Fingerprint Reader On Ubuntu

Fingerprint Reader On Ubuntu 8,6/10 6468 votes
  • Jun 16, 2016  Many people have been trying to get the new fingerprint reader (by Validity / Synaptic) to run under Linux. However it seems, that there simply is no driver around. I'm talking about the fancy new fingerprint reader found in the current Thinkpad generation (Yoga X1, X1.
  • Ubuntu 19.04 » Ubuntu Desktop Guide » Hardware » Fingerprints & smart cards » Log in with a fingerprint. Follow the instructions in the dialog and swipe your finger at a moderate speed over your fingerprint reader. Once the computer has a good record of your fingerprint.

Fingerprint GUI is an application providing fingerprint-based authentication on Linux desktops. It features a simple GUI for fingerprint management and a PAM module. It is based on the libfprint library. It enables recording and checking of fingerprint data and allows login and authentication of users by their fingerprint using a fingerprint.

In past there was a way to unlock Linux using face detection method but that is no longer available and maintained by anyone. Another great way to get privileges on your system is Fingerprint, which means you don't have to type password each time you login in to your system or run sudo/su/gksudo command, simply place your finger to your fingerprint device and rest of the process will be automated. Since I don't own any fingerprint device, so I can't tell you how well this method work but looking at developer site this application seems promising and stable by all means, this project is alive since 2008 and still getting updates from developer and application is open to any kind hack/test by anyone then submit bug to developer to fix.
Fingerprint GUI is an application providing fingerprint-based authentication on Linux desktops. It features a simple GUI for fingerprint management and a PAM module. It is based on the libfprint library. It enables recording and checking of fingerprint data and allows login and authentication of users by their fingerprint using a fingerprint scanner. Additionally, you may install the bundled non-free libbsapi library. In this case Fingerprint GUI will automatically support all fingerprint readers manufactured by UPEK, Inc.
Fingerprint GUI is free software. You can use, modify, copy and distribute it under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPLv3). The safety and reliability of the fingerprint-recognition depends very much on the hardware used, the associated device drivers and the software used to verify the biometric data. According to the current state of the art fingerprint recognition for security-critical applications is only limited suitable. More information about safety of fingerprints can be found here. For the list of fingerprint readers supported by libfprint check this link.

Supported readers (run command lsusb to find out the ID of your reader)
045e:00bb08ff:168308ff:258008ff:268d
045e:00bc08ff:168408ff:266008ff:268e
045e:00bd08ff:168508ff:268008ff:268f
045e:00ca08ff:168608ff:268108ff:2691
0483:201508ff:168708ff:268208ff:2810
0483:201608ff:168808ff:268308ff:5501
05ba:000708ff:168908ff:268408ff:5731
05ba:000808ff:168a08ff:2685138a:0001
05ba:000a08ff:168b08ff:2686138a:0005
061a:011008ff:168c08ff:2687138a:0008
08ff:160008ff:168d08ff:2688147e:1000
08ff:166008ff:168e08ff:2689147e:2016
08ff:168008ff:168f08ff:268a147e:2020
08ff:168108ff:250008ff:268b147e:3001
08ff:168208ff:255008ff:268c1c7a:0603
147e:1003147e:3000147e:1002147e:2015
147e:5003147e:5002147e:1001

If you are using distribution other than Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Ubuntu based then you can use source to install it on your system.
To install Fingerprint GUI in Ubuntu 18.10 Cosmic/18.04 Bionic/16.04 Xenial/14.04 Trusty/12.04 Precise/Linux Mint 19.1/19/18/17/13 open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy the following commands in the Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fingerprint/fingerprint-gui
sudo apt-get install libbsapi policykit-1-fingerprint-gui fingerprint-gui
That's it

I have a Dell laptop with fingerprint reader inbuilt. I just ran lsusb on terminal and got the following result:

Is it possible to use fingerprint scanning instead of traditional login with 16.04 and Unity ? Thanks.

user589808
user227495user227495
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2 Answers

You need the fingerprint-gui package, its installation is described at Fingerprint GUI launchpad page and reproduced below:

  1. Add PP and install fingerprint-gui and other required packages

  2. Log out of your session and log back in.

  3. Launch “Fingerprint GUI” and enrol your fingerprints.

Please note: I've used fingerprint readers on various laptops before, they are not very reliable so make sure you don't configure it to be the only source of authentication. It's best to add it on top of passwords as well or you may get locked out at some point.

AmiasAmias
Fingerprint reader ubuntu lenovo

For fingerprint reader 138a:003fVFS 495 this was not sufficient. Many other things had to be installed in certain ways. Refer to this for a full guide.

Working on 16.04 on HP Probook 450

Mina MichaelMina Michael
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protected by Community♦Dec 29 '17 at 9:12

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