| Previous | Next |
| SCARD_W_RESET_CARD | SCARD_W_SECURITY_VIOLATION |
SCARD_W_REMOVED_CARD
The connection lost its card
SCARD_W_REMOVED_CARD means that the card is no longer available to the current connection. It is a transport and lifecycle result, not proof that an APDU, certificate, or PIN was invalid. A physical card may have been removed; with contactless or virtual readers, the underlying card presence may also disappear when the reader stack changes state.
An application should treat all session state as invalid. The old card handle must not be used as evidence that a later card is the same credential. A user can reinsert a different card in the same reader, and a cached identity or certificate selection would then be unsafe.
How to resume safely
- End the current operation and release or reconnect the handle according to the API state.
- Wait for a new reader-state change instead of polling a removed card in a tight loop.
- When a card is present again, read its ATR and identity through the supported provider before restoring any workflow.
References
- Microsoft: Smart Card return values
- PCSC-lite: error codes
- Microsoft: SCardGetStatusChange
- Microsoft: SCARD_READERSTATE
Looking for a different code? Search another status or error code.