Windows Hello Fix v2.1

🚀 Windows Hello Fix v2.1

Windows Hello Fix v2.1 builds on the native C++ overhaul introduced in v2.0, with a focus on reliability, recovery, architecture support, maintainability, and easier distribution.

Because apparently telling Windows which camera to use needed another release.

✨ Highlights

🛡️ Improved Reliability & Failsafe Recovery

v2.1 adds dedicated recovery/failsafe components that monitor unexpected camera states and attempt to restore the expected RGB camera state when necessary.

The failsafe is designed as a recovery layer, not a replacement for the primary native lock/unlock event handling.

Additional safeguards include camera-state verification, retries, duplicate-event protection, startup recovery, and safer camera restoration.

🖥️ x86 + x64 Support

v2.1 can now be built and distributed for both:

• x86 / Win32
• x64

Both architectures use the same shared source code, with architecture-specific differences kept in the build and installer layers.

📦 Universal Installer

The new Universal Installer:

Windows_Hello_Fix_Setup.exe

automatically detects whether Windows is x86 or x64 and installs the appropriate version.

Architecture-specific installers are also included:

• Windows_Hello_Fix_Setup_x64.exe
• Windows_Hello_Fix_Setup_x86.exe

The Universal Installer is intended as the primary download and will also be used for the project's WinGet distribution.

🧩 Modularized Codebase

The application is now organized into dedicated components for areas such as:

• Camera control
• Core application logic
• Configuration
• Event handling
• System integration
• UI
• Watchdog/recovery

This makes the project easier to maintain and extend without maintaining separate architecture-specific implementations.

📝 Documentation

v2.1 includes a substantially expanded documentation set covering the source architecture, build system, camera control, recovery components, runtime behavior, architecture support, troubleshooting, and known issues.

Because "disable the other camera" apparently deserved an architecture diagram.

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⚠️ Known Issue

0xA00F4241 (0xC00D7167) — CameraSwitchFailed

Windows Hello can still encounter this error in certain situations, particularly when Hello is triggered while the system is already running, rather than during the normal startup/lock transition that HelloFix primarily handles.

HelloFix controls the RGB camera's device state so Windows Hello can prefer the IR camera during the relevant transitions, but this does not currently prevent every possible camera-switch failure.

The v2.1 recovery infrastructure improves handling of unexpected camera states, while more comprehensive recovery for CameraSwitchFailed scenarios remains planned.

Windows Hello: "Hello!"
Windows Hello Fix: "Yes. Please use the correct camera this time."

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🏗️ Architecture

                 Windows Hello Fix
                        │
                 Shared source code
                        │
              ┌─────────┴─────────┐
              │                   │
             x86                 x64
              │                   │
              ▼                   ▼
        x86 application     x64 application
              │                   │
              └─────────┬─────────┘
                        ▼
                  NSIS installers