Linux NFC Device Driver Installation

Communicating with NFC hardware in the Linux operating system requires the device’s manufacturer-provided drivers for full capability. Some NFC hardware requires the generic Linux “PN533_USB” driver to be disabled to function properly.

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Disabling PN533_USB Generic Linux NFC Drivers

The Linux operating system has a generic driver that communicates with NFC hardware. However, this generic driver is outdated and interferes with current NFC hardware communication.

Run the following command in a terminal to permanently disable this generic driver.

  • sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-libnfc.conf <<EOF
    blacklist nfc
    blacklist pn533_usb
    blacklist pn533
    EOF

This will add the PN533_USB driver to a “blacklist” that is checked during system start-up and will prevent the driver from being loaded into the Linux kernel. Creating this file will not automatically take effect, and a system reboot is required. Alternatively, you can run the following command to negate the system reboot:

  • sudo modprobe -rf pn533_usb

Installing Device-Specific Drivers

NFC hardware requires manufacturer-provided drivers to be installed to communicate with the device properly. You can find Desktop App-supported NFC reader drivers by visiting the GoToTags Public GitLab project.