DCP and the XT2 Biometric reader

Dell,

I have a bone to pick with you...

I spent the best of part of an hour getting the biometric reader on my Latitude XT2 with Windows 7 32-bit to work, only to make things worse.

After much research; it turns out the biometric reader is not compatible with the Windows biometric Framework (WBF) and instead DCP is required, I was hesitant to install DCP after what it did to my last two Dell machines. My Vostro 1400 and Latitude E6400; both were made noticeably slower and getting rid of DCP proved to be harder than getting it installed, the only sure way of doing so was to re-install the OS. Well, that was a year ago; I felt that was enough time for DCP to mature but hell was I wrong.

I downloaded and installed Dell control point security, control vault and the firmware update. The biometric reader worked, but only intermittently.

Half of the times the machine was switched on, the biometric reader wouldn’t respond and manual password input would be the only way to log in, annoyingly it took an extra 20 seconds longer to boot (it takes less than 20 with an SSD) and the password entry screen is very unresponsive. Of the times the biometric reader fails to function, the machine also fails to shut down properly; stuck on the shutting down screen and a hard off is necessary. This also coincides with DCP failing to find security devices.

I had enough and uninstalled the control point security and control vault through add/remove programs, now every time I boot and get to the password screen, I’m greeted with an incorrect password message even though I’ve not touched the keyboard.

Dell,

I’m not happy with DCP; it slows down my machine - fix it, fix it, fix it.

Please add WBF biometric driver support for the reader on the XT2 (and other Dell laptops with the same reader for that matter).

How do I get rid of the incorrect password message? Without reinstalling the OS.

Sincerely,
Wrex