When I buy a laptop I want to use all of it. Including things that might not be super important.
Having a fingerprint reader staring me in the face but unusable is of the upmost annoyance. I can indeed login to the device without it. But it’s there and I want to use it.
Some hardware works out of the box with some distros. I happen to use a combination of hardware and software that doesn’t.
Occasionally I would check in on forums to see if things had been resolved by others. Recently I got bored enough (while on holiday) to ask an LLM to work through the problem with me.
My choice of interface is Kagi’s assistant. This is like a lot of “AI” chat interfaces, but gives you access to A LOT of models.
The following was created with the aid of GLM-4.7 (reasoning).
I guided the discussion and reviewed all steps – not just blindly copy/pasting – and altered it to point at the previous release, not one from 4 years ago. And this worked for me:
Generated by Kagi Assistant using GLM-4.7 (reasoning)
Here is the consolidated guide for enabling fingerprint authentication on a Lenovo ThinkPad T480s running Kubuntu 26.04.
Summary of the Problem
The ThinkPad T480s fingerprint reader (ID 06cb:009a) is not supported by the default libfprint drivers in Ubuntu/Kubuntu. To make it work, you must use the open-fprintd project’s python-validity driver. Additionally, the PPA for this driver does not yet support Ubuntu 26.04 (Resolute), so you must manually add the repository pointing to the Ubuntu 25.10 (Noble) suite.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Install GUI Dependencies
Ensure your system is up to date.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade2. Add the GPG Key (Modern Method)
Since apt-key is deprecated in newer Ubuntu versions, you must manually download the key and place it in the trusted keyrings folder @linuxvox.com.
wget -qO- "https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x8D4C774BA6D18F90" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/uunicorn-open-fprintd.gpg > /dev/null3. Add the Repository (Using Noble for 26.04 Compatibility)
Add the repository entry, pointing it to the noble (25.10) suite (which is compatible) and linking it to the key you just downloaded [^1].
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/uunicorn-open-fprintd.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/uunicorn/open-fprintd/ubuntu/ noble main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/uunicorn-ubuntu-open-fprintd.list4. Update and Install Required Packages
Update your package list and install the python-validity driver, open-fprintd, and client tools.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-validity open-fprintd fprintd-clients5. Enable and Start the Service
Start the background service that interfaces with the fingerprint sensor.
sudo systemctl enable python3-validity
sudo systemctl start python3-validityTroubleshooting:
Check the service status to ensure it is running correctly.
sudo systemctl status python3-validityIf the service logs errors on startup, you may need to factory-reset the fingerprint chip [^2]:
sudo systemctl stop python3-validity
sudo validity-sensors-firmware
sudo python3 /usr/share/python-validity/playground/factory-reset.py
sudo systemctl start python3-validity6. Enroll Your Fingerprint
Once the service is active, enroll your finger. You will be prompted to swipe your finger multiple times.
fprintd-enrollOr for a specific finger:
fprintd-enroll --finger right-index-finger7. Enable Fingerprint Login
Kubuntu does not have a GUI option for fingerprint login in System Settings, so you must configure PAM manually.
Run the following command and navigate using your arrow keys:
sudo pam-auth-update- Use the arrow keys to scroll down.
- Press SPACE to check the box next to “Fingerprint Authentication”.
- Press TAB to select “Ok” and press ENTER.
You should now be able to use your fingerprint to log in and authorize sudo commands.
[^1]: Repository does not have release file · Issue #191 · uunicorn/python … (56%)
[^2]: GitHub – uunicorn/python-validity: Validity fingerprint sensor … (44%)