Thinkpads Forum

I am awaiting the delivery of my Thinkpad X1-Carbon. It has a fingerprint reader which I do not want to use. I have searched a bit for this information, but I would like to know how to disable the fingerprint reader.
Thanks
Mahl
currently using an x220 and I do love it...but.

I don't have a TP in front of me to tell you exactly where to look but the Fingerprint reader can be turned off in the BIOS.

Turn it off in BIOS. If you can't then don't install any drivers/software for it and disable it in device manager.

I appreciate the several replies. Mention is made to change the BIOS.
Well, I must admit to being a neophyte when it comes to the inner workings of such things as the BIOS or registry--I am quite reticent as well as anxious to attempt such things.

Am I correct that it may somehow be safe to enter the BIOS and do this for a novice. Or would going to device manager be sufficient.
And again, Thank You for all of your help.
Mahl

Disable in device manager will work just as well. Having said that, there's nothing magical about BIOS. It's just another piece of software, albeit, much more primitive than any OS. It's fairly user friendly and straightforward these days to change BIOS setting. Start by getting in there and browse around at all the features.

mwagner2 wrote:I am awaiting the delivery of my Thinkpad X1-Carbon. It has a fingerprint reader which I do not want to use. I have searched a bit for this information, but I would like to know how to disable the fingerprint reader.
Thanks
Mahl
currently using an x220 and I do love it...but.

You do not have to disable it as it comes from the factory turned off. You are asked to establish a password for Windows, you do not even have to do that.

The finger reader does nothing unless you set it up and put in your prints.

Why do you not like it as I have mine set up to turn on the machine when swiped and it works really well. In fact th X1C finger reader works better than my W 520 series.

Greg Gebhardt wrote:

mwagner2 wrote:I am awaiting the delivery of my Thinkpad X1-Carbon. It has a fingerprint reader which I do not want to use. I have searched a bit for this information, but I would like to know how to disable the fingerprint reader.
Thanks
Mahl
currently using an x220 and I do love it...but.

You do not have to disable it as it comes from the factory turned off. You are asked to establish a password for Windows, you do not even have to do that.

The finger reader does nothing unless you set it up and put in your prints.

Why do you not like it as I have mine set up to turn on the machine when swiped and it works really well. In fact th X1C finger reader works better than my W 520 series.

Mine comes on and goes off, apparently at random. There seems to be no driver for it. The fairly bright yellow light is distracting. I'd like to disable it.

You may be able to disable it completely from the bios. I can't remember the steps, but I troubleshoot a T410 which had bluetooth and FPR with neither working. They were disabled in some out of the way area in the BIOS.

Edit: The I/O ports area under security.

Folks, this is a necro thread; OP dated circa 2012...

Anyways, now that this topic has been revived, here is my recent experience:

***I'm told by official Lenovo designated vendor that for X1 Carbon Generation 4 (2016),
for X1 Carbon Generation notebooks "produced in 2nd half of 2016",
that there is "no" driver for fingerprint reader under Windows 7,
as the fingerprint reader is a "newer model" which has no Windows 7 driver (yet).

Indeed, we have a X1C4 with Win7 64bit in front of us which confirms this.

(Of course, for your X1 Carbon Generation 4 which came came natively with Win10 would have a working fingerprint reader).

[Edited 17-Dec-2016]