Post about installing pynitrokey.

content/posts/2025/install-pynitrokey/index.md

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+---
+title: Install pynitrokey on Fedora 41
+description: Here's how I installed pynitrokey on my Fedora 41 KDE laptop, resolving missing dependencies.
+date: 2025-03-30T10:53:35+0100
+draft: false
+# ShowLastmod: true
+toc: false
+scrolltotop: true
+images: []
+tags:
+  - security
+  - Linux
+  - Fedora
+---
+
+{{< figure src="IMGP0069.jpg"
+    alt="My Nitrokey 3A mini"
+    title="My Nitrokey 3A mini on the right side of the picture" >}}
+
+I use [Yubikey][]s and [Nitrokey][]s as a second factor during 2FA
+authentication.
+
+My experiences with Nitrokey devices have been mixed. Currently my 3A mini
+stopped working. I wanted to investigate what's going on, only to find out that
+the commandline tool `nitropy` no longer worked on my machine either! :-(
+
+Here's how I got it to work again. I'm a Python noob, so maybe there's a better
+way to install the dependencies. The operating system is Fedora 41.
+
+```bash
+sudo dnf install systemd-devel python3-devel
+pipx install pynitrokey
+```
+
+Afterwards I was greeted with this:
+
+```text
+$ nitropy nk3 test
+Command line tool to interact with Nitrokey devices 0.8.1
+Critical error:
+No connected NK3 devices found
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Critical error occurred, exiting now
+Unexpected? Is this a bug? Would you like to get support/help?
+- You can report issues at: https://support.nitrokey.com/
+- Writing an e-mail to support@nitrokey.com is also possible
+- Please attach the log: '/tmp/nitropy.log._p6mpa3e' with any support/help request!
+- Please check if you have udev rules installed: https://docs.nitrokey.com/nitrokeys/nitrokey3/firmware-update#troubleshooting-linux
+```
+
+I made sure that I had the abovementioned `udev` rules in place. The key is not
+detected by any system, be it my personal Linux laptop or any Windows machine
+that I could access. [D'oh][]!
+
+[Nitrokey]: https://www.nitrokey.com
+[Yubikey]: https://www.yubico.com
+[d'oh]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'oh!