M4600 FIPS Fingerprint scanner Challenge

[Beaverdung]

I'm the proud owner of a brand-spanking new Dell M4600 with all the bells and whistles, this includes a stamp size FIPS Fingerprint reader.

I have Windows 7 Enterprise 64Bit on an SSD, all drivers installed BUT I cant for the life of me get windows to work with this biometric reader.

I've gone through the forums and came accross Embassy Tust Suit but I don't think it works with 64bit Windows. I even downloaded the Vostro Dell Suit but no luck.

Do any of you guys have a tips how to enable it ?

[Tsunade_Hime]

Did you try Dell's drivers from the support site? support.dell.com and punch in your service tag.

[Beaverdung]

Yes tried it all ,.. what i can read in the forums is that the Broadcom chip hides the sensor from the OS, and so Windows does not see a Biomentric sensor.

There is a company called Wave that make a product called Embassy Trust Suit, that should be able to see the underlying sensor.

I'm in email contact with them to see if I could get a trail key to see if that works

[cdach]

Look under All Programs
Dell
Dell Data Protection
Access

Start the Access and it should open up a screen to configure the fingerprint scanner. I don't use it so I can't confirm if it works.

[brinox]

Yes, the broadcom USH chip keeps Windows from seeing the fingerprint reader as a Biometric capable device, hence why you probably dont even have that control panel icon available.

I found a bunch of info on this recently, and on ideastorm, there was a Dell rep saying they are going to put forward something that allows the fingerprint reader to be used in a dell-built WBF scenario (WBF = Windows Biometric Framework) in Q3/Q4 of this year. See below for Martha's reply, who is apparently a Dell rep:

We appreciate evereyone's feedback. We continue to work with our partners to provide better hardware/software interoperability. We have plans to deliver WBF in the second half of the year. We hope to come back in the next month with a more specific date. We appreciate your business and thank everyone for their patience.

IdeaStorm | Windows Biometric Framework (WBF) driver for Latitude E Series with Broadcom USH CV w/ fingerprint reader

[Beaverdung]

@Brinox Thanks very much for the information, it's good to know that something is beeing done about it.

There is a work-around for the problem, it cost me 2 reinstalations before I got it right. The big problem is the ControlVault Driver DO NOT INSTALL IT !!!! only install the following drivers from Dell in this order:
1) Data Protection | Access — Driver Package
2) Data Protection | Access – Middleware Package
3) Data Protection | Access – Application Package

if you do this, then the DataProtection application is able to see the fingerprint scanner, and you will be able to enrole your pitters (fingers) and use it to authenticate to windows or the bios.

IF you did install the ControlVault driver then you can either try to go back to a restorepoint OR reinstall,..

Hope this helps some people

Good Luck

[crozzer]

is it possible to use the fingerprint reader for doing more than logging in to windows? I want to use it to log me in to websites, secure sensitive files, etc.

[Robin24k]

Yes, you'll need UPEK Protector Suite and the WBF driver.

Latitude E-Series and UPEK Protector Suite