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SCARD_W_WRONG_CHV
A failed cardholder-verification attempt
SCARD_W_WRONG_CHV means that the smart card rejected the submitted cardholder-verification value (CHV), commonly called a PIN. It is not a Windows account-password error. The result comes from the card security domain or its middleware, and the card may maintain a retry counter independently of the operating system.
GlobalPlatform defines cardholder-verification state and retry counters as security data. A failed verification can advance the counter; a successful verification can reset it; reaching the retry limit can place the credential into a blocked state. That is why an automatic retry loop is dangerous even if the application believes it is correcting an input problem.
How to handle it
- Stop automatic retries after one failure and ask for a new user entry through the approved UI.
- Where the card profile supports it, obtain remaining-attempt information through the provider rather than guessing.
- Keep card PIN troubleshooting separate from Windows sign-in, certificate-chain, and reader-driver failures.
References
- Microsoft: Smart Card return values
- PCSC-lite: error codes
- GlobalPlatform: Cardholder Verification Method and retry counters
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