Smart card logon & remote desktop

Dear all,

I have a problem using smart card logon through a remote desktop connection.
I can successfully login using my smart card, but when I remove the card, the
station does not become locked whatever the state of the "smart card
behavior" option (note that it successfully locks the station when I logon on
the computer locally). Removing the card has just no effect.

Then, if I try to lock the station manually, I immediately see the PIN
dialog (without going through the "windows security" dialog), but:
- when I try to enter the PIN, it fails to unlock the station (a generic
error message is shown).
- when I click "cancel", I have to unlock the station maually using
login+password because the GINA is not responsive to smart card events
anymore.

This appears with both a custom CSP of mine and with the ACS (Axalto) CSP.
However, I have a test environment (domain controller + remote station +
remote client) on which it appears all the time (it worked only once, I don't
know why) and another environment where it does not seem to appear.
Unfortunately, my client is facing the same problem in his environment.

I tried to analyse the problem deeper and it seems the logon process does
not receive anymore smart card events simply because it does not manage to
get a valid smart card context. My CSP is called when I try to enter the PIN
to unlock the station and I could see that it does not manage to call
SCardAcquireContext successfully (althrough it manage to do so for logging
on). However, once the station is unlocked, all applications manage to get
and use smart card contexts successfully.

I have seen two KB articles 875506 and 910482 that discuss similar problems
but installing these hotfixes did not solve anything.

Note: this message was previously posted on platformsdk.security with no
answer.

Thanks

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Clear User Name Field when Unlocking PC
    ... cards and requiring that a smart card be used to logon to the computer ... what user they try to logon as. ... registry settings to do that. ... to unlock it you hit ctrl+alt+del, and immediately it shows the user ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Smart card logon & remote desktop
    ... I have a problem using smart card logon through a remote desktop connection. ... behavior" option (note that it successfully locks the station when I logon on ... - when I try to enter the PIN, it fails to unlock the station (a generic ... This appears with both a custom CSP of mine and with the ACS CSP. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Smart card logon & remote desktop
    ... I use the standard windows GINA, not a custom one. ... I can successfully login using my smart card, but when I remove the card, ... behavior" option (note that it successfully locks the station when I logon ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Problems loggin in Windows Vista with a smart card enabled acc
    ... account configured for smart card logon in Windows Vista. ... in the paper published by Microsoft that is titled 'Windows Vista Smart Card ... The provider may be returning a "no PIN prompt" flag and the SC ... press CTRL + ALT + DEL to be able to log on with a different account. ...
    (microsoft.public.platformsdk.security)
  • Re: Problems loggin in Windows Vista with a smart card enabled acc
    ... account configured for smart card logon in Windows Vista. ... in the paper published by Microsoft that is titled 'Windows Vista Smart Card ... The provider may be returning a "no PIN prompt" flag and the SC ... The second tile says "other user" ...
    (microsoft.public.platformsdk.security)