Windows Hello with lid closed

Question

My Dell XPS is connected to external display, keyboard and mouse and the lid is closed. When I start the windows, I can see that it is trying to use the bundled camera to identify me with Hello. This is silly because the camera is hidden. I want to set it up that it offers a PIN entry by default. How can I do it?

jeffmaher · Accepted Answer

Had the similar problem on my Dell XPS laptop where the Brio worked with Windows Hello when its lid was open, but did not work when the lid was closed.

Found this solution that worked for me:

Open the Windows Registry Editor (WIN key, then type "registry")
Navigate to "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power"
Right click on "LidNotifyReliable", choosing "Modify"
Set the "Value data" field to "0" and click "OK"

I can't remember if I restarted or not after this, but if it doesn't work initially, give your machine a reboot.

Credit goes to to the solution on this support doc on Microsoft's doc site.

BradTravel · Answer

I am experiencing a similar problem.  Except that I have a Logitech Brio that supports Windows Hello.  However, on the XPS 13 - Windows Hello is still trying to use the built-in camera.  Even though the display is closed and a thunderbolt dock is attached with two displays - the system doesn't seem to know that the cover is closed.  I am not sure if there was an answer to the previous request but hoping that someone has experienced this and can recommend a solution.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi BradTravel, Thank you for posting and for sending the service tag information via private message. We have opened a case and will be responding to you privately. Geoffrey

_blouses · Answer

I am having the exact same issue but with the Latitude 7390 laptops. When the lid is closed, the Brio appears to be disabled/not active. When the lid is opened the Brio comes back on and will unlock the machine using Windows Hello facial recognition. Same thing happens with another kind of camera that is not logitech. Ever find a solution? Thanks!

jphughan · Answer

@literakl To my knowledge there is no standard for identifying where a given camera is physically located. There are USB webcams that support Windows Hello facial recognition, so simply disabling facial recognition whenever the system detects that the lid is closed could create problems for people using such webcams perched on top of their external displays. And you couldn't reliably say, "Keep facial recognition enabled when the lid is closed only if you detect TWO eligible cameras" because some people might have that external webcam as their ONLY camera that supports Windows Hello facial recognition. It would be nice if there were a standard that allowed a particular camera's driver to say, "I am built into the laptop's display, so do not rely on using me when the lid is closed," but we don't have that today, as far as I'm aware.

Since I use my laptop most of the time in a dock with the lid closed, I ended up disabling facial recognition login for this reason and using the PIN instead. Although in fairness, my laptop also has a fingerprint reader, so that allows me to log in quickly even when the lid is open. But whenever I do that, the NEXT time I want to use a PIN, I have to manually choose that method. Although from then on, it defaults to using my PIN until I use the fingerprint reader again. So I only incur this inconvenience the first time I switch back to logging in while docked when I had previously used the fingerprint reader.

arnie_cr · Answer

I have the same issue. Did you receive any solution? .... the only way around I found wast to keep the laptop lid open and automatically disable that screen when connected to my DELL w19tb docking from the monitor settings, that made Brio work.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thanks for reaching out to us.I’m Kavyashree from the Dell Social Media team. I am sorry for this delayed response.Due to the current situation, we’re facing an overwhelming spike in the volume of customers reaching out to us. Could you confirm if the internal camera is working fine? May I know from where you have purchased the external camera?

literakl · Answer

I do not have any external camera

MobiDick · Answer

Fixed: I had the same problem with a Dell XPS laptop. With the lid closed, the Logitech Brio did not used for Windows Hello authentication. I was able to solve the problem by changing Bios setting: Power / 'Enable Lid Switch' to OFF. Face recognition now works with the external webcam even when the lid is closed.

R0sti · Answer

This fixed it! Thx.

_blouses · Answer

have you updated the brio firmware to 2.6?  I worked with a user on this exact issue this morning. Issue resolved by updating the brio firmware and rebooting.

Kirushation · Answer

Same Issue is here, I have Logitech Brio and XPS 13. i am using to external monitors with dell Hub.

When the laptop is shut and lid is closed as i understand it tries to use its own camera to unlock. Once i open the lid it uses the external one again.

Please help me out!!! I want to use Logitech since when the lid is closed i cannot use the dell integrated camera.

jseidenbe · Answer

I am having this same issue on my XPS with Windows 11. I have a brio camera and the software says the firmware is up to date but the version is 2.0.46. It works with lid open and in apps with closed but cannot use when it wakes from sleep if lid is closed. Help!

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

jseidenbe

PREVIEW

Follow the below steps and change the registry settings then check if it is working or noW

-Open the Windows Registry Editor (WIN key, then type "registry")

-Navigate to "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power..

-Right click on "LidNotifyReliable", choosing "Modify"

-Set the "Value data" field to "0" and click "OK"

click on the power option then check on the right side if you are getting this option(LidNotifyReliable)

-Restart the system.

jonckhje · Answer

I'm experiencing 'kind of' the same issue here. XPS 9340 with WB7022.

WB7022 should be working with Windows Hello (that is what I bought it for, partially), but is just not recognized as compatible camera.

The registry hack on LidNotifyReliable didn't do it for me. Besides, lid open or closed, the WB7022 is not recognized.

Anybody?

XPS

Windows Hello with lid closed

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