Disable fingerprint reader in GDM ?!?

Rocky Linux Help & Support
1

Hi,

I just installed Rocky Linux 9 on a Lenovo Thinkpad T490.

In the BIOS I disabled all security features including the fingerprint reader.

Despite this GDM stubbornly informs me that fingerprint authentication failed and then leaves me with a blank screen.

How can I disable this nonsense in GDM ?

Cheers,

Niki

2

authselect disable-feature -b with-fingerprint

3

Here’s what I get :

# authselect disable-feature -b with-fingerprint
Backup stored at /var/lib/authselect/backups/2026-09-11-08-37-57.Nxp7wd
Unable to disable feature [2]: No such file or directory

But then, on startup GDM still complains about fingerprint authentication having failed.

4

Check if you have fprintd and libfprint packages installed, these are used to enable the fingerprint reader. You can remove them and it should also help as then it won’t or shouldn’t be able to utilise the fingerprint reader.

5

Thanks, that solved the problem. But now I have a follow-up problem. The whole desktop is installed by an Ansible playbook that fetches - among other things - the Base package group. I just checked, and the fprint package is a part of that package.

Before rewriting my whole Ansible role, I wonder how I can disable fingerprint authentication in GDM without remove the fprintd package. The service is here but it’s deactivated by default:

# systemctl status fprintd
○ fprintd.service - Fingerprint Authentication Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fprintd.service; static)
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:fprintd(1)

Any ideas ?

6

Hmm, I don’t see a base package group:

Available Environment Groups:
   Server with GUI
   Server
   Workstation
   KDE Plasma Workspaces
   Custom Operating System
   Virtualization Host
Installed Environment Groups:
   Minimal Install
Installed Groups:
   Development Tools
Available Groups:
   Fedora Packager
   VideoLAN Client
   Xfce
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   Console Internet Tools
   Container Management
   .NET Development
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Headless Management
   Network Servers
   RPM Development Tools
   Scientific Support
   Security Tools
   Smart Card Support
   System Tools

but you probably need to just do an exclude for that package. Or just add a section to ansible to remove it.

You could maybe try:

authselect minimal

to disable everything at pam level. I saw a different command for disabling fingerprint, but without the -b that was suggested earlier:

authselect disable-feature with-fingerprint

but I expect the result would be the same perhaps. Googling for doing it in gdm:

sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gsettings set org.gnome.login-screen enable-fingerprint-authentication false

Might be some helpful info here too: 1933520 – gdm login stuck in fingerprint authentication loop