Find Virtual Smart Card Applets in Regedit

This article explains how to locate the registry path in Windows where installed virtual smart card cryptographic applets and profiles are stored. It provides the exact registry keys used by the Windows Smart Card subsystem to identify card applets, key storage providers, and cryptographic minidrivers.

To find the list of installed virtual smart card applets and profiles in the Windows Registry, follow these steps:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\Calais\SmartCards

On 64-bit versions of Windows, 32-bit applications access this information under the 32-bit registry hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Cryptography\Calais\SmartCards

Understanding the Registry Structure

Under the SmartCards key, each subkey represents a registered smart card profile or cryptographic applet (such as the default Microsoft Virtual Smart Card or vendor-specific applets).

When you select a specific applet subkey, you will find several key values that define its cryptographic configuration:

• Crypto Provider: The legacy Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) DLL associated with the card.
• Smart Card Key Storage Provider: The modern Cryptography Next Generation (CNG) KSP used to communicate with the applet.
• ATR and ATRMask: The Answer-to-Reset byte sequence used by the smart card subsystem to match the virtual card instance to the correct cryptographic driver.
• 80000001: Often specifies the card minidriver DLL responsible for cryptographic operations.