Smart Card Troubleshooting Guide

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

Smart cards are a tamper-resistant, portable way to provide security solutions for tasks such as client authentication, code signing, securing e-mail, and logging on to a Windows Server–based domain.

Smart cards provide:

  • Tamper-resistant storage for protecting private keys and other forms of personal information.

  • Isolation of security-critical computations involving authentication, digital signatures, and key exchange from other parts of the computer. The security-critical operations are all performed on the smart card.

  • Portability of credentials and other private information between computers at work, home, or on the road.

This guide provides troubleshooting and other information for smart cards.

In this guide