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SCARD_W_UNRESPONSIVE_CARD
The reset exchange did not complete
SCARD_W_UNRESPONSIVE_CARD means that the card did not respond to reset. It is below the level of certificates, PINs, and application commands: the reader could not establish the basic card communication state needed for those higher-level operations. In Windows reader-state terminology, an unresponsive card corresponds to a mute condition.
Possible causes include poor contact, a damaged or unsupported card, a reader firmware or driver issue, insufficient contactless coupling, or a card that is temporarily busy. The safest first step is to observe reader state and ATR availability, not to repeat authentication commands.
Practical isolation
- Remove and reinsert the card, then read its state and ATR through the PC/SC stack.
- Try the same card in a known-good reader and a known-good card in the affected reader.
- When the card is shared, reconnect after the reset state is resolved rather than continuing with the old handle.
References
- Microsoft: Smart Card return values
- PCSC-lite: error codes
- Microsoft: SCARD_READERSTATE
- PC/SC Workgroup: specifications
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