GTR9 Pro fingerprint reader now works on Linux (open driver)

OMGrant

The GTR9 Pro ships an EgisTec EH577 fingerprint reader (1c7a:0577) that, until now, only worked with Windows Hello. I wrote an open Linux driver for it. It enrolls, verifies, and unlocks KDE on the real sensor.

Why it needed a custom driver: the sensor is tiny, 70×57 pixels. libfprint’s built-in matcher does a poor job on an image that small, and generic approaches (phase correlation, SIFT-based matching) hit a false-accept wall at that scale. So instead of matching in the open-source stack, the driver reuses EgisTec’s own matching engine, the one from their signed Windows driver, and runs it natively on Linux.

A couple of things people usually ask about:

It runs under fprintd’s normal hardening. No disabling MemoryDenyWriteExecute, and it stays inside SELinux confinement (no execmem). You don’t have to loosen anything.
It contains no proprietary binaries. You fetch EgisTec’s engine DLL from the Microsoft Update Catalog through the build script and the build adapts it locally, same idea as the ttf-mscorefonts-installer package. The driver code is LGPL-2.1.

Setup is one script, bash setup.sh, which clones and builds everything; uninstall is fully reversible.

Repo: github.com/OMGrant/eh577-libfprint

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

OMGrant
Hi , There
Thanks for the update and sharing this information .

Achimd1

OMGrant
How can i install the driver in CachyOS (Arch)?
Thank you very much for your feedback.

Have a nice day,
Achim

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1 Hi , There

Graphics Drivers
NVIDIA: sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils
AMD: sudo pacman -S mesa xf86-video-amdgpu
Intel iGPU: sudo pacman -S mesa intel-media-driver
Network & Peripheral Drivers
Most hardware drivers are built into the kernel. If firmware is missing, run:sudo pacman -S linux-firmware linux-firmware-whence

Achimd1

Beelink CS-Ian Chan
I think you don’t understand!
I want install the EH577 fingerprint reader in CachyOS (based on Arch)!!!
I like to know how i have to do this!!!

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1
Hi , There

One-Click Installation Steps

1. Install build dependencies (available in CachyOS repositories)

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel meson ninja pkgconf \
  glib2 libgusb opencv openssl fprintd imagemagick

2. Clone the driver repository (open-source driver written by OMGrant for GTR9 Pro)

git clone https://github.com/OMGrant/eh577-libfprint.git
cd eh577-libfprint

3. Execute the setup script

Automatically clones forked libfprint, fetches official EgisTec Windows DLLs from the Microsoft Update Catalog, performs local compilation, and replaces system libraries.

bash setup.sh

4. Restart the fprintd service

sudo systemctl enable --now fprintd
sudo systemctl restart fprintd

—

Verification & Fingerprint Enrollment

# Check if the sensor is detected
lsusb | grep -i "1c7a:0577"
# Expected output: EgisTec ... 1c7a:0577

# List available fingerprint devices
fprintd-list
# Expected result: EgisTec EH577 shown in the device list

# Enroll fingerprint (follow prompts, place finger on power-button sensor 5–8 times)
fprintd-enroll

# Test fingerprint recognition
fprintd-verify

—

Fingerprint Unlock Integration (KDE / SDDM)

# Add current user to input group (required for KDE)
sudo usermod -aG input $USER
# Log out and log back in for changes to take effect

Refer to Arch Wiki SDDM#Using a fingerprint reader for SDDM login screen setup.

Critical PAM configuration

sudo pacman -S --needed sddm

Add the following line into /etc/pam.d/sddm:

auth        sufficient      pam_fprintd.so

—

Driver Features (Developed by OMGrant)

Open-source driver code licensed under LGPL-2.1 (no closed-source binaries included)
Automatically downloads official matching EgisTec engine DLLs from Microsoft Update Catalog (similar mechanism to ttf-mscorefonts-installer)
Complies with standard fprintd security hardening; no disabling of MemoryDenyWriteExecute, no SELinux confinement bypass
Fully reversible uninstall process (uninstall logic built into setup.sh)

—

⚠ Important Prerequisites

The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button (hardware design of GTR9 Pro). Place your fingertip flat on the sensor; do not swipe.
The sensor resolution is only 70×57 pixels. Generic matching modules cannot function properly.
You must use this dedicated OMGrant driver. Do not test generic AUR packages such as libfprint-tod / libfprint-elanmoc2.
EH577 is manufactured by EgisTec (not ELAN), and PID 0577 is not supported by upstream standard drivers.

Achimd1

Thanks a lot for your help, but i got some trouble:
❯ lsusb | grep -i “1c7a:0577”
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 1c7a:0577 LighTuning Technology Inc. Fingerprint Sensor
❯ fprintd-list achimd
No devices available

1c7a:0577 is shown in red letters!

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1 Hi , There
Thank you for the feedback.
The phenomenon lsusb detects 1c7a:0577 but fprintd-list shows no devices means the hardware USB detection works, but the patched libfprint driver is not loaded correctly.
Please follow these troubleshooting steps one by one:
Add Udev rule for EH577 permission
plaintext
sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules <<‘EOF’
SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“1c7a”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0577”, MODE=“0664”, GROUP=“input”, TAG+=“systemd”
EOF
sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
Clean old build cache and re-run the compilation script
plaintext
cd ~/eh577-libfprint
bash setup.sh clean
bash setup.sh
Watch the terminal log, confirm there is no error when downloading EgisTec DLL file. If DLL download failed, the driver cannot initialize.
Check runtime log of fprintd
plaintext
sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo fprintd -v
Keep this terminal open, run fprintd-list achimd on another terminal, share the verbose output.
Important notes
Log out completely (not just screen lock) after adding user to input group
Remove official repo libfprint via sudo pacman -R libfprint, system must use patched version compiled from repo
Do not install any AUR libfprint variant (libfprint-tod etc.), they create conflicts
After full reboot, test fprintd-list again.

Achimd1

Beelink CS-Ian Chan
Tahnks for your help, but it’s difficult to install, i show you my steps:

sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules ‘EOFsetSUBSYSTEM =“usb”,ATTRSidVendor==“1c7a”,ATTRSidProduct“0577”,MODE“0664”,setGR
OUP“input”,TAG+=“systemd”EOF
[sudo] Passwort für achimd:
tee: /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
^C⏎

I have no idea, sorry.

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1
Hi , There

Please try this :
Option 1: Full copy-paste command block (Preferred)
Important: Copy the whole segment all at once. Do NOT split or modify the commands manually.
sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules <<‘EOF’
SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“1c7a”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0577”, MODE=“0664”, GROUP=“input”, TAG+=“systemd”
EOF
sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Explanation:
The error occurred because parts of the command and special characters were lost during pasting.
Please copy the entire block shown below in one go, avoid editing it line by line manually, then run it inside your terminal:
sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules <<'EOF'
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1c7a", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0577", MODE="0664", GROUP="input", TAG+="systemd"
EOF
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Once these commands finish running, proceed to recompile eh577-libfprint following the earlier instructions.

Option 2 (Fallback, if Option 1 still fails): Manually create the rule file step by step

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules
Paste this single line into the editor:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1c7a", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0577", MODE="0664", GROUP="input", TAG+="systemd"

Save workflow: Press Ctrl+O → hit Enter to confirm → press Ctrl+X to exit.

Then execute the following commands:
sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Achimd1

Hi There,
Option 1, no success:

Option 2 no success:

Sorry for that☹

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1
Hi Achimd1,

I found two root‑causes for your failures:

You are using the Fish shell, the original <<'EOF' here‑doc syntax only works in Bash, it throws Erwartete eine string, aber fand eine redirection in Fish.
The directory /etc/udev/rules.d does not exist on your CachyOS installation, so nano/tee cannot create the rule file directly.

Please follow these exact steps:
Step1: Create missing udev rules directory first
sudo mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d

Step2: Fish‑compatible command to write the udev rule
sudo echo ‘SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“1c7a”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0577”, MODE=“0664”, GROUP=“input”, TAG+=“systemd”’ | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

Step3: Reload udev rules
sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Step4: Clean & rebuild the eh577‑libfprint driver
cd ~/eh577-libfprint
bash setup.sh clean
bash setup.sh


Watch terminal output and confirm the EgisTec DLL downloads without errors.

# Step5: Restart fingerprint service
sudo systemctl enable --now fprintd
sudo systemctl restart fprintd

Important prerequisites you must verify:

Remove official system libfprint: sudo pacman -R libfprint
Add your user to input group: sudo usermod -aG input $USER
Log out completely (not just lock screen) and log back in for group permission to take effect.
Do not install any conflicting AUR libfprint‑tod / libfprint‑elanmoc2 packages.

Then test:
lsusb | grep 1c7a:0577
fprintd-list $USER

If you still get “No devices available”, stop the service and run verbose debug log in one terminal:
sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo fprintd -v

Run fprintd-list $USER from a second terminal and share the full verbose output.

Achimd1

Hi There,

it stops again here:

~/eh577-libfprint main 6s
❯ sudo systemctl enable –now fprintd
The unit files have no installation config (WantedBy=, RequiredBy=, UpheldBy=,
Also=, or Alias= settings in the [Install] section, and DefaultInstance= for
template units). This means they are not meant to be enabled or disabled using systemctl.

Possible reasons for having these kinds of units are:
• A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit’s
.wants/, .requires/, or .upholds/ directory.
• A unit’s purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
a requirement dependency on it.
• A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, …).
• In case of template units, the unit is meant to be enabled with some
instance name specified.

~/eh577-libfprint main
❯ sudo systemctl restart fprintd

~/eh577-libfprint main
❯ lsusb | grep 1c7a:0577
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 1c7a:0577 LighTuning Technology Inc. Fingerprint Sensor

~/eh577-libfprint main
❯

1c7a:0577 is shown in red letters!

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1 Hi Achimd1,

Root‑cause explanation

The error “The unit files have no installation config” is expected warning.
fprintd.service is a static systemd unit with no [Install] section, you cannot run systemctl enable fprintd. It is activated on‑demand via fprintd.socket, this warning itself is NOT the real problem.
Red text for 1c7a:0577 in lsusb is only terminal syntax highlighting, your USB hardware is detected fine.
You are using Fish shell, bash‑style <<‘EOF’ heredoc does NOT work, your udev rule file was never written.

Please run these commands inside Fish terminal:

Step 1 Use fprintd.socket instead of enabling fprintd.service

sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo systemctl enable –now fprintd.socket

Step2 Create udev rule (Fish‑compatible)

sudo mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d
echo ‘SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“1c7a”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0577”, MODE=“0664”, GROUP=“input”, TAG+=“systemd”’ | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

Verify rule file content

cat /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Step3 Remove official libfprint and conflicting packages

sudo pacman -Rns libfprint
pacman -Qs libfprint
Remove any libfprint‑tod / libfprint‑elanmoc2 if present.

Step4 Clean & rebuild eh577-libfprint

cd ~/eh577-libfprint
bash setup.sh clean
bash setup.sh

Watch terminal log carefully: confirm EgisTec matching DLL is downloaded without errors. Driver will not initialize if DLL download fails.

Step5 Add user to input group, FULL LOGOUT (NOT screen lock!)

sudo usermod -aG input $USER

Full system reboot

sudo reboot

Test after reboot

lsusb | grep 1c7a:0577
fprintd-list $USER

—
If you still get “No devices available”:
Terminal A:
sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo fprintd -v

Terminal B:
fprintd-list $USER

Share full verbose log output from Terminal A, also output of:
dmesg -T | grep -E ‘1c7a|fingerprint|usb’

Regards

Achimd1

H Ian,
thank you so much for your help and the whole support!!!
It hangs directly in Step 1.
I have no success at all…,sory for that!

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1 #

Hi Achimd1,

I’ve found the core root cause of your command failure shown in your terminal screenshot:
When copying commands directly from the forum webpage, the web formatting automatically replaces standard ASCII hyphens - with a Unicode long dash – (U+2013).

Your broken command:
sudo systemctl enable –now fprintd.socket
The character before now is NOT a normal minus sign. Systemd treats –now as an unknown service name, triggering the error:
Invalid unit name "-now" escaped as "\xe2\x80\x93now"

Do NOT copy full command blocks from the forum anymore. Please type these commands manually, or copy only plain text below.

Step 1 Start fprintd.socket correctly

sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo systemctl enable --now fprintd.socket

Critical: Use two standard keyboard hyphens --now, not the long dash copied from the webpage.

Step 2 Create valid Udev rule (pure English straight quotes)

sudo mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d
echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1c7a", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0577", MODE="0664", GROUP="input", TAG+="systemd"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

# Verify the rule content
cat /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Step3 Remove official libfprint and conflicting packages

sudo pacman -Rns libfprint
pacman -Qs libfprint

Uninstall any extra libfprint variants such as libfprint-tod or libfprint-elanmoc2 if found.

Step4 Clean and recompile the EH577 driver

cd ~/eh577-libfprint
bash setup.sh clean
bash setup.sh

Watch the log during compilation. Make sure the required EgisTec DLL downloads completely without any errors. The driver cannot initialize if the DLL download fails.

Step5 Apply permissions and fully reboot

sudo usermod -aG input $USER
sudo reboot

Test after reboot

lsusb | grep 1c7a:0577
fprintd-list $USER

Additional important notes

The red text color of 1c7a:0577 in lsusb output is only terminal syntax highlighting. It does not indicate a hardware fault; your fingerprint sensor USB connection works fine.
Adding your user to the input group requires a full logout or reboot. Locking the screen alone will not apply group permissions.
Do not mix this driver with any other third-party libfprint packages from AUR, they will create conflicts.

If you still see “No devices available”

Open two separate terminals:
Terminal 1:

sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo fprintd -v

Terminal 2:

fprintd-list $USER

Share the complete verbose log output from Terminal 1 so we can further debug.

Achimd1

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Hi Ian,
I’m starting to go crazy, I followed your instructions and entered everything manually, no luck, it hangs from the first step,
the same before…

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1
Hi , There
Thanks for the update .
Sorry for the situation and any inconvenience.
Could you send us a more clear picture about this ?

Achimd1

Hi Ian,
here the more clear picture, hope you can see more now.

Beelink CS-Ian Chan

Achimd1
Hi , There
Troubleshooting Steps (CachyOS + Fish Shell + EH577 / 1c7a:0577 Fingerprint)
Root issue first:
fprintd.socket unit does not exist on your system. Stop running systemctl enable --now fprintd.socket, this command will always fail. We will use direct fprintd launch instead of socket activation.

Step 1 Remove conflicting official libfprint
sudo pacman -Rns libfprint
pacman -Qs libfprint
Delete any extra libfprint variants like libfprint-tod / libfprint-elanmoc2 if listed.

Step 2 Clean and recompile eh577-libfprint driver
cd ~/eh577-libfprint
bash setup.sh clean
bash setup.sh
Watch the log carefully. Confirm the EgisTec Windows firmware DLL downloads completely without errors. The sensor will not initialize if firmware download fails.

Step 3 Create valid udev rule (Fish compatible, clean ASCII characters)
sudo mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d
echo ‘SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“1c7a”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0577”, MODE=“0664”, GROUP=“input”, TAG+=“systemd”’ | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

Verify rule content
cat /etc/udev/rules.d/60-egis-eh577.rules

sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Step 4 Configure user permissions & full reboot
sudo usermod -aG input $USER
sudo reboot
Full system reboot is required. Screen lock only will NOT apply group permissions.

Step 5 Debug mode (Do NOT use fprintd.socket command anymore)
After reboot:
Terminal 1 (keep this window open):
sudo systemctl stop fprintd
sudo fprintd -v

Terminal 2 (new separate window):
fprintd-list $USER

Share the full verbose log from Terminal 1 if the fingerprint device is still missing.

Optional: Persistent auto-start service (If device works in debug mode)
Create custom systemd service to auto-launch fprintd on boot:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/fprintd-auto.service

Paste below content:
[Unit]
Description=Fprintd Fingerprint Service
After=udev.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/fprintd
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and exit (Ctrl+O → Enter → Ctrl+X)
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable –now fprintd-auto.service

Extra verification commands
lsusb -d 1c7a:0577
ls -l /dev/bus/usb/$(lsusb -d 1c7a:0577 | awk ‘{print $2″/"substr($4,1,length($4)-1)}’)
Check USB device read/write permissions for the input group.

Important Notes

The red highlighted 1c7a:0577 in lsusb output is just terminal syntax highlighting. Your fingerprint USB hardware is detected normally.
Never copy commands directly from forum web pages. Web pages replace normal dash - with unicode long dash – and cause command failures. Type manually or copy plain text only.
Do not mix this custom eh577-libfprint driver with other third-party libfprint packages from AUR, conflicts will break functionality.