Archaic Binary

After you've acquired the smartcard readers and installed them on each computer, you need to prepare the smartcards. Each smartcard requires a certificate. To get that certificate on each smartcard, you need a certification authority (CA). To issue smartcard certificates, you need an Enterprise CA server. Most of the particulars for the installation of the CA aren't significant when it comes to simply issuing the smartcard logon certificates. However, they may be important if you have other things planned for your CA.

If you don't already have a CA and you have no real preference on how to install it, you can follow these steps:

1. Log on as a member of the Enterprise Admins group.

2. Open the Windows Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs, and click Add/Remove Windows Components.

3. The Certificate Services option is in the list of Windows components. Select that option and follow the wizard to install. The first thing you'll see is a warning message telling you that you cannot change your machine name or domain membership. Keep that in mind, click OK, and then click Next.

4. When the CA Type selection box appears, make sure that you're installing an Enterprise CA and then click Next.

5. In the CA Identifying Information box, enter a name for your CA and then click Next.

6. In the Certificate Database Settings dialog box, leave the default settings (unless you know that you want to change them) and click Next. You'll need the CD-ROM or installation files in a couple of seconds.

7. If you don't have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed, you'll be prompted to install IIS to get web enrollment working. If you don't plan to do any web enrollment, you can just click OK and don't worry about it. Click Finish when it's all over.

Next, you need a smartcard logon certificate template.

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