{"id":1420,"date":"2016-07-14T13:27:26","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T17:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2017-06-06T08:00:55","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T12:00:55","slug":"add-a-fingerprint-reader-to-surface-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/14\/add-a-fingerprint-reader-to-surface-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Add a Fingerprint Reader to Surface 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

You read the title correctly. I\u2019ve added a fingerprint reader to my Surface 3. (And you can do this with any Windows 10 device that has a USB port). Windows Hello<\/a> is a wonderful feature that provides an extra level of protection from prying eyes while traveling. While I\u2019m not necessarily paranoid, I don\u2019t want strangers seeing my password or PIN while I\u2019m lunching and computing. I feel more secure.<\/p>\n

While you can purchase a typecover for the Surface Pro 4 (that also works with Surface Pro 3, but this combo has some power management issues), there is no similar option to purchase a typecover with a fingerprint reader for a Surface 3.<\/p>\n

Luckily, there\u2019s a way to do this (if you don\u2019t mind using the single USB port on the Surface 3 and tying it up at least while you log in; you can remove and attach this peripheral while Windows is running so for me it is no big deal).<\/p>\n

Amazon sells this super tiny add-on fingerprint reader from \u201cEikon\u201d<\/a> at a good price. It\u2019s made by Authentech, who made many of the built in fingerprint readers for nearly all the big computer vendors (they were purchased by Apple in 2012).<\/p>\n

\"authentech\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I attached this device to my Surface 3 (green arrow below) and Windows immediately recognized this device and installed what it needed (red arrow) in a few seconds.<\/p>\n

\"attached<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently using Windows 10 Insider Build 14388, but this device will also set up in a similar manner on Windows 10 10586.xxx.<\/p>\n

1. Go to Sign in options in Settings.<\/p>\n

2. If you don\u2019t already have a PIN, set one up as this is required to use a fingerprint reader.<\/p>\n

3. Windows Hello will change the Require sign-in to Every Time as part of the setup and you will see this when setup is completed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"setup1\"<\/p>\n

4. Next, you will need to \u201cenroll\u201d or setup at least one fingerprint; select Get started to launch the wizard.<\/p>\n

\"setup2\"<\/p>\n

5. Confirm your PIN when prompted.<\/p>\n

\"setup3\"<\/p>\n

6. Follow the prompts to swipe a finger and setup the first fingerprint (and add additional fingers if you wish to do so).<\/p>\n

\"setup4\"<\/p>\n

When complete, you\u2019ll be able to log in using Windows Hello.<\/p>\n

\"hello\"<\/p>\n

This is a neat little device and it installs and sets up seamlessly and flawlessly. I recommend it highly.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions on this, you can contact me on Twitter @barbbowman or in the Microsoft Surface and Windows\/Windows Insider Forums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You read the title correctly. I\u2019ve added a fingerprint reader to my Surface 3. (And you can do this with any Windows 10 device that has a USB port). Windows Hello is a wonderful feature that provides an extra level of protection from prying eyes while traveling. While I\u2019m not necessarily paranoid, I don\u2019t want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[140,262,352],"tags":[312,283,281],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

You read the title correctly. I\u2019ve added a fingerprint reader to my Surface 3. (And you can do this with any Windows 10 device that has a USB port). Windows Hello is a wonderful feature that provides an extra level of protection from prying eyes while traveling. While I\u2019m not necessarily paranoid, I don\u2019t want strangers seeing my password or PIN while I\u2019m lunching and computing. I feel more secure. While you can purchase a typecover for the Surface Pro 4 (that also works with Surface Pro 3, but this combo has some power management issues), there is no similar…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Surface<\/a>, Windows 10<\/a>, Windows Hello<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Barb","url":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/author\/barb\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvFKI-mU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}