RHEL 7.2 - How to enable fingerprint reader for HP ZBook using Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS495 Fingerprint Reader
Currently trying to configure the fingerprint reader feature on my RHEL7.2 running on HP ZBook as part of a corporate assignment.
Has anyone done it? Still not working for me.
OS information: Linux nclhp02523 3.10.0-327.4.4.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Dec 17 15:51:24 EST 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Hardware information: HP ZBook
Fingerprint HW: Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS495 Fingerprint Reader
==================================================================================================
Couple of things I have done,
1- Installed:
[nleon@nclhp02523 pam.d]$ rpm -qa | grep fprint
libfprint-0.5.0-3.el7.x86_64
fprintd-0.5.0-4.0.el7_0.x86_64
fprintd-pam-0.5.0-4.0.el7_0.x86_64
2- Tried to enabled the fprintd-service and got this message:
[nleon@nclhp02523 pam.d]$ systemctl enable fprintd
The unit files have no [Install] section. They are not meant to be enabled
using systemctl.
Possible reasons for having this kind of units are:
1) A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit's
.wants/ or .requires/ directory.
2) A unit's purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
a requirement dependency on it.
3) A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, ...).
3- Service status reads:
[nleon@nclhp02523 pam.d]$ systemctl status fprintd
● fprintd.service - Fingerprint Authentication Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fprintd.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:fprintd(1)
Mar 30 11:16:12 nclhp02523 fprintd[14042]: ** Message: D-Bus service launched with name: net.reactivated.Fprint
Mar 30 11:16:12 nclhp02523 fprintd[14042]: ** Message: entering main loop
Mar 30 11:16:16 nclhp02523 systemd[1]: Started Fingerprint Authentication Daemon.
Mar 30 11:16:43 nclhp02523 fprintd[14042]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit
Mar 30 11:21:36 nclhp02523 systemd[1]: Starting Fingerprint Authentication Daemon...
Mar 30 11:21:36 nclhp02523 systemd[1]: Started Fingerprint Authentication Daemon.
Mar 30 11:21:36 nclhp02523 fprintd[14695]: Launching FprintObject
Mar 30 11:21:36 nclhp02523 fprintd[14695]: ** Message: D-Bus service launched with name: net.reactivated.Fprint
Mar 30 11:21:36 nclhp02523 fprintd[14695]: ** Message: entering main loop
Mar 30 11:22:06 nclhp02523 fprintd[14695]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit
4- Device is shown on lsusb:
[nleon@nclhp02523 pam.d]$ lsusb | grep Finger
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 138a:003f Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS495 Fingerprint Reader
5- fprintd-enroll output:
[nleon@nclhp02523 pam.d]$ fprintd-enroll
list_devices failed: No devices available
Responses
I do face the same issue as you described on a Thinkpad P50:
Linux phnet-25 3.10.0-514.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Oct 19 11:24:13 EDT 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
# lsusb
[...]
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 138a:0090 Validity Sensors, Inc.
[...]
# fprintd-enroll
list_devices failed: No devices available
[root@phnet-25 abrt]# systemctl status fprintd -l
● fprintd.service - Fingerprint Authentication Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fprintd.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:fprintd(1)
Nov 05 12:05:50 phnet-25 fprintd[11892]: Launching FprintObject
Nov 05 12:05:50 phnet-25 fprintd[11892]: ** Message: D-Bus service launched with name: net.reactivated.Fprint
Nov 05 12:05:50 phnet-25 fprintd[11892]: ** Message: entering main loop
Nov 05 12:06:20 phnet-25 fprintd[11892]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit
Nov 05 12:08:57 phnet-25 systemd[1]: Starting Fingerprint Authentication Daemon...
Nov 05 12:08:57 phnet-25 systemd[1]: Started Fingerprint Authentication Daemon.
Nov 05 12:08:57 phnet-25 fprintd[11950]: Launching FprintObject
Nov 05 12:08:57 phnet-25 fprintd[11950]: ** Message: D-Bus service launched with name: net.reactivated.Fprint
Nov 05 12:08:57 phnet-25 fprintd[11950]: ** Message: entering main loop
Nov 05 12:09:27 phnet-25 fprintd[11950]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit
Hi,
Unfortunately, there's no open-source driver available for these fingerprint readers. See this bug: VFS495 Fingerprint Reader Not found by fprint (last comments).
While there is a way to make it work on Linux, it involves using a closed-sourced, proprietary driver, which the upstream libfprint project also cannot include in its distribution ([PATCH] Add support for Validity Sensors proprietary driver (VFS471, VFS491, VFS495)).
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