Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Vista
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Smart Card Description
This policy setting allows you to manage the reading of all certificates from the smart card for logon. During logon Windows will by default only read the default certificate from the smart card unless it supports retrieval of all certificates in a single call. This setting forces Windows to read all the certificates from the card. This can introduce a significant performance decrease in certain situations. Please contact your smart card vendor to determine if your smart card and associated CSP supports the required behavior. If you enable this setting, then Windows will attempt to read all certificates from the smart card regardless of the feature set of the CSP. If you disable or do not configure this setting, Windows will only attempt to read the default certificate from those cards that do not support retrieval of all certificates in a single call. Certificates other than the default will not be available for logon.
Registry
SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider Value name: ForceReadingAllCertificates
Enabled: ForceReadingAllCertificates = 1
Disabled: ForceReadingAllCertificates = 0
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Smartcard/ForceReadingAllCertificates Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Vista
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider]
"ForceReadingAllCertificates"=dword:00000001More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceReadingAllCertificates' -Value 1 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Smartcard/ForceReadingAllCertificates
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider' -Name 'ForceReadingAllCertificates' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceReadingAllCertificates' -Value 1 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider' -Name 'ForceReadingAllCertificates' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force the reading of all certificates from the smart card
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SmartCardCredentialProvider'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceReadingAllCertificates' -Value 1 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.