With the upcoming major Windows update, a world without passwords is getting closer. Windows 11 23H2 supports passkeys so you can delete your Windows password forever.

Microsoft introduced the next major Windows 11 update last week, Windows 11 23H2. This provides many new functionalities for the operating system. The addition of Windows Copilot and other AI features received a lot of attention, but security is also invariably a key part of major Windows updates. Starting with Windows 11 23H2, Windows offers support for passkeys, a new login method that works without passwords and is becoming increasingly popular.

What is that?

Since Windows 10, it has been possible to log in without a password. You can find out how to set this up in our manual. Passkey support offers another benefit: you can also use Windows passkeys to log in to web services that already support the technology. This list is even more limited now, but with GitHub, DocuSign, PayPal, and soon WhatsApp and others, passkeys are starting to make their breakthrough.

You can create the passkeys via Windows Hello for Business. This can be done using facial recognition, a fingerprint scan or a PIN code. Once everyone in the organization has created passkeys, the administrator can even completely remove the option to log in to Windows with passwords.

Safer and more practical

Passkeys are intended to offer not only a more practical but, above all, more secure alternative to passwords. According to Microsoft, four thousand password attacks take place every second (!). Unlike passwords, passkeys are not stored on a remote server, but rather locally on your device. This makes them harder to crack, despite the fact that biometric authentication is by definition harder to crack than a password. Google and Apple also want to introduce passkeys for their web platforms soon.

Windows 11 23H2 includes many other security innovations. Microsoft lists everything clearly in a blog. The Windows 11 update will be available to all users starting tomorrow.