I am using a Dell Latitude Notebook with a built-in smartcard reader (in my case: Broadcom Corp Contacted SmartCard, shown as “Broadcom Usbccid Smartcard reader (WUDF)” in the device manager).
After plugging in the Nitrokey Pro
gpg --card-statusfailed with the message
[quote]gpg: selecting openpgp failed: unknown command
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: general error[/quote]
Using the GPA tool of Ggp4win showed “No smartcard detected” in the Smartcard admin dialog.
Solution:
- Open the GPA tool (GNU Privacy Assistent)
- Windows > Card Administration
- Edit > Backend settings
- Select the tab “Smartcard Daemon”
- Set the “reader-port” to “user defined value” and enter “Nitrokey Nitrokey Pro 0” as value
- Close the GPA tool
- Restart the gpa-agent to enable the new settings:
gpg-connect-agent killagent /bye
gpg-connect-agent /bye
Alternatively you can edit the file “scdaemon.conf” in the folder
“C:\Users<your user name>\AppData\gnupg” and add the reader port manually:
Don’t forget to restart the gpa-agent as described above to activate the changed settings.
If you cannot find the gnupg folder enter “%appdata%” into the file explorer and hit enter.
How to diagnose the problem
If you use the GPA tool to enable the logging of the Smartcard Daemon into a file (debug level 1000)
the log file will contain an error message and two (or more) entries showing the detected smart readers:
The scd daemon shows the exact name of the Nitrokey smartcard “reader” that you have use as reader port setting.
I mention this just in case you have the same problem but use another type of smartcard or crypto stick.
@admin: Since it is quite common that notebooks have a built-in smartcard reader I would suggest to add this solution to installation instructions on your web site or at least into the FAQ section!
But I will add it to the FAQ in case more people have the same problem. Thank you.