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Cover image for Unlock "sudo" with TouchID on your Mac
Marc Backes
Marc Backes

Posted on • Originally published at marc.dev

Unlock "sudo" with TouchID on your Mac

Since I got my Magic Keybord with integrated TouchID, I don't rely on my password anymore to authenticate myself on my local machine. So I thought why not enable it for "sudo" commands in the Terminal as well?

Here is how:

Copy sudo_local file 

sudo cp /etc/pam.d/sudo_local.template /etc/pam.d/sudo_local
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Edit sudo_local file

Uncomment the following line in the newly copied sudo_local file (e.g. with sudo vi /etc/pam.d/sudo_local):

auth       sufficient     pam_tid.so
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Save the file, and voilà!

You might have to exit your current shell or open a new one before it works

Top comments (1)

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andrewsavetchuk profile image
Andrew Savetchuk •

Great idea! However, I didn't have the sudo_local.template file on my Mac. I only had /etc/pam.d/sudo. After adding the line there and restarting the terminal, everything worked! 🎉

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