Cardspace crashes

The CardSpace control panel still crashes whenever I open it, rendering my computer unusable (since it uses a secure desktop you cannot break out of).

well, you can get out of it, but only by pressing CAD and electing to Log Off; I can't return to my opened programs.

This is pretty severe, has anyone released a patch?

This is what I get in the Event Log:

An error occurrred while accessing the card collection.  An invalid file path was specified.

An error occurrred while accessing the card collection.  An invalid file path was specified.

Additional Information:
   at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo)
   at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.BuildMessage(InfoCardBaseException ie)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.TraceAndLogException(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.ThrowHelperError(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.ValidateDirectoryAccess()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.CreateDirAndFiles()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.OnLoad()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.Load()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection(WindowsIdentity identity, Boolean allowCreate)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.CreateConnection()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.ClientUIRequest.OnInitializeAsUser()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.Initialize()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.CreateClientRequestInstance(UIAgentMonitorHandle monitorHandle, String reqName, IntPtr rpcHandle, Stream inStream, Stream outStream)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.ProcessNewRequest(Int32 parentRequestHandle, IntPtr rpcHandle, IntPtr inArgs, IntPtr& outArgs)

An error occurrred while accessing the card collection.  Failed to open store.

Additional Information:
   at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo)
   at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.BuildMessage(InfoCardBaseException ie)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.TraceAndLogException(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.ThrowHelperError(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection(WindowsIdentity identity, Boolean allowCreate)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.GetUserPreferenceRequest.OnProcess()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.ProcessRequest()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.DoProcessRequest()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.ProcessNewRequest(Int32 parentRequestHandle, IntPtr rpcHandle, IntPtr inArgs, IntPtr& outArgs)

An error occurred when communicating with the Windows CardSpace service.  The UI crashed for an unknown reason.

Additional Information:
   at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo)
   at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.BuildMessage(InfoCardBaseException ie)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.TraceAndLogException(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.ThrowHelperError(Exception e)
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.InfoCardUIAgent.WaitForModeChange()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.InfoCardUIAgent.ReleaseUI()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.ClientUIRequest.ReleaseUIAgent()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.ClientUIRequest.OnDisposeAsSystem()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.Dispose()
   at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.ProcessNewRequest(Int32 parentRequestHandle, IntPtr rpcHandle, IntPtr inArgs, IntPtr& outArgs)

blowdart wrote:

Ouch. Very weird. You could try destroy your card database and trying again;

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db.shadow

(It's not a secure desktop, it's a private desktop, secure desktop is where GINA runs)

W3bbo wrote:

An invalid file path was specified.

Failed to open store.

blowdart wrote:



C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db.shadow

W3bbo wrote:

Actually it is d:\users

blowdart wrote:

Ouch. Very weird. You could try destroy your card database and trying again;

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CardSpace\CardSpace.db.shadow

(It's not a secure desktop, it's a private desktop, secure desktop is where GINA runs)

I have the same problem as W3bbo.
There is no file like CardSpace.db on my Harddisk.
It crashed just click the button for first time, so I think the file cardSpace.db was not created.
I uninstall all versions of Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and install it again. It makes no different.

BSOTW wrote:

I have the same problem as W3bbo.
There is no file like CardSpace.db on my Harddisk.
It crashed just click the button for first time, so I think the file cardSpace.db was not created.
I uninstall all versions of Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and install it again. It makes no different.

Months ago, I installed .NET 3.0. I read a bit about cardspace and thought oh that sounds cool. I opened it up, started creating a fake card to have a look, then hit cancel.

It killed my machine. I didnt bother going any further.

blowdart said:

Tensor wrote:



Months ago, I installed .NET 3.0. I read a bit about cardspace and thought oh that sounds cool. I opened it up, started creating a fake card to have a look, then hit cancel.

It killed my machine. I didnt bother going any further.

Oh yes. *That* bug.

I tracked down a reply on another forum that didn't precisely identify the problem, but it did ask a question that ended up identifying the problem on my system.

Specifically, if CardSpace is failing to automatically create a "CardSpace" folder created under their C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft folder, this is most likely the solution.

A definitely problem relates to security settings under the C:\Documents and Settings\<user> directory branch.  This is a subtle nasty "problem".  I wouldn't say it's a "bug", but Microsoft could probably add some code to CardSpace to help user's resolve it.

My entire C:\Documents and Settings\<user> branch did not have any security entry for <user>.  Access was based entirely upon administrator.  (<user> is an administrator.)

The solution is to make sure your actual sign-on user account is listed as having "full access" for the C:\Documents and Settings\<user> directory branch, including all subfolders.  The fact that the user account might have administrator priviledges doesn't count.  These folder security settings are supposed to be the "normal" situation anyway, but system reconfigurations applied over time may have resulted in these entries not existing.  There's a check box under the "Advanced" button for security settings that'll make all subfolders under the <user> branch have the same security settings as the <user> folder.

I think what Microsoft is facing here is that CardSpace is probably the first application that a user will run that probably forces the security context to be specifically the signed-on user in order to fulfill the security restrictions CardSpace wants to impose (in order to fulfill its security objectives).  Since CardSpace has security objectives that are not a concern of other applications accessing \Documents and Settings\, this isn't really a "bug" in CardSpace.  It does however mean that CardSpace support is going to encounter the typical support problems associated with going "where no one has gone before".

I think this is definitely a candidate for a knowledge-base entry for starters.  I think it is then a candidate for some user "help" code to be added to CardSpace that explicitly tests for the problem in the directory branch, and then tells the user more clearly what is happening and what might need fixing.  Presumably this wouldn't result in a security breach because presumably the user wouldn't be able to "fix" the problem unless they had the appropriate permissions anyway.

I would guess that this problem is most likely to occur on systems that have evolved through various user accounts.  This was a LONG time ago, but I believe the current user account I use was not the original account when the system was first configured.  I think I cloned the original account into this new account because I wanted to shut down network access to the original default account.  The cloning of the \Documents and Settings\ branch probably ended up creating this situation.

kburgoyne said:

blowdart said:

*snip*

I tracked down a reply on another forum that didn't precisely identify the problem, but it did ask a question that ended up identifying the problem on my system.

Specifically, if CardSpace is failing to automatically create a "CardSpace" folder created under their C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft folder, this is most likely the solution.

A definitely problem relates to security settings under the C:\Documents and Settings\<user> directory branch.  This is a subtle nasty "problem".  I wouldn't say it's a "bug", but Microsoft could probably add some code to CardSpace to help user's resolve it.

My entire C:\Documents and Settings\<user> branch did not have any security entry for <user>.  Access was based entirely upon administrator.  (<user> is an administrator.)

The solution is to make sure your actual sign-on user account is listed as having "full access" for the C:\Documents and Settings\<user> directory branch, including all subfolders.  The fact that the user account might have administrator priviledges doesn't count.  These folder security settings are supposed to be the "normal" situation anyway, but system reconfigurations applied over time may have resulted in these entries not existing.  There's a check box under the "Advanced" button for security settings that'll make all subfolders under the <user> branch have the same security settings as the <user> folder.

I think what Microsoft is facing here is that CardSpace is probably the first application that a user will run that probably forces the security context to be specifically the signed-on user in order to fulfill the security restrictions CardSpace wants to impose (in order to fulfill its security objectives).  Since CardSpace has security objectives that are not a concern of other applications accessing \Documents and Settings\, this isn't really a "bug" in CardSpace.  It does however mean that CardSpace support is going to encounter the typical support problems associated with going "where no one has gone before".

I think this is definitely a candidate for a knowledge-base entry for starters.  I think it is then a candidate for some user "help" code to be added to CardSpace that explicitly tests for the problem in the directory branch, and then tells the user more clearly what is happening and what might need fixing.  Presumably this wouldn't result in a security breach because presumably the user wouldn't be able to "fix" the problem unless they had the appropriate permissions anyway.

I would guess that this problem is most likely to occur on systems that have evolved through various user accounts.  This was a LONG time ago, but I believe the current user account I use was not the original account when the system was first configured.  I think I cloned the original account into this new account because I wanted to shut down network access to the original default account.  The cloning of the \Documents and Settings\ branch probably ended up creating this situation.

I changed my Users folder on Win7 x64 from C:\Users to D:\Users and ran into the Cardspace crashing issue.

After checking your comment, I replicated the exact security settings for my account folder and everything is now OK, Cardspace is running normally.

Just wanted to let people know that it works fine under Win7 too.

Just a thought. Anyone actually using it? I thought it is dead before it even got started. On of the epic failed thing from MS before people knew about it.