Article Intended For

Penn State students, employees who are not eligible for Windows Hello for Business, and other affiliates who want to store a passkey for their Penn State Account in their personal Windows Hello setup.

Introduction

Windows Hello provides a phishing-resistant, passwordless way to sign in to your Windows laptop or desktop computer. You likely use a PIN, fingerprint, or face scan to log onto or unlock your computer. That's because you set up Windows Hello when your computer was new.

You can create a passkey for your Penn State Account and store it in your existing Windows Hello setup. After doing so, you can use the same PIN, fingerprint, or face scan you use to log on to or unlock your computer to sign into your Penn State Account.

Things to know:

• Windows Hello on a personal computer (i.e.; a computer not managed by Penn State IT) uses your own, personal Windows Hello setup. It stays on that specific computer and does not sync to other computers.
  
  
• If you create a passkey for your Penn State Account specifically for Windows Hello, the passkey will be stored in your personal Windows Hello setup, allowing you to use the existing biometrics (PIN, fingerprint, face scan) you already use on your computer. You can always set up a PIN, but face scan or fingerprint is dependent on the hardware, such as the camera or fingerprint reader, installed or not installed on your computer.
  
  
• A Windows Hello passkey is device-bound. This means you cannot use the passkey for your Penn State Account using Windows Hello on another computer. For example, if you log onto a computer in a lab or library, you cannot use your Windows Hello passkey to sign into your Penn State Account. You will need to use another passkey you stored on your smartphone or FIDO2 security key.
  
  
• If you don't have Windows Hello enabled on your personal Windows device, please see the following Microsoft article for instructions: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/configure-windows-hello

Article Body

How Do I Set Up Windows Hello on My Personal Computer?

In most cases, you have already set up Windows Hello on your Windows laptop or desktop computer. If you already use a biometric such as a PIN, fingerprint, or face scan to log on to or unlock your computer, you already have Windows Hello enabled and ready to use.

If you are unsure, please see the following article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/configure-windows-hello

How Do I Create and Store a Passkey For My Penn State Account in Windows Hello?

1. visit https://mysignins.microsoft.com/security-info/ and sign in using your Penn State Account credentials
   
   
2. select +Add sign in method
   
   
   
   
3. select Passkey
   
   
   
   
4. select Next
   
   
   
   
5. if you already have a passkey enrolled, you will see a screen asking you to "Save your passkey" and will need to select Change
   
   if you don't encounter this screen, continue to the next step.
   
   
   
6. on the "Choose where to save your passkey screen" select This Windows device
   
   
   
   
7. on the "Save your passkey" screen, perform the biometric you have enabled for Windows Hello. This could be a face or fingerprint scan, or typing a PIN.
   
   
   
   
8. on the "Let's name your passkey" screen, type a name (this is optional and will be saved as "Windows Hello" if you don't change it)
   
   
   
   
9. select Next
   
   
10. on the confirmation screen that your passkey was created successfully, select Done
    
    
    

You can now follow the instructions in the following KB article to log into any Penn State website using your Windows Hello passkey: MFA: Sign In Using a Passkey with Windows Hello