How to Enable Fingerprint Reader in Fedora

This article describes how to enable a fingerprint reader in Fedora like the one built in on a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen1 Laptop.

The following informations are based on:

Prerequisites

Install the needed packages (these are installed on Fedora 42 Workstation by default):

sudo dnf install fprintd fprintd-pam

Check if service is running properly:

systemclt status fprintd.service

Erase old prints if needed:

fprintd-delete $USER

Enroll your new fingerprints:

fprintd-enroll

This command gives instructions, which finger should be enrolled. Enrollment will be repeated for up to 10 times.

Verify fingerprint:

fprintd-verify

Enable authentication with fingerprints:

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

Verify:

sudo authselect current

After that on unlock / login screen there should be the hint below the password field:

(or place finger on reader)

If this does not show up, perhaps reboot.