Thinkpads Forum

I have just completely updated everything with the thinkvantage update mechanism. Unfortunately, this really messed things up.

I have never used the fingerprint mechanism and had a long time ago selected the option in the dialog box just after logon to never ask me to enroll my fingerprint again.

However, after this latest update, it now asked me again to enroll my fingerprint and didn't give me an option to cancel out. So, I went ahead and enrolled 8 different fingers just to be sure. It seems to have worked because I can log in using the fingerprint reader.

However, just after my background picture shows up, the [censored] dialog box pops up again asking for 'user enrollment'. If I hit cancel, I get immediately logged out. If I try to enroll my userid, it says I can not use that userid again, but it doesn't even let me change which userid to use.

I'm stuck in an infinite loop!

What the heck can I do?

I've attached the harddrive to my home pc to look around, but I don't know what I can do to disable the fingerprint software. If I move aside the fingerprint software folder in the program files folder, then the laptop hangs during logon.

Please, does anybody have any ideas? I just can't imagine having to reinstall everything because of a crap piece of software that I didn't even want to use in the first place.

Thanks in advance,
-Tom

tvarga,

Did you read thru the fingerprint help on your PC? Especially the Enrollment Wizard?

Fingerprint Enrollment Wizard

Use the Enroll or Edit Fingerprints wizard to enroll new or edit existing fingerprint samples.
Fingerprint enrollment is a process of creating correspondence between your user name, password and your fingerprints (computerized so that reconstructing the original image is not possible) together with automatically generated security keys. All the data is stored in a user passport.

It is recommended that you use the Fingerprint tutorial at least once before you start the actual fingerprint enrollment.


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Learn how to:
Enroll a new user (first use)
You must enroll your finger to be able to start using the software. Users with administrative privileges can also enroll and manage fingerprints of other users.
Go to Start menu > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > Control Center.
Select Fingerprints > Enroll or Edit Fingerprints.
It may be necessary to select an enrollment type before enrolling the first fingerprint in the Protector Suite QLThinkVantage Fingerprint Software installation. In this situation, the wizard name is changed to Initialize and the enrollment is started automatically after selecting the enrollment type.

(In the Secure mode - see Security mode in System Settings), a list of existing passports is displayed. Select the user and click Enroll button to enroll a new user.)
The Enrollment Wizard screen is displayed.
To enroll a new fingerprint:
Select a finger to enroll by clicking the box above the finger.
Swipe the selected finger over the fingerprint sensor. Three successful images are required to enroll one fingerprint.
To delete a fingerprint:
Select a finger to delete by clicking the box above the finger.
Click OK.
Swipe your finger over the sensor or enter your Windows/Advanced security backup password, and click on Next.
(Optional) If enrollment to the device was selected and your system configuration supports power-on security, all enrolled fingerprints will be also used for power-on security.
(Optional)If enrollment to hard drive is selected and your system configuration supports power-on security, enrolled fingerprints will be also used for power-on security.
Because of the device memory limitation, maximum number of fingerprints that can be stored is 21. If some of the enrolled fingerprints in the passports are not assigned for power-on security in the device (e.g. another device is connected), Power-on button is displayed above each finger. The Power-on button is displayed in a "depressed" state by default. The corresponding finger will be used for power-on security. If you do not want to use a finger for power-on security, but only for logon, click the Power-on button to delete it from the device memory.
Click Next to finish the enrollment or to set additional options settings (such as Advanced security, see below).
It is strongly recommended that you enroll more than one finger in the event of injury.

Note: If you do not use a Windows password, you will be prompted to define a new (non-empty) one. This is not necessary, but a password improves the security of your software.

Enroll or edit fingerprints of an existing user
Go to Start menu > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > Control Center.
OR
Swipe your finger to display the Biomenu and select Control Center.
Select Fingerprints > Enroll or Edit Fingerprints.
Click on Edit. (In the Secure mode - see Security mode in System Settings, a list of existing passports is displayed. Select the user passport you want to edit and click on Edit.)
The Enrollment Wizard screen is displayed.
Swipe your finger over the sensor or enter your Windows/Advanced security backup password, and click on Next.
To enroll a new fingerprint:
Select a finger to enroll by clicking the box above the finger.
Swipe the selected finger over the fingerprint sensor. Three successful images are required to enroll one fingerprint.
To delete a fingerprint:
Select a finger to delete by clicking the box above the finger.
Click OK.
Click Next to finish the enrollment or to set additional options settings (such as Advanced security, see below).
Delete fingerprints of an existing user
Go to Start menu > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > Control Center.
OR
Swipe your finger to display the Biomenu and select Control Center.
Select Fingerprints > Enroll and Edit Fingerprints.
Click the button with a fingerprint icon above the finger you want to delete.
Confirm the operation in the message box.
Delete a user passport (all user data)
Go to Start menu > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > Control Center.
OR
Swipe your finger to display the Biomenu and select Control Center.
Select Fingerprints > Delete.
Swipe your finger to verify and confirm deleting the current passport. In the Secure mode - see Security mode in System Settings, a list of existing passports is displayed. Select a passport and confirm deleting.
Import or Export a user passport
Go to Start > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > Control Center.
OR
Swipe your finger to display the Biomenu and select Control Center.
Select Fingerprints > Import or Export User Data.
To import a passport:
Click Import.
Browse for the passport file (*.vtp).
Enter the password (defined during export).
To export a passport:
Click on Export (In the Secure mode, a list of existing passports is displayed. Select the passport that you want to export and click Export).
Select the destination file (*.vtp).
Define a password which will protect the exported data.
Verify the finger (contained in the passport you are exporting).
Enable advanced security (optional)

For computers containing a special chip for additional encryption (TPM - Trusted Platform Module), the security of your fingerprint software can be increased by additional encryption performed by this chip.
Launch the Enrollment Wizard (Go to Start > Programs > Protector Suite QL ThinkVantage > ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software > User Enrollment).
In the Advanced Security dialog after enrollment, check the Enable Advanced Security for the current user.
Set the Advanced Security type.
Set a backup password. This backup password may be used to bypass the fingerprint authentication. We recommend using a strong, complex password. If you do not define the backup password, you can lose your data in the event of authentication hardware failure.


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For fingerprints added for power-on security, you must perform the operations described on the finalization page:

Power off your computer.
Turn your computer back on.
Swipe your finger when prompted. Enter your power-on password(s) when prompted. (This creates a connection between your fingers and password(s).)

Note: Biometric operations (enrollment, verification, tutorial) time out after approximately 2 minutes of inactivity to prevent excessive power consumption. In the event of a timeout, simply restart the process.

The above is to correct your enrollment. Now, if you need to circumvent your enrollment, that would interesting to learn.....just in case others need to know how to do that.

Sorry for that long post. Not sure you could get to your TP Fingerprint help.

Anyway, my recommendation for the future is maybe do a TP recovery this time but you can save hours of work next time of this issue or something similar by using either Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost to take an image of your hard drive once a week.

Then, if you get stuck like this, insert the Acronis or Norton boot disk and re-apply the hard drive image.

Saved my a__ many many times.

Anyway, good luck. Let me know if there is an alternate way......I bet I could use or someone else could use the solution in the future.

I have also been hit with the exact same problem after a Lenovo update 3 days ago.

I am now totally locked out of WinXP (fortunately I can get into the NTFS drive from Ubuntu - so much for security!!! - but at least I can back up my files before doing anything drastic)

My symptoms are the same as Tvarga describes.
- On booting to Windows you are asked for a fingerprint -OK
- Then your personal profile is loaded and you are IMMEDIATELY dumped into the fingerprint enrollment programme - asking you to register fingerprints. (note: I actually enrolled my fingerprints 2 years ago and they work fine!)
The username field is greyed out and entering your password just gives you an error message saying this user is already registered. Cancel, kill or whatever and you are logged out.
- logging in under any user identity seems to have the same result. Ugh!

Reboot into safe mode brings you back to the same screen.
Disabling fingerprint in the BIOS has no affect.

I love my TP and the fingerprint scanner but hate this crazyness. IBM TP support here in Sweden had not heard of this problem but also said they loved coming to this forum when they needed answers too!

Has anyone succesfully recovered from this problem update?
Regards
Mike

I have had the same problem

System Update then unable to logon exacly as above

Recovered by

Booting in Safe mode by pressing F8 just before Windows Starts

In safe mode use "Access IBM" to disable Fingerprint software

reboot and in Windows uninstall fingerprint software

run system update again to reinstall Fingerprint software

I'm back up and running

support request.~CR%DDBB-7B7DRLCR% went unanswered so far

Not related to the fingerprint reader, but I had some very serious ethernet driver issues yesterday following a couple of "updates" applied thru System Updater. Just ridiculous. I lost my entire morning and could not connect This makes me more apprehensive than ever about performing these endless "updates".

morrispeter wrote:I have had the same problem

System Update then unable to logon exacly as above

Recovered by

Booting in Safe mode by pressing F8 just before Windows Starts

In safe mode use "Access IBM" to disable Fingerprint software

reboot and in Windows uninstall fingerprint software

run system update again to reinstall Fingerprint software

I'm back up and running

support request.~CR%DDBB-7B7DRLCR% went unanswered so far

That did not work for me
In safe mode I still get the fingerprint enrollment!
I managed to get around it by doing a windows repair installation. BUT!!!
It gave me the login/logout loop asking me to activate windows (say yes or no and you are logged out anyway). I managed to disable that and was running fine until today. Installed Quickbooks and required reboot.... On reboot our wonderful Lenovo Fingerprint enrollment comes back to harrass me! Again I am locked out by IBM's upgrade. Strangely enough, also when rebooting (as is my only option) it claims to be installing 1 of 89 updates...

Aside from a reformat or total IBM system restore what can I do? This update from Lenovo has cost me over 20 hours work trying to fix it.

/mike

Yes, this happened to me a couple of times too. I turn on my machine and i scan my finger like i normally do, before anything loads i'm promoted to enroll my finger. If i cancel and type in my password, it says my account has already been registered.... strange..... i hope they get this fixed.

I was exactly in the same situation as tvarga and mikeandlotta after some update.

Here is a fix that worked for me:
Reboot, press the F8 key during startup and choose "Safe mode with command prompt" (choosing standard "Safe mode" will not work).
Once you obtain a command prompt, type regedit, navigate to the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\TVTGINA branch and rename or delete the "Plugins" key (it was referring to ACGina.dll), then reboot - in my case, this solved the problem and allowed me to login normally.

Thank you fanfan

so far your posted solution has solved my problem, BUT simply deleting the key "Plugins" didn't fix the problem. I was forced to rename "Plugins". Then it seems to have worked.

What version of the update is this that all you guys are talking about so others can avoid this?