How to reinstall the Smart Card service on Windows XP

How to reinstall the Smart Card service on Windows XP

If you're looking for a way to re-install the smart card service on Windows XP, this story is your new best friend!

Summary

Prepare a Windows XP installation disc
Download WinXP-scardsvr-install.zip
Read the included readme.txt
Examine install.bat in order to see what it does
Run the BAT file
Steps 3 and 4 are optional, but if you're someone who tinkers with the service, I'm sure you want to know what's in there.

Explanations

First of all you should make sure the service is completely removed. sc delete scardsvr is the standard and official way to remove the service (it is interesting that Microsoft provides a way to remove a service, but there is no known mechanism to re-install one).
Copy scardsvr.inf to %windir%\inf
Run sysocmgr.exe /i:caller.inf, this will invoke a wizard that will use the data inside scardsvr.inf to perform various actions (such as modifying registry keys, and copying files)


Uncheck Smart card service and press Next to remove the files and registry entries
Run the command again, the same window will be shown, check Smart card service and press Next (you will be asked to insert the Windows XP installation CD)
Perform a system restart, after checking the service manager (by running services.msc) and making sure the Smart card service startup is set to Automatic
If you examine scardsvr.inf you will see that it contains references to a list of files and registry keys. These actions could be performed manually, the effect would be the same; but using an .inf file is much easier.