Tag: fingerprint scanner

Article

Fingerprint readers like what this Fujitsu laptop is equipped with are now available at a reasonable price for your existing computer

Best fingerprint scanners that let you use Windows Hello on older PCs | Windows Central

My Comments

I have reviewed a significant number of laptop computers, usually business-grade laptops, that have come with integrated fingerprint readers. This is a feature that is becoming common with premium and business-grade laptops but is also showing up on premium-grade smartphones and tablets.

Here, this allows you to scan your finger to log in to your device, with it able to be used as an additional authentication factor or as the only authentication factor. During my tenure with the various fingerprint-reader-equipped laptops, I set things up so that I log in to these computers using my fingerprint and this provided an effectively simplified but secure login experience to the system and online services like Facebook.

But you can have this with your existing Windows computer thanks to add-on fingerprint scanners that are reasonably priced. Similarly a fingerprint-reader attachment may be the answer if your have a computer with an integrated fingerprint reader but this has failed or has compatibility issues with Windows 10.

Previously, purchasing a fingerprint scanner for your desktop or existing laptop was about buying a piece of overpriced hardware pitched for larger enterprises who care about their security. As well, there was the risk of compatibility issues with these devices and the operating system.

Now these reasonably-priced devices called out in the Windows Central article are designed to work out of the box with Windows 10 especially with its class drivers and Hello simplified-login functionality. In most cases, these devices are a single-piece device that plugs in to the host computer’s USB port. This can work well for most laptop users and could work well with a desktop computer if you use a USB hub or a directly-connected peripheral that has USB hub functionality and at least one USB port flush with its outer surface.

The BIO-Key EcoID device exists on the end of a USB cable which would be a boon for desktop users but may be considered as something that gets in the way for laptop users. It also has the one-touch scan setup which is a similar user experience to what happens for smartphones or recent-issue laptops like the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 convertible Ultrabook.

All of these USB fingerprint readers listed in the article are available through Amazon with most of them retailing for between AUD$30-AUD$45 per unit. At least it is a way to set up your existing Windows 10 computer for one-touch secure logon without needing to fork out for a business-grade laptop. You also then have that same level of security if you bought a business-grade laptop with this feature but you want to equip your desktop PC or gaming rig with this level of security.

You may have a problem with the fingerprint readers on these business laptops after you upgrade the operating system to Windows 10

Those of you who had purchased a business laptop equipped with a fingerprint reader may find that this feature doesn’t work with Windows 10. The situation can be very difficult if you had participated in the Windows 10 free-upgrade program that happened from 2015 to 2016 and you may have foregone the use of this security feature after that upgrade.

What can you do?

Remove the existing fingerprint-authentication software from the laptop

Use the Windows 10 Add/Remove Programs option to remove the fingerprint-reader software that the manufacturer supplied with your laptop computer. It may also mean that you have to remove the password vault program that came with your laptop computer and you were using to keep your Website passwords with.

The reality is that some of the business laptops came with software installations where a third-party fingerprint-management program was part of the package. This may be due to the fingerprint reader not having driver software that could work directly with Windows at the time the machine was released or the program offering more “enterprise-friendly” features than what Windows and a baseline password vault could offer for the business laptop’s user class.

If you still value the feature set provided by the fingerprint-management program or depend on its compatibility with certain other management software, it may be a good idea to look for and download the latest versions of that software.

Update the fingerprint-reader’s driver software

The fingerprint reader on this HP Elitebook may be able to run the same driver software as one installed on some Lenovo ThinkPads

You would then have to update your fingerprint reader’s driver software to the latest version that can work with Windows 10. This is because the newer driver software takes advantage of the application programming interfaces associated with Windows 10’s Hello authentication mechanism.

Some laptops may require you to update their software relating to their BIOS / firmware and chipset before you progress any further. This is a process you would have to do from your laptop manufacturer’s support Website.

One way would be to open Device Manager in Windows 10 and identify then select the fingerprint reader’s entry in the device list. This will be listed under the Biometric Devices class of devices. Right-click that device and choose “Properties”. Click the “Driver” tab and select the “Update Driver” option to make sure it is up-to-date.

Or you could visit your laptop manufacturer’s support Website and download the latest version of the fingerprint reader’s driver software. Then you install that software, whereupon you may have to reboot your computer as part on the install process.

Sometimes a particular laptop manufacturer may not have the updated driver for the fingerprint reader that is integrated in to their business laptop. Here, you may have to do a Google search for details regarding the make and model of your business laptop and how to enable that machine’s fingerprint reader in Windows 10. This is because a particular fingerprint-reader subsystem may be used by two or more manufacturers in their product lines during a particular point in time. For example, the Lenovo website hosts the Validity Fingerprint Common Driver for Windows 10 which has been found to support most of the fingerprint scanners integrated in HP business laptops like the Elitebook 2560p.

On the other hand, you may find that the latest version of the driver software that they host is the Windows 8.1 version. Here, you can get by with this version for your Windows 10 computer thanks to the use of similar APIs.

Set your laptop up for Windows 10 Hello authentication

The next step will be to set up for Windows 10 Hello – the authentication framework that Windows 10 uses for advanced authentication methods like biometric authentication.

Here, you go to Settings – Account – Sign In Options. Then you will have to create a PIN number, which is what you use when you log in to your machine. If you log in to Windows using your Microsoft Account credentials, you will need to create a PIN number, which will become a machine-specific alternative credential.

There will be an option to sign in with your fingerprint which will be enabled thanks to the newer drivers that you installed. Click on that button to sign in with the previously-mentioned PIN if you have created that or to create a new PIN number, before you enrol your fingerprints as your sign-in credentials.

If you still want to “swipe in” to your favourite Websites with your finger, you would need to acquire the latest version of the password manager that came with your computer like HP SimplePass, Softex OmniPass or a similarly-competent password vault that uses fingerprint recognition out of the box.

Conclusion

What this means now is that you don’t have to see the fingerprint scanner on your business laptop computer as being redundant just because you have upgraded your computer to Windows 10.