How to unlock samsung tab with the fingerprint scanner not working

Question

I have a samsung tab 2 and suddenly the fingerprint scanner stopped working and I'm not able to unlock my device.

Now my device asking for backup password. Which as you all guess I do not remember. After several tries of wrong passwords I get a message telling me that I have 5 wrong attempts with the fingerprint scanner(!) and that I should wait for 30 seconds before my new attempt.

I also tried to unlock my device using Google Device Manager following this article but one more time nothing happened. I tried to contact Samgung and their only suggestion is to hard reset my device. The problem is that I do not want to loose my data from the tablet.

Is there any possible way to make the fingerprint scanner to work? Is there any other way to unlock my device? If there is no way to unlock it can I at least save my data before I hard reset it?

Answer 1

I have an S5 with fingerprint on it. After 5 incorrects there should be a button next to Alternative Password saying "Unlock via Google". Does yours not have it?

I looked at your article and there were a few methods they missed.

a) Try hooking up your tablet to your computer, after you've downloaded and installed the "Samsung USB Drivers for Mobile Phones.exe". Download adb and call it from your command prompt/console, like this:

cd c:\adb-fastboot
adb devices

If it shows a device with a long ID attached to it, you're in luck! You can now use the ls command and adb pull to browse through your device and copy files and pictures back to your computer. adb pull instructions for pictures

If you're not in luck, try booting to recovery mode using the buttons and try adb devices again. If that doesn't work, always try another computer! It took me 5 different computers one time to get drivers working.

Along with the ls command, you can also remove your lockscreen PIN by running this command:

adb shell
rm /data/system/gesture.key

If that does not work, try this:

adb shell
cd /data/data/com.android.providers.setting­s/databases
sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=0 where name='lock_pattern_autolock';
update system set value=0 where name='lockscreen.lockedoutpermanentl­y';
.quit

If that doesn't work, you can use adb backup to get a full "app data" backup of your device before you reset it. Use this along with adb pull on all your pictures. Refer here for adb pull instructions for pictures.

I hope this helped, good luck retrieving your files/unlocking your device!

Answer 2

Type findmymobile.samsung.com into your search bar, then type in your Samsung account name and password, click phone lock, set a new code and it will appear on your locked phone screen.

This is the only way it worked for me. I found this solution in a forum. I called google, samsung, and my service provider. They said the only option was factory reset and I refused that so I tried this and it worked.