face. Sign in with your PIN or password instead. If you want to be sure, check that the camera light doesn’t come on at the sign-in screen.

If the facial recognition option is missing or greyed out, there are a few likely reasons:

• Your PC has no camera that supports Windows Hello face sign-in. Most standard webcams don’t, because Windows Hello needs an infrared camera.
• The camera driver is missing or not working. Check Device Manager for the camera, and install updates 🔃 from Windows Update or the PC maker.
• It is a work or school PC where an administrator controls sign-in options through policy. In that case, ask your IT team.
• No face data was ever set up on this account, so there is nothing to remove.

If you change your mind, you can turn the feature back on. Go back to Accounts › Sign-in options, expand Facial recognition (Windows Hello), and click Set up. Then click Get started, enter your PIN when asked, and follow the on-screen prompts to scan your face again. Windows Hello requires a PIN to be set up first, so keep your PIN in place.

How to Remove Facial Recognition Sign-in

To disable facial recognition Windows 11, you need to open your account settings and remove the biometric sign-in data. Open Settings by pressing the Windows key + I, go to Accounts, and select Sign-in options. From there, click on Facial recognition (Windows Hello) and hit the Remove button to turn off the camera login feature.

1. Open Settings by pressing the Windows key + I on your keyboard.
2. Click on Accounts on the left side, then select Sign-in options on the right side.
   
   Or click this link to open Sign-in options directly:
   
   Open Sign-in options settings
3. Under Ways to sign in, find and click Facial recognition (Windows Hello) to open its options.
4. Click the Remove button next to Remove this sign-in option.
5. Close the Settings window when you’re done.

Images to Help You

If you cannot click the remove button because the setting is greyed out, you can fix it using Device Manager to disable the infrared camera driver. Windows Hello requires an existing standard PIN to make changes, so make sure you have one set up before you try to clear your facial recognition data.

 

Step 4 - Remove facial recognition option:

If the facial recognition option is greyed out or shows an error saying This option is currently unavailable, use Device Manager to disable the infrared camera driver.

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⚠️Windows Hello PIN requirement

Removing Windows Hello sign-in methods requires an existing standard PIN. Verify the presence of a working PIN prior to deleting facial recognition data.

1. Open Settings by pressing Windows + I on your keyboard
2. Click on Accounts in the left menu and then select Sign-in options
3. Look for the facial recognition section under Windows Hello and click on it
4. Click the Remove button to delete your facial recognition data from the PC

 

All done! Facial recognition is removed from the Windows 11 sign-in configuration. Alternative login methods like the PIN remain fully functional.