> My understanding is you still need a username with fingerprints etc. The fingerprint software (Lenovo's at least) scans all enrolled accounts. You do not se

> My understanding is you still need a username with fingerprints etc. The fingerprint software (Lenovo's at least) scans all enrolled accounts. You do not select your user account - you just scan an enrolled finger and it figures out the correct user. > Well at least in a corporate environment. The original question wasn't asking about thousands of users but rather a small location (eg small office or a home). That said Lenovo's fingerprint software does support "enterprise" use where the signatures can be centrally stored and redistributed to relevant machines. Note that I would never use or advocate that. > What if the fingerprint algorithm overlaps two people. You suddenly can access someone else account without trying. Fingerprints are unique! The scanners are high resolution. Your fingerprints are always going to match your stored ones with the highest confidence. > fingerprints burnt off/similarly damaged through chemo You enroll multiple fingers. And yes someone with them completely damaged would have to revert to typing their password. > Also an fingerprint attack without username simultaneously attacks all users at once. You forgot the initial constraints. This is a local office/home where users have local access. Doing an attack via fingerprint is the hardest way of doing a compromise. As I pointed out you could just observe someone typing their password (directly or via a camera in the same room), you could plug a hardware keylogger in and no one is likely to see it, you could boot into a livecd and install attack software of your choice, and the list goes on. Heck you could probably just ask any of your family/coworkers for their passwords and they'd likely tell you!