Question

Use multiple smart cards on one system

Asked by: systems_mitsui

Dear all

Can someone tell me if it's possible to use more than one smart card on one system at the same time?
We use smart cards to log on to the machine and would need a second smart card (3G modem card, eID card...).
Windows however gives a nice 610 error on SCardSvr (saying that the request is not supported) for the second card that is inserted.
I am testing this on a Windows XP Pro machine with SP2.

Kind regards

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Asked On
2008-05-07 at 01:53:15ID23382017
Tags

smart card multiple windows XP

Topics

SmartCards Security

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: flubbsterPosted on 2008-05-07 at 03:27:17ID: 21514845

From what I have been able to find, it seems to be possible, at least with these:

http://www.reflexreaders.com/Support/Downloads/egate_W2K_README.pdf

 

by: mbodewesPosted on 2008-05-09 at 17:52:17ID: 21537403

Sure you can. I've got multiple readers on my system. Of course, you may not wan't each and every card to interact with the Windows SCardSvr service. See http://kbalertz.com/936156/Event-logged-System-computer-running-Windows-Vista-Windows-Service.aspx . Now I've worked with MS OS and smart cards, and I must say that it can react a bit strange sometimes. It also believes that any smart card put in a compliant reader is meant for the logon process.

Some registry settings:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\Calais

Here's a lot of info, but not a direct solution to your problem:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905527.aspx

The 610 error also seems to occur when a smart card is prematurely removed (or, more likely, times out) so make sure your reader contacts are ok (change the cards around).


 

by: systems_mitsuiPosted on 2008-05-13 at 01:24:07ID: 21553106

Hi mbodewes

Thanks for your info.
A bit more info:
- the card to log on is a RSA SecurID (SID800).
- the second card is a 3G Vodaphone card.
Both cards work fine, but not together and that's what I actually try to accomplish.
Users need a smart card to log on (enforced in the user's profile).  The 3G card (or any other card) is only used from time to time...

Greetz

 

by: ParanormasticPosted on 2009-01-07 at 09:53:05ID: 23317376

This is possible in a technical sense - however a lot of times this may not work due to driver and/or middleware issues.  My primary advice is to call up each companies' tech support and make sure that you have the current drivers, middleware, etc. first.  If still having problems try asking each if they have a known product that works for what you need.  If not, you're in for a fun ride.

Sometimes you may need to finagle things a little bit by going through a series of reinsertions of each card to get it to work, or they just might not play well together at all.  Even with the big name companies, interoperability issues using multiple cards happens but depending on the company and how much cash you actually have invested (if you hold a thousand+ licenses then they will probably listen, if not they might not...) depends on how much they will bother to fix it.  

This is a very sensitive area of the code to mess with - easy for one device but messy with multiple, so it would take one of their better developers a bit of time to properly diagnose and research - a fix in 2-3 months would be a good timeframe if they take it on.

The biggest problem is that there are two different vendors involved - if they don't play well together then they will both be trying to place the blame somewhere else.  You may need to get them both on a call together so they can beat each other down.  They will also likely try to get the card reader company involved.

 

by: ParanormasticPosted on 2009-04-03 at 09:01:45ID: 24061423

Are you still interested in this topic or has it past its freshness date?

 

by: systems_mitsuiPosted on 2009-04-06 at 02:06:29ID: 24075412

Hi Paranormastic

Although I am wondering why it is not possible, we are only smal players who have nothing to say to RSA.
For the moment we managed by installing a dedicated machine to be used with the eID.

Thanks anyway (i will award points because the answer was indeed helpfull).

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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