how-to AuthenTec Fingerprint Reader Setup

[primexx]

I'm making this post to keep a record and possibly help others who might come across this from google.

I've been trying to properly set up my AuthenTec fingerprint reader ever since purchasing my new laptop. My old one received Windows Biometric Foundation (WBF) drivers and a lite version of AuthenTec TrueSuite for enrolment automatically over Windows Update, but it seems like this is not happening with newer fingerprint reader models. The computer shipped with a non-WBF driver and OmniPass, neither of which are the most polished or integrated pieces of software, so I wanted to use first-party software like on my old laptop. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any comprehensive instruction on how exactly to go about doing this, and there is little information around the web in general. AuthenTec's website has enough information to figure it out, but it's quite difficult to access at a glance. I have finally managed to learn enough through their website and trial-and-error to set this up properly, so I'm documenting what I did and potentially make it easier for someone else.

I think AuthenTec supplies fingerprint readers for pretty much all the OEMs, so hopefully this post has some general utility despite fingerprint readers being pretty rare in the first place. You're supposed to rely on your OEM to supply the driver and enrolment software, but they could of course give you crap. If your computer came with AuthenTec TrueSuite, stick with it. If it came with OmniPass (as mine did) or some other third party software, chances are it sucks and you'd want TrueSuite.

As it turns out, AuthenTec does distribute everything necessary on their website, it's just cryptic and hard to understand. What confused me for the longest time was that they call the lite version a "trial", but after digging deeper I found this, which says that the basic functionality works forever, and it's just a trial of the more advanced features (aka bloat). I'm fine with that, I only want the fingerprint management and logon functionality.

If you just want to install it and don't care about getting the latest version, it's very easy. Download the TrueSuite Trial installer and let it install both the driver and software for you. It's slightly out of date as of this writing. I want the most up to date versions I could get, so I dug around more.

First, you have to figure out which kind of fingerprint reader you have, instructions are here and here's another handy lookup chart. Suffice it to say, the AES series that OEMs use in laptops use the AT drivers. The downloads are all here.

There are two types of drivers: the WBF version and the non-WBF version. The WBF version is more integrated to Windows and seems to perform better, while the non-WBF version supports more features that WBF doesn't implement (this comes from AuthenTec, but I don't remember the exact page now).

The WBF driver

The non-WBF driver

I prefer the WBF driver, it integrates and performs very well. It's not like you'd be using any advanced functionality on the lite version of TrueSuite anyways.

Now that we have the driver, time to get TrueSuite. Their download page links to here, which is great because it's an offline installer and is the latest version that I can find. There's just one problem - the zip files don't actually open. So let's go up a folder instead. Now we see the files TrueSuite 32bit Update and TrueSuite 64bit Update, it says "update" but it's actually a full installer. Go ahead and download it.

Before installing, make sure you've completely uninstalled whatever software is currently on the computer. Also make sure to go into Device Manager and uninstall all drivers for the fingerprint reader so it's an unrecognized device again (run "devmgmt.msc", then under "Biometric Devices" right click on the entry, then select "uninstall", check the box to also uninstall device drivers on the pop-up).

After restarting you can begin afresh by installing the driver obtained earlier, when it's done, restart if it didn't already ask you to (this is really important, don't skip the restart). Now the device should be recognized and you should be able to see Biometric Devices in Control Panel. Time to install the TrueSuite. After restarting you should be able to enroll your fingerprint by launching TrueSuite or from the Control Panel "Manage your fingerprint data" link.

The installer also installed something called KeepSafe, which integrates with programs. If you use it, great, it'll probably expire after the trial period though. If you don't use it, it's annoying and there's an icon on the desktop that you can't get rid of. Well I got rid of it. Here's how:

Go to the AuthenTec TrueSuite install folder in %programfiles% (or wherever you installed it) and rename the "KeepSafe" folder to something else (or delete it). This will prevent it from running so it can't make that desktop icon next time you log in. You can also get rid of the icon in My Computer by deleting all the registry keys that refer to KeepSafe. I just ran CCleaner's registry cleaner and it did the job. Next time you restart, the icon in My Computer should be rather blank and the right-click menu should have an option to delete it. It'll pop back up if you do click delete, but don't worry because it won't resurface after another restart.

There is also a small exe that runs all the time called "TouchControl.exe", it's also in the install folder. Presumably this is the executable that handles using the fingerprint reader to scroll and stuff. It's useless with the WBF driver (which doesn't support this) and also useless if you used the non-WBF driver without navigation support. Frankly, this function looks quite pointless (and doesn't work well) when I tried it out. You can also rename this exe to stop it from running, though it doesn't consume much resources so you could just ignore it.

Now you have a lightweight and well integrated fingerprint driver and management software that stays out of your way, directly from the manufacture of the hardware.