Fedora Fingerprint Troubleshooting

August 30 2024 9:26pm • Est. Read Time: 2 MIN

Fedora Fingerprint Troubleshooting


If you're on Fedora and find that you're unable to get your fingerprint reader working after following this step by step process, then this troubleshooting guide is for you.

This guide is broken up into sections depending on what the issue you're experiencing happens to be. Just scroll through until you locate the issue that reflects what you're experiencing.


Fedora  never asks for a fingerprint at login


This because automatic login is selected under your user in User accounts - disable this feature.


Fedora 37, 38 or 39 Fingerprint reader setup says failed to enroll my fingerprint


If you followed the Fedora fingerprint instructions as described in our Fedora guide and you're seeing an alert like the one below, you will need to clear your old fingerprints for all operating systems past and present.


Instances whereas you're unable to register your fingerprint. The way forward is to delete all previous finger prints and start over. We will do this using fprintd-delete. But instead of selecting the individual print to delete, we will be deleting all of them across all users on this Fedora install.

Download and run this script. Choose option 11.


Note: If you find yourself hitting enroll-disconnected, this is because a finger print is already registered - regardless of the user. Will want to run the above linked script, delete the finger prints on your other account on on this one. The script will figure it out.


If login with fingerprint and sudo isn't asking for a fingerprint.

Current versions SHOULD NOT need this anymore, keeping here just incase.

Install the needed packages:


sudo dnf install fprintd fprintd-pam


Make sure to complete the following:

sudo gnome-text-editor /usr/lib/systemd/system/fprintd.service


At the bottom of the file, add:

[Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target


Save the file, then run:

systemctl restart fprintd.service


Enable fprintd even if previously enabled, this will make sure it's working after reboot:

systemctl enable fprintd.service


Enroll your new fingerprint:

fprintd-enroll


Verify your new fingerprint:

fprintd-verify


Make sure PAM is authenticated for your fingerprint:

sudo authselect enable-feature with-fingerprint 
sudo authselect apply-changes


Your fingerprint will allow you use sudo in the terminal.





Failed to claim fingerprint device Goodix MOC Fingerprint Sensor


If you are seeing the following error when you try to register a fingerprint on Ubuntu.

Please visit the Framework Laptop Fingerprint Readers with 01000320 Firmware Update Guide.