elan-fp-fix

Working Linux driver + one-command setup for the Elan 04f3:0c6e press-type fingerprint sensor — the power-button sensor on many ASUS laptops (Zenbook S 13 UM5302, ROG Flow X13, VivoBook Pro, …).

Install

git clone https://github.com/casimir-engineering/elan-fp-fix.git
cd elan-fp-fix
sudo ./install.sh
fprintd-enroll    # press (don't swipe) the sensor repeatedly

This is the full setup: USB autosuspend fix + fprintd + fingerprint authentication for login/sudo (3 tries before password fallback) + the patched elanpress driver built and installed to /usr/local. install.sh is a thin wrapper that runs setup-system.sh --silent --pam followed by build-driver.sh; run those two directly for selective install/uninstall (e.g. skipping PAM or building in Docker). Everything is idempotent — safe to re-run.

Options

install.sh — full setup in one command

Flag	Description
(none)	Run setup-system.sh --silent --pam, then build-driver.sh.
--uninstall	Run build-driver.sh --uninstall, then setup-system.sh --uninstall. Packages and enrolled prints are kept.
--help	Show usage.

setup-system.sh — system setup: autosuspend fix, fprintd, PAM

Flag	Description
--silent	No prompts. Skips the PAM step unless --pam is also given.
--pam	Enable fingerprint authentication without asking (pam-auth-update / authselect; on Debian/Ubuntu installs this repo's elan-fp-fprintd profile: 3 tries, 15 s budget).
--no-pam	Never touch PAM configuration.
--uninstall	Remove the udev rule, restore autosuspend, revert PAM. Packages stay installed.
--remove-prints	With --uninstall only: also delete enrolled fingerprints (/var/lib/fprint).
--dry-run	Print what would be done without changing anything. No root needed.
--any-elan	Match any Elan (04f3) USB device whose product string contains "Fingerprint", not just 0c6e.
--help	Show usage.

build-driver.sh — driver: patched elanpress libfprint

Flag	Description
(none)	Build on the host (build dependencies auto-installed via apt/dnf/pacman/zypper) and install to /usr/local.
--docker	Build inside a Docker container instead, keeping build dependencies off the system.
--uninstall	Remove the patched library (via install manifest) and restore the distro libfprint.
--help	Show usage.

diagnose.sh — diagnostics and recovery

Flag	Description
(none)	Write a report (system info, sensor power state, versions, fprintd logs) to ./elan-fp-report-<hostname>-<timestamp>.txt.
--verify-loop N	Run fprintd-verify N times and report the success rate (needs an enrolled finger).
--reenum	Re-enumerate the sensor (USB unbind/bind) to recover it when it stops reacting to touches. Needs root.
--any-elan	Same detection widening as setup-system.sh.
--help	Show usage.

What it does

1. setup-system.sh disables USB autosuspend for the sensor (udev rule + immediate sysfs write — the stock driver misbehaves when the device sleeps mid-session), installs fprintd, and optionally enables PAM fingerprint auth — only through pam-auth-update or authselect, never by hand-editing /etc/pam.d/. On Debian/Ubuntu it ships a profile with max-tries=3 timeout=15 instead of the stock single try, so one misread doesn't dump you to the password prompt.
2. build-driver.sh fixes matching. Upstream libfprint drives 0c6e as a legacy swipe sensor and has never matched a finger on it (upstream #401, known since 2021). This builds libfprint at a pinned, security-reviewed commit of the community elanpress driver, overlays this repo's patches for firmware 8.00 sensors (finger detection, cancellation, sub-second verify — see driver/README.md for the protocol details), and installs to /usr/local, shadowing the distro library via ldconfig. Distro packages stay untouched and keep updating; --uninstall restores stock behavior exactly.

Fingerprint auth activates per-user: it's on for anyone with an enrolled finger (GNOME Settings → Users, or fprintd-enroll) and off otherwise (delete your prints with fprintd-delete "$USER"). Prints enrolled with the stock driver are incompatible — re-enroll after installing.

Supported distros

Distro	Packages	PAM
Ubuntu / Debian	fprintd, libpam-fprintd (apt)	Repo profile elan-fp-fprintd via pam-auth-update (3 tries)
Fedora	fprintd, fprintd-pam (dnf)	authselect enable-feature with-fingerprint
Arch	fprintd (pacman)	Manual — add auth sufficient pam_fprintd.so per the Arch wiki; the scripts never edit /etc/pam.d/
openSUSE	fprintd, pam_fprintd (zypper)	Manual

Other systemd distros with libfprint should work for the autosuspend fix; with an unknown package manager the installer names the packages and continues.

Security notes

• The elanpress matcher (normalized cross-correlation) has no formally benchmarked false-accept rate — the same reason similar approaches remain unmerged upstream. Treat fingerprint unlock on this sensor as a convenience, not a strong credential. Password fallback always remains available.
• On Windows this sensor captures your finger during the power-on press. That pre-boot flow is armed by vendor firmware, has never been reverse-engineered, and is impossible on Linux today. The Linux flow is: boot → login screen → press the sensor once.

Troubleshooting

./diagnose.sh                   # report file to attach to an issue
./diagnose.sh --verify-loop 10  # measure reliability
sudo ./diagnose.sh --reenum     # recover a sensor that stopped reacting

Uninstall

sudo ./install.sh --uninstall                       # everything: driver + udev + PAM revert, keep prints
sudo ./build-driver.sh --uninstall                  # just the driver: restore the distro libfprint
sudo ./setup-system.sh --uninstall                  # just system setup: udev + PAM revert, keep prints
sudo ./setup-system.sh --uninstall --remove-prints  # also delete enrolled prints

License

MIT.