greeter requires both a password and finger print to log in #868
Description
What Happened?
when attempting to log in on system boot, I am required to first input my password and then touch my fingerprint sensor to log in successfully. If I do not touch my fingerprint reader within the timeout period, I am given a generic login error and am told to try again. If I only touch my fingerprint reader without entering the password, nothing happens.
This happens on my fresh arch install that I've made sure not to install too many things on.
Steps to Reproduce
add a finger to fprintd
add fprintd as a sufficient method of auth to /etc/pam.d/system-auth
try to log in on first boot (lock screen works fine but I'm pretty sure that is a different service)
Expected Behavior
greeter should let you to either use your password or use your fingerprint not both (and especially not require both and not say anything about needing the fingerprint)
OS Version
8.x (Circe)
OS Architecture
amd64 (on most hardwares)
Session Type
Secure Session (Wayland, This is the default)
Software Version
Latest release (I have run all updates)
Log Output
relevant logs from journalctl with the word greeter in them
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop greetd[756]: config: Config { file: ConfigFile { terminal: ConfigTerminal { vt: Specific(1), switch: true }, general: ConfigGeneral { source_profile: true, runfile: "/run/greetd.run", service: "greetd" }, default_session: ConfigSession { command: "dms-greeter --command niri -C /etc/greetd/niri/config.kdl", user: "greeter", service: "greetd-greeter" }, initial_session: None }, internal: ConfigInternal { session_worker: 0 } }
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop greetd[757]: pam_unix(greetd:session): session opened for user greeter(uid=964) by greeter(uid=0)
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop systemd-logind[676]: New session '1' of user 'greeter' with class 'greeter' and type 'tty'.
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop (systemd)[768]: pam_warn(systemd-user:setcred): function=[pam_sm_setcred] flags=0x8002 service=[systemd-user] terminal=[] user=[greeter] ruser=[<unknown>] rhost=[<unknown>]
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop (systemd)[768]: pam_unix(systemd-user:session): session opened for user greeter(uid=964) by greeter(uid=0)
Mar 12 10:42:01 Sammypants-Laptop systemd-logind[676]: New session '2' of user 'greeter' with class 'manager-early' and type 'unspecified'.
Mar 12 10:42:02 Sammypants-Laptop systemd[1]: Started Session 1 of User greeter.
Mar 12 10:42:02 Sammypants-Laptop dms-greeter/niri[801]: 2026-03-12T15:42:02.331383Z WARN smithay::backend::drm::device::fd: Unable to become drm master, assuming unprivileged mode
Mar 12 10:42:02 Sammypants-Laptop dms-greeter/niri[801]: 2026-03-12T15:42:02.515083Z WARN niri::backend::tty: error binding wl-display in EGL: EglExtensionNotSupported(["EGL_WL_bind_wayland_display"])
Mar 12 10:42:13 Sammypants-Laptop greetd[757]: pam_unix(greetd:session): session closed for user greeter
Mar 12 10:42:25 Sammypants-Laptop (sd-pam)[771]: pam_unix(systemd-user:session): session closed for user greeterHardware Info
laptop, intel cpu, whatever fingerprint reader is on current generation dell laptops (in my case, dell 14 plus db14250)