A shared Windows account at a counter or ward can have one card per person, all enrolled for the same account. Everyone logs on fast with their own card, and the logon audit still shows which card — and so which person — logged on, on which PC and when. Enrol the cards as card tokens or in Active Directory, and change the shared password on all cards at once.
Card logon for shared Windows accounts
Shared accounts are normal in production, retail and healthcare: many PCs at a counter or on a ward use one Windows account so any staff member can step up and work. CodeB SmartLogin lets several cards (and phones) be enrolled for that one account, so each person taps their own card to log on — without typing the shared password and without losing track of who did what.
Why give each person their own card?
With one shared password nobody can tell who used a PC. Give each person their own card, all enrolled for the shared account, and the CodeB logon audit records the card serial on every logon and unlock — so you keep the convenience of a shared account and still get per-person traceability (events 1100/1101, which card, which PC, what time).
How do you enrol several cards for one account?
There are two ways, and they behave the same at logon. Pick by where you want the card data to live.
| Card tokens | Active Directory mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the data lives | On the PC or a RemoteDataFolder share | On the user object in AD |
| Enrol a card | Enrol each card for the account in the CodeB card tool (LinkNFCCard) | Store several card serials on the account (LinkNFC2AD / CodeBAdminCLI /add2ad) |
| Shared password change | One command updates all cards (see below) | Stored once in AD — applies to all cards at once |
Both work with plastic NFC cards and with the phone as a logon card. For the full linker reference see linking tokens & logging on.
How do you change the password of a shared account?
When the shared account’s Windows password changes, the stored card credentials must be updated too.
- Active Directory mode: the password is stored once in AD, so the change applies to all cards at once — nothing else to do.
- Card tokens: an administrator updates all cards of the account with one command (run as administrator). It also updates the RemoteDataFolder share copies, and the other PCs take the newer files:
|
/pin— only needed when the cards were enrolled with a PIN other than the configured default PIN. Cards with a different PIN are listed and must be enrolled again./password— optional safety check; only tokens that still hold this old password are changed.
For the full option and exit-code reference (0, 1020, 1022–1025), see /updatecards in the Admin CLI reference.
Frequently asked questions
Can several cards log on to one Windows account?
Yes. Enrol each person’s card for the same account, as card tokens or in Active Directory. Everyone taps their own card, and the audit shows which card logged on.
Do we lose traceability on a shared account?
No. With one card per person, the logon audit records the card serial on each logon and unlock, so you can see which person used which PC and when.
How do we change the shared password on all cards?
In Active Directory mode the password is stored once and applies to all cards. With card tokens, run CodeBAdminCLI.exe /updatecards as administrator; it updates every card of the account and the RemoteDataFolder copies.
Does it work with phones as well as cards?
Yes. A phone used as a logon card is enrolled and audited exactly like a plastic card, so phones and cards can be mixed on one shared account.