How to Stop Windows From Crashing Your Lenovo Laptop
Some Lenovo laptop owners will soon have a solution for a serious Windows 10 error that causes a lot of crashes and system startup problems.
The crashes are caused by unexpected compatibility issues between Lenovo’s Enhanced Windows Biometric Security feature and changes in Windows 10, version 2004 update. This is a purely technical error , but the main issue is that Windows 10 version 2004 prevents Lenovo users from logging in with their laptop’s fingerprint sensor or webcam without crashing the system.
Even worse, users have been tinkering with these issues for a while without an official message from Microsoft. Windows 10 version 2004 was released in July. Since then, users have reported a number of issues on Lenovo ThinkPad devices from 2019 and 2020, including (via Lenovo ):
- Blue screen of death on boot
- Blue Screen of Death when launching Lenovo Vantage
- Blue Screen of Death when running a Windows Defender scan
- Can’t sign in with Face with Windows Hello
- Errors in Device Manager related to Intel Management Engine
- Errors in device manager related to infrared camera
These are serious issues that have rendered some ThinkPad laptops unusable for several weeks. It’s bad enough that Lenovo even told customers not to update Windows .
Luckily, Microsoft has finally acknowledged the bug and said it is working with Lenovo on a permanent fix. Neither company has indicated when users can expect to deploy it, but there is a temporary workaround you can implement right now while you wait.
How to Disable Lenovo “Windows Enhanced Biometric Security” on ThinkPad Laptops
This hotfix will disable problematic biometric security settings, although it’s important to note that it could make your device less secure (which is why it’s considered a temporary fix). You will also need to edit the BIOS settings of your ThinkPad laptop, a process that some users may not be familiar with. The process can be confusing and potentially risky if you don’t know what you are doing, but in the plus column, the ThinkPad BIOS Setup utility is much simpler and more user-friendly than most BIOS menus. Here’s what you need to do:
- Turn on your laptop (or restart it if it’s already on).
- Before fully booting, press F1 to open the startup interrupt menu, then press F1 again to open the BIOS setup menu. (Refer to Lenovo support page on accessing the BIOS menu for more guidance if you are having trouble with this step.)
- Once you enter your laptop’s BIOS setup menu, go to Security> Rendering.
- Disable Windows Enhanced Biometric Security.
- Exit the menu and click Restart to restart your computer.