If you own a Dell laptop from the Inspiron series, which includes a fingerprint reader, it probably won’t work after Ubuntu’s Linux operating system is installed. Drivers will be missing in the system. Across the board, using a fingerprint reader can be very convenient for logging into the system. But getting it up and running isn’t all that complicated. So let’s take a step-by-step look at how to get the Dell Inspiron laptop fingerprint reader up and running in Ubuntu.
Make sure, Ubuntu sees your fingerprint reader
Turn on your terminal and type this command into it.
lsusb
Ubuntu lists a device, where the fingerprint reader should be visible. This will tell you that the operating system knows about it.
Installing Drivers
You can now use the wget command to download a driver that can work with the reader.
wget http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/pool/public/libf/libfprint-2-tod1-goodix/libfprint-2-tod1-goodix_0.0.4-0ubuntu1somerville1_amd64.deb
- Downloading files from the internet, such as software packages, documents, and multimedia files.
- Mirroring websites or parts of websites for offline browsing or backup purposes.
- Automating file download tasks using scripts or cron jobs.
- Testing connectivity to web servers and troubleshooting network issues.
- Fetching files from remote servers and integrating them into local workflows or applications.
Once you have the driver file downloaded, you can install it on the system using this command:
sudo apt install ./libfprint-2-tod1-goodix_0.0.4-0ubuntu1somerville1_amd64.deb
After the drivers are installed, restart the system. If you run your system settings and user management after the restart, a fingerprint activation should already be available with a scan of your chosen finger.
Conclusion
So now you know, how to get the Dell Inspiron laptop fingerprint reader up and running in Ubuntu. I hope that the article was helpful to you and that you were able to fully restore and prepare your reader for logging in on Ubuntu with the provided instructions. If so, I would appreciate any feedback you may have in the comments.
