How to logon to Windows with a SmartCard
First of all not every smart card can be used for Windows 7 logon. You need a smart card that is supported by Windows 7 or that activates support by installing a certain smart card management component.
The second requirement is that your computer is part of a Windows domain (respectively has an Active Directory and a certificate enrollment center) and the account you want to log-on is a domain account. This is because smart card logon relies on Kerberos logon, which is only available within a domain. Some 3rd party software allows smartcard logon without being in a Domain Active Directory but those solutions are proprietary).
In general the smart card have to contain a certificate and the correspondent private key. The certificate contains the user information used for identifying the user. When logging in using a smart card you enter the PIN of the smart card instead of you regular password.
See also:
- How Smart Card Logon Works in Windows
- Set up a smart card for user logon
Windows normally supports smart cards only for domain accounts. However, there is a third-party library, EIDAuthenticate, which lets you use smart cards with local identities.