Dell Data Protection / Windows Biometric Framework / Fingerprint Reader Installation and Configuration Instructions

If you've looked at the various components supporting the fingerprint reader that are available on the Dell Drivers & Downloads website, you will know that they are a convoluted mess. Since I have to reimage my M4600 (again), I decided to do some experimenting to figure out which components I needed to install. It turns out that if you are going to use Windows Biometric Framework, only one component is required and if you are going to use Dell Data Protection, only two components are required.

Here are the details:



The above image shows the security updates. The only one that's required is the BROADCOM CORPORATION-Driver, which actually includes both a driver and firmware. Both are required for both WBF and DDP. The only difference between the two configurations is the setting of the control vault. (See below.) Despite the warnings that this is not compatible with Dell Data Protection, it is both compatible and required. The documentation is WRONG. I was able to confirm this by verifying that both WBF and DDP use the same driver and firmware. The only difference between the configurations is the settings on the control vault.



If you are going to use WBF, when you have installed the driver (first) and the firmware (second), the control vault is set by default to WBF mode. All you have to do is enable WBF in the Windows control panel. If you are going to use DDP, you have to set the control vault to disable WBF.



The above image shows the downloads for DDP. Only the third download is required. The first two should not be available for download, as they are not compatible or required for the third download, which installs everything at once (no longer drivers, middleware and application separately). After you install this component, you can enable DDP as before. You can even switch between WBF and DDP (but you cannot use both at the same time, only one or the other).

I hope this is helpful for those of you with M4600 or M6600. This may apply to other laptops, but that will have to be verified by others.