Release date: 2026-05-26
Introduction
In previous versions, Personal CSP remained enabled in the Windows registry for smart card models that did not support a Windows smart card minidriver. As part of this release, Personal CSP has been deprecated and its registration has been removed for physical smart cards while it still remains for soft tokens.
Personal CSP has been considered legacy technology for a long time. Microsoft’s recommended and strategic approach for smart card integration on Windows is based on smart card minidrivers and CNG/KSP, which provide better compatibility, security, and long-term platform support.
Continuing to expose Personal CSP alongside modern smart card mechanisms has primarily led to configuration ambiguity, increased support complexity, and avoidable interoperability issues.
In line with Microsoft’s direction and to simplify the overall architecture of Personal Desktop, we have decided to retire Personal CSP for physical smart cards. There is no longer a functional or technical justification for keeping it enabled, even as a fallback for older card models.
Impact
Personal CSP for physical smart cards is no longer registered or available in this release.
Smart card functionality is supported exclusively through smart card minidriver and KSP.
Action Required
Environments or integrations that previously relied on Personal CSP should be migrated to minidriver-based configurations prior to upgrading. This change reduces complexity, aligns Personal Desktop with modern Windows cryptographic frameworks, and ensures a clearer, more future-proof smart card integration model.
Features
|
Jira ticket number |
Description |
|---|---|
|
PER-4848 |
Deprecated Personal CSP for physical smart cards, as described more in depth in the Introduction section. |
|
PER-4877 |
Enabled Control Flow Guard (CFG) and Force Integrity Checking in the middleware binaries. |
Corrected bugs
|
Jira ticket number |
Description |
|---|---|
|
PER-4889 |
Solved an issue where the use of Slovenian characters could lead to PIN locked at first PIN attempt. |
|
PER-4898 |
Solved a compatibility issue for Java PKCS11 functionality introduced in Personal Desktop version 5.12. |
Contact and support
For information regarding support, training, and other services in your area, visit https://nexus.ingroupe.com/. Nexus offers maintenance and support services to customers and partners.
For more information, go to Nexus Technical Support or contact your local sales representative.