Windows 10 1909 breaks Windows Hello with YubiKey 4

  • Thread starter MikeIndiaKiloEcho
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MikeIndiaKiloEcho

Hi. Been using Windows 10 ever since it came out. Windows Hello with YubiKey 4 never had a problem. All updates to 1903 were fine but then, recently I upgraded to 1909 because someone suggested that might fix an issue I had with Your Phone companion.


Now, Windows Hello no longer works with YubiKey 4. Windows security key sign-In management refuses to recognize that its a valid security key.


To eliminate the possibility that the key has somehow gone bad, I jumped onto the Yubico website and downloaded Yubico Client for Windows and the key is recognized fine and validated working with that client. I would have stuck with that client but it doesn't have the convenience of Windows Hello.


After uninstalling the Yubico client, I went about to try a standard Yubico Security Key. This worked fine.


I am now suspecting that Microsoft has removed support for FIDO U2F from Windows Hello security key functionality and replaced it with a FIDO2 implementation (instead of supporting both) because that is the only significant difference. YubiKey 4 also supports a number of other authentication standards such as OTP, OAUTH, OpenPGP, smart cards, etc which the Yubico Security Key does not support but I don't believe Windows Hello implements these capabilities in security keys.


Can anyone confirm? It just means I have to buy a YubiKey 5 with FIDO2 support but its a real pain for Microsoft to simply dump support for FIDO U2F when a year or two ago, it was considered the mainstream security 2nd factor key implementation before OAUTH and FIDO2 specifications were solid.

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