PC/SC wrapper classes for .NET

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Introduction

The pcsc-sharp library is wrapper that provides access to the Personal Computer/Smart Card Resource Manager using the system's native PC/SC API. It implements partial ISO7816 support and is written to run on both Windows and Unix (.Net Core or Mono using PCSC Lite).

pcsc-sharp is not a fully featured library for accessing vendor specific protocols. You must implement those protocols / applications yourself. For example: You can use pcsc-sharp to access NXP's Mirfare RFID chips, but pcsc-sharp does not provide any APDUs to request KEYs, authorize, etc.

pcsc-sharp does not contain any device drivers. A PC/SC compliant reader + driver is mandatory.

The GitHub issue tracker is not a support forum. Please contact your vendor for reader or card specific questions.

You can find PC/SC specific documentation here:

• Windows: Smart Card Resource Manager API
• Linux: PCSC lite project

Supported Operating systems

• Windows (winscard.dll)

  • Windows 11 64-bit
  • Windows 10 64-bit Professional
  • Windows 10 32-bit Professional

• Linux (PC/SC lite)

  • Ubuntu Linux 64-bit
  • Ubuntu Linux 32-bit

• MacOS X

• Raspberry Pi / Linux ARM

  • linux-arm

Quick start

Establish the resource manager context

Each operation requires a valid context. See SCardEstablishContext for more information.

var contextFactory = ContextFactory.Instance; using (var context = contextFactory.Establish(SCardScope.System)) { // your code }