How do I install a fingerprint reader on Lenovo ThinkPad?

Question

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad with a fingerprint reader:

How to make Ubuntu recognise it and use it for login?

I already tried:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fingerprint/fingerprint-gui
sudo apt-get update

... but this GUI did not recognizes my device. Does anyone knows any other option?

Do you know the fingerprint device's model/manufacturer/id? It may appear in lspci -v or lsusb -v. — Wilf, Aug 15 '14 at 19:25
According to the Arch Linux wiki, you might need to reboot or add yourself to the plugdev and scanner groups (you should alread be in the plugdev group). — muru, Aug 15 '14 at 20:50
Read man useradd and do something like sudo useradd --groups=plugdev,scanner $USER. Then logout - groups are only applied at login time. Well, not exactly, but logout/login is the easiest way. — waltinator, Aug 04 '15 at 06:49
Can you see the fingerprint reader in the output of sudo lspci -v or sudo lsusb -v? If so, please edit your question to share the information. — waltinator, Aug 04 '15 at 06:52
My new L380 fingerprint sensor is not recognized. any driver? With lsusb All my Lenovo devices begin with 17ef: — Meloman, Aug 31 '18 at 12:35

score 75 · Accepted Answer · edited May 09 '22 at 21:47

75

I tried both Fingerprint Gui and FPrint in my Thinkpad W550S. Fingerprint Gui (Dead link, project is gone???) had a nice interface, but was pretty unstable on the login page and sudo and constantly crashed.

FPrint seems more simple, but works very well:

Installation

For Ubuntu 20.04 or greater:
```
sudo apt install libpam-fprintd
```

For Ubuntu 16.04 or greater:

sudo apt install libpam-fprintd fprint-demo

For Ubuntu 15.04 or less

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:fingerprint/fprint
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libfprint0 fprint-demo libpam-fprintd gksu-polkit

Configuration

After that, you can test it by running fprint_demo and save the fingerprint with fprintd-enroll. This will automatically make your login screen require a finger swipe instead of a password.

In some cases you also may need to run:

sudo pam-auth-update

... to activate fingerprint reader for elevated privileges, for example with sudo.

edited May 09 '22 at 21:47

NotTheDr01ds

17,888

answered Sep 29 '15 at 03:11

Kostanos

1,504

gksu-polkit does not exist in 2015.10 but seems to be installable: http://askubuntu.com/questions/653459/cant-install-gksu-says-it-cant-find-it – Nicolas Raoul Jan 05 '16 at 09:07
Actually no need to install gksu-polkit it seems. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 05 '16 at 09:15
the question was for 14.04. I didn't tested it in latest versions. But thank you anyway. – Kostanos Jan 05 '16 at 15:02
7

For 16.04, apt-get install libpam-fprintd was sufficient to get fprintd-enroll and functioning login page. – Samuli Pahaoja Sep 20 '16 at 10:35
1

after setting this how to get back to entering the password – Kasun Siyambalapitiya Nov 07 '16 at 09:23
@Kostanos How to uninstall Fprint I installed it using sudo apt install libpam-fprintd – Kasun Siyambalapitiya Nov 16 '16 at 17:04
on firing fprintd-enroll, it asks Enrolling right-index-finger finger. On scrolling my finger on the fingerprint-scanner, the terminal shows Enroll result: enroll-completed. But when I try using my fingerprint, it always shows 'Failed to match fingerprint'. What am I doing wrong ? – node_analyser Jun 15 '17 at 09:56
@v1h5 occasionally my sensor also gives me no match. but after few retries it works almost all the time. I guess it is also may depends on quality of the sensor and cleanest of it, also the fingers should not be wet. – Kostanos Jun 15 '17 at 14:09
@KasunSiyambalapitiya it exactly what I expressed on this topic. Apart of libpam-fprintd you may need some other dependent libraries. Check above for the full instruction. – Kostanos Jun 15 '17 at 14:11
Worked as a charm w/ ThinkPad L450 & Ubuntu 18.04 – Cristian Todea Jul 02 '18 at 08:54
1

For 18.04 at least, it seems the answer is missing an important part -- the fingerprint registration needs to be run also as root and needs username of the normal user (to get access via the fingerprint) as parameter: sudo fingerd-enroll $USERNAME. – Premek Brada Oct 25 '18 at 18:39
OK, so this does get the fingerprint thingy working but.. it's pretty useless on Ubuntu if you still have to enter a password for the key chain after paswordless fingerprint login :( – user17254 Jan 08 '19 at 23:18
14

I am getting no devices available. in ThinkPad l480 – Akhil Surapuram Jul 05 '19 at 10:14
unfortunately some models. including mine - ideapad 720s, has different brand fingerprint reader, which is not supported by ubuntu yet :( – Kostanos Jul 05 '19 at 14:12
5

fprint_demo says no devices found in status – Akhil Surapuram Jul 08 '19 at 01:51
9

no device found – Dibish Nov 01 '19 at 11:17
4

No device found, too. – le hien May 28 '20 at 04:52
1

http://zecheru.com/thinkpad-fingerprint-ubuntu-14-04/?v=7516fd43adaa is a dead link – Marcello Romani Dec 27 '21 at 09:28
NB! On KUbuntu (Ubuntu with KDE) this approach prevented logging in after running fprintd-enroll even with password! Login screen staid "frozen" until reboot. Fingerprint worked on command line, but not on login-screen! Rescue solution:
1. In login screen switch from GUI to terminal single-user mode (using Ctrl + Alt + F3)
2. log in with your user (there in terminal fingerprint actually worked) - after login you still can use only terminal, but not GUI!
3. edit /etc/pam.d/common-auth by removing line containing pam_fprintd.so
4. log out - now logging in with password works again
– atsu85 Oct 23 '22 at 15:29
FYI: Related to KUbuntu login issue i mentioned above, i also reported bug: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libfprint/libfprint/-/issues/515 – atsu85 Oct 23 '22 at 15:56
On Ubuntu 23.10, running fprint_demo gives this error: fprint_demo: command not found – Flimm Nov 16 '23 at 17:19

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '16 at 15:06

6

Fprint worked perfectly on a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon under Ubuntu 14.04. I strictly followed the instructions :

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:fingerprint/fprint
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libfprint0 fprint-demo libpam-fprintd

and finally saved my fingerprint with fprintd-enroll. I can now login and validate my sudo access with a finger swipe !!

answered Jan 27 '16 at 15:06

Albin Freycenon

69

Oh wow, had my T440s for 3 years and just now realized that fprint works wonderfully. That's pretty sweet! – Ibrahim Jul 07 '16 at 23:19
what is the difference in your answer from the previous one? – Kostanos Jun 15 '17 at 14:07
4

@AlbinFreycenon will this works on x1 carbon 5th gen? – Kasun Siyambalapitiya Sep 17 '17 at 05:20
3

no device found in ubuntu 16 – Dibish Nov 01 '19 at 11:20
8

list_devices failed: No devices available on Thinkpad P43s , Ubuntu 18.04 – Ikbel Mar 01 '20 at 21:57

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 26 '16 at 20:46

2

On my Thinkpad X220, I had to enable the fingerprint reader in BIOS (tap F1 repeatedly after starting the computer).

After that, fprint_demo works in the sense that it runs, but it fails to read any fingerprint data ("Bad scan. Please remove your finger before trying again.").

answered Feb 26 '16 at 20:46

Erik Aas

133

6

I just want to use like i was using it on windows. – Yosved Villar Nov 14 '16 at 00:04

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 03 '22 at 11:42

1

It works on Thinkpad x270 and perhaps others **70 models with python-validity the installation is described on the project repository.
Note this is an experimental package.

answered Aug 03 '22 at 11:42

Emmanuel

1,313
10
12

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 16 '21 at 16:43

0

I have a T590 and fingerprint is now working in Ubuntu 20.10!

I installed the update in the "Software" app.

answered Jul 16 '21 at 16:43

dimisjim

293

You can try this module. It works for my T470: https://github.com/uunicorn/python-validity – sondt87 Sep 30 '21 at 12:47

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 11 '23 at 23:49

Just want to say that this is working on my Thinkpad T14 Gen 2 (a used laptop I got off eBay). These are the instructions I did to make it work

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fingerprint/fprint
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install libfprint0 fprint-demo libpam-fprintd
fprintd-enroll

I believe the demo and libpam failed, but I was still able to do fprintd-entroll and log into my computer with my fingerprint. Very cool!

Doesn't work for 22.04 as ppa isn't suitable – vozman Dec 07 '23 at 14:41 — vozman, Dec 07 '23 at 14:41

How do I install a fingerprint reader on Lenovo ThinkPad?

6 Answers6

Installation

Configuration

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