How to Enable Fingerprint Login on a Laptop Running Ubuntu
Biometric authentication methods such as facial or fingerprint recognition, are an effective way to keep your device secure and protect it from unauthorized access.
If you’ve purchased a laptop recently, there’s a good chance it has a fingerprint scanner, which you may use to enable fingerprint login. Unlike Windows, though, using the fingerprint scanner for login on Linux isn’t as straightforward, albeit it’s gotten a bit easier over the years.
Here’s how you can enable fingerprint login on a laptop running Ubuntu to secure it and protect your data onboard.
Set Up Fingerprint Login on Ubuntu
It goes without saying that to secure your laptop with fingerprint authentication, it must have a built-in fingerprint scanner. Most fingerprint scanners that come on laptops these days work just fine.
If you’d like to know more about which scanner your system has, open the terminal and run:
In the output, look for a device with an ID that ends with “Fingerprint Reader” in its name. This is the fingerprint reader your laptop is using. In our case, it’s Validity Sensors VFS5011 fingerprint reader, but this guide should work with any other fingerprint reader just as fine.
Follow these steps to enable fingerprint login on your Ubuntu machine:
If you’re facing difficulty registering your fingerprint, clean your finger and try again. Similarly, ensure your finger isn’t too dry. Moisten your finger if it’s so to make it easier for the scanner to register your fingerprint.
You can alsoset up a fingerprint scanner on Ubuntu using PAM(Pluggable Authentication Modules).
Verify if the Fingerprint Scanner Works
After you’ve added a fingerprint, you can verify if it was registered correctly and works fine by locking the screen and logging in again.
Here’s how to do this:
Re-enroll a Fingerprint on Ubuntu
Depending on how accurate and sensitive your fingerprint scanner is, your experience with scanning and logging into your system may vary.
If, after trying to log in to your computer using your fingerprint, you’re finding the sensor a little finicky, i.e., it requires you to scan your finger multiple times to recognize it, re-enrolling the fingerprint can sometimes help.
Follow these steps to re-enroll a fingerprint on Ubuntu:
Lock the screen and try logging in using your fingerprint again.
Although fingerprint authentication is more secure and convenient than regular password-based authentication,hackers can still bypass fingerprint scanners.
How to Add a Second Fingerprint on Ubuntu
Most of the time, re-enrolling the fingerprint can solve scanning issues with your fingerprint reader. However, if it doesn’t work in your case, and you’re still facing issues trying to log in using your fingerprint, you’re able to add a second fingerprint instead.
Now, lock the screen again and, this time, use your second fingerprint to log in. You can register multiple fingerprints like this. All your fingerprints will continue to work as long as you don’t delete them.
How to Delete a Registered Fingerprint
At any point, if you wish to delete a registered fingerprint from your machine, you can do so with the help of these steps:
If you decide to delete all fingerprints, do note that it will also disable fingerprint authentication on your device. And subsequently, you’ll need to type in your password to log in to your laptop.
Logging In to Your Ubuntu Desktop Made Easy and Secure
Fingerprint authentication simplifies logging in to your Ubuntu desktop, as you can now simply scan your fingerprint over the fingerprint reader to unlock your computer. Not just that, though, but it also secures your system and prevents anyone from unlocking and accessing it, making it an ideal authentication mechanism for laptops.
If you’re running an older laptop or a desktop that doesn’t come with a fingerprint reader, there are USB fingerprint scanners for PCs and laptops that you can use to secure your system with fingerprint authentication.
We unlock our phones with a fingerprint, but what about computers? Here are the best USB fingerprint scanners available.
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