# Virtual desktops and remote sessions A blanket claim that Citrix, VDI and Terminal Services cannot support card management is no longer justified. Current NHS Smartcard Connect guidance explicitly supports CMS operations in these environments. That statement does not test a particular printer-redirection configuration. [SRC-005](https://nhs-smartcard-printing-wiki.pages.dev/sources/index.md#src-005) For Series 9 and 10 PIV cards on remote infrastructure, NHS guidance requires PIV middleware on both the local device and the remote environment. [SRC-008](https://nhs-smartcard-printing-wiki.pages.dev/sources/index.md#src-008) ## Validate the complete path | Layer | Local acceptance question | |---|---| | Endpoint | Are the operator reader, target reader and printer encoder visible separately? | | Redirection | Does the selected method expose every required interface to the correct session? | | Remote host | Are middleware and card-management components installed and supported? | | Isolation | Can a second session interfere with reader selection or receive another user's operation? | | Recovery | What happens after disconnection, reconnection, timeout or printer power loss? | | Issuance | Can the complete issue-and-print workflow finish and the card subsequently authenticate? | These checks are proposed acceptance criteria. They do not create a new national support guarantee. A directly connected local workstation remains a useful reference configuration for comparison and fault isolation. Record exact product versions and support confirmation for the chosen stack in [VAL-002](https://nhs-smartcard-printing-wiki.pages.dev/validation-queue/index.md#val-002). Return to [architecture](https://nhs-smartcard-printing-wiki.pages.dev/architecture/index.md) or [acceptance](https://nhs-smartcard-printing-wiki.pages.dev/acceptance/index.md).