how can I enable fingerprint reader login for mint? | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

Since this post has been open for a few days i'll give it a shot bec i set this up on my laptop. I can't help much if you run into issues tho.

I did it with fprintd. The supported devices can be found at https://fprint.freedesktop.org/supported-devices.html

U can get the USB ID of your fingerprint reader by running lsusb in the terminal. Other devices will also show up so you'll need to find which one corresponds to the fingerprint reader. The ID is in the 6th column of the output.

Once you know ur fingerprint reader is supported u can get started:

This first part is based off of this guide: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2471217#p2471217

sudo apt install libpam-fprintd
sudo apt install fprintd

sudo pam-auth-update
# Enable fingerprint authentication in the resulting prompt (using the SPACE key iirc)

# Add fingerprints. Don't add more than 4 or 5
# Here are some examples
fprintd-enroll -f right-index-finger
fprintd-enroll -f right-middle-finger
fprintd-enroll -f right-thumb
fprintd-enroll -f left-index-finger

# Test enrolled fingerprints
fprintd-verify # (can be run with -f <finger> to specify finger)

If your home folder is encrypted u won't be able to use your fingerprint to unlock the device on the initial login. And you'll need to wait until the fingerprint scanner times-out before u can use ur password. To make it not prompt for your fingerpint on initial login, i followed this guide: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=434243

# Backup your lightdm config
sudo cp /etc/pam.d/lightdm /etc/pam.d/lightdm.bak

# Open a new custom lightdm config file
sudo nano /etc/pam.d/lightdm-custom

Then paste the following into this new config file:

#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    required        pam_unix.so
auth    optional        pam_ecryptfs.so unwrap
auth    optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so
account required        pam_unix.so
session required        pam_limits.so
session required        pam_env.so readenv=1
session required        pam_env.so readenv=1 user_readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
session required        pam_unix.so
session optional        pam_ecryptfs.so
session optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start
session optional        pam_systemd.so

Then run the following:

# Make the old config file symbolically link to the custom config
sudo ln -sf /etc/pam.d/lightdm-custom /etc/pam.d/lightdm

That's it

#how can I enable fingerprint reader login for mint?