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Remote Smart Card Authentication

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I was trying to remote into a Windows 7 Hyper-V guest from my Windows 7 laptop using my smart card for authentication.  When I initiated the remoting session I made it all the way to the “Welcome” screeen, but then received the following error:

“The system could not log you on. An error occurred trying to use this smart card. You can find further details in the event log. Please report this error to the system administrator.”

This is the same error message highlighted in KB article 939682.

Here’s how I solved the problem:

  1. Log on to the machine using username/password credentials
  2. Open Device Manager
  3. Right-click the top node in the details pane (this will be your machine name), select “add legacy hardware”
  4. Click next when the “Welcome to the Add Hardware Wizard” appears
  5. Select “Search for and install the hardware automatically (Recommended)” and click Next
  6. Click Next again on the screen that says “The wizard did not find any new hardware on your computer”
  7. Scroll down, select “Smart cards”, and click Next
  8. There will be a few drivers listed.  Select one and complete the wizard.
  9. Log out and try to log back in using the smart card
  10. Repeat the process until you find a driver that works for your smart card