NHS Identity Agent v2.3.2.0

NHS Identity Agent is installed on every Windows device in a hospital, GP surgery, or other organisation where a where a smartcard is being used to authenticate into Spine services. It is one of a suite of essential, installable components that reside on the smartcard user's device.

The purpose of NHS Identity Agent is to: 

• communicate to Smartcard readers to verify that the current user has a valid smartcard and knows their passcode
• obtain an access token that can be used by applications on the users’ behalf to access Spine services
• present a Role Selection Menu so that the user can choose which of their associated roles should be used in their current activities

Download Identity Agent v2.3.2.0 (requires HSCN connection) 

Note

These applications are hosted on the DIR downloads page. To access this site, you must have a secure HSCN Connection. If for example, you are using a personal laptop, or not connected via VPN when working from home, this will be the reason you see a blank page or page not found error.

It is important to uninstall any previous versions before beginning any installation.

You can uninstall Identity Agent via Control Panel > Programs and features

Delete these directories (if present) 

• C:\Program Files\Gemalto\GAC 
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Gemalto\GAC 

Delete these files (if present) 

• C:\Program Files\java\installed version of jre\lib\ext\TicketAPDLL.dll 
• C:\Program Files (x86)\java\installed version of jre\lib\ext\TicketAPDLL.dll 

Reboot the machine

Note: If you're upgrading from BT Identity Agent, Gemalto Middleware will have been uninstalled. Before you continue you'll need to reinstall it using the instructions below.

To install NHS Identity Agent, double-click on the .msi file you downloaded to and follow the prompts by selecting ‘Next’ on each window as required. 

If certificates are required for the path-to-live (test) environments, click on the drop-down arrow next to the red X and select “Will be installed on the local hard drive”. If the user will only ever access the live Spine systems, leave this option as default (not installed). 

If your organisation installs the NHS certificates via Group Policy and you do not need these installing as part of the Identity Agent, click on the drop-down arrow next to the red X and select “Entire feature will be unavailable”.

Ensure your organisation has correctly extracted all the certificates normally installed by the Identity Agent as these have been updated in Identity Agent v2.x for supporting future live certificates. 

Select ‘Next’ to continue. 

Select ‘Install’ to continue. Select ‘Yes’ if you see any User Account Control prompts regarding changes to the computer.  

Select ‘Finish’ once the installation has completed to close the installation dialogue box. 

Once the Identity Agent has been installed, an icon will be placed under the Identity Agent heading on the Applications screen. 

A number of registry changes may be needed, which must be adjusted for each organisation or template. On a new Identity Agent installation, there will be no registry entries created in the registry locations described further down in this document. The user will need to manually create the sub trees in the registry before first use. 

Our simple-to-use IA Registry Editor Tool can be used to quickly update registry setting to switch between environments. Please note, this tool requires Admin rights to update the registry. 

Download the IA Registry Editor Tool.

Note

These applications are hosted on the DIR downloads page. To access this site, you must have a secure NHS HSCN Connection. If for example, you are using a personal laptop, or not connected via VPN when working from home, this will be the reason you see a blank page or page not found error.

Read guidance on IA configuration and registry settings.

If you have any problems with your installation, go to our guidance on troubleshooting NHS Identity Agent.

How to set up a smartcard user workstation

How to set up a Registration Authority workstation