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Managed Use of Biometrics in Windows 7

By Codrut Nistor

Posted in How-to, Windows-7

When Windows 7 is installed by default it accepts all biometric authentication methods to make user logon process easier. However in order to use biometrics feature a biometrics sensor device (hardware peripheral) is required. In case biometrics sensor is not available on any computer especially in production environment it is strongly recommended that administrators should disable the use of biometrics devices. If Windows 7 computer is in a workgroup environment administrators need to disable this feature by configuring group policy settings on each computer. The process of disabling the use of biometrics device is given below:

  1. Logon to the computer with administrator account.
  2. Click on Start button.
  3. At the bottom of start menu in search box type gpedit.msc and press enter key.
  4. On Local Group Policy Editor snap-in under Computer Configuration expand Administrative Templates and expand Windows Components.
  5. From the expanded list click on Biometrics and from the right pane double click on Allow the use of biometrics.
  6. On the opened window select Disabled radio button and click on Ok button to accept and confirm your configuration.
  7. Close Local Group Policy Editor snap-in and open Command Prompt.
  8. In command window type gpupdate /force and press enter key to update your computer configuration with latest settings.
  9. Close Command Prompt.