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How to Emulate Multiple Smart Cards at once using the ChameleonMini

By Levi Moore

This post covers some of the more advanced features of the ChameleonMini including setting the button configuration and emulating multiple smart cards at once.

First, locate the button on the edge of the ChameleonMini:

Next, use the “button” command to bring up all supported button press features. These include the following:

Button Configuration Purpose UID_RANDOM Generates a random Unique Identifier (UID) UID_LEFT_INCREMENT Increases the leftmost hex value of the UID by 1 UID_RIGHT_INCREMENT Increases the rightmost hex value of the UID by 1 UID_LEFT_DECREMENT Decreases the leftmost hex value of the UID by 1 UID_RIGHT_DECREMENT Decreases the rightmost hex value of the UID by 1 CYCLE_SETTINGS Allows button press to switch between multiple card settings (more on this below) STORE_MEM Stores memory RECALL_MEM Recalls memory NONE Button does nothing

Examples

Generating a random UID

Let’s set the button configuration to generate a random UID: Type the command “button=UID_RANDOM”. Now, after every button press a random UID will be generated. This will work for any card configuration with differing UID lengths.

Incrementing UID value

Next, let’s increment the leftmost value of the UID: Use the command “button=UID_LEFT_INCREMENT”. Press the button and use the “uid?” command to verify the changing UID value.

Storing multiple smart cards on the ChameleonMini

To access this feature, we must change the button so that it cycles through different smart cards on the press of the button. To do this, we will select the “cycle_settings” option for the button:

I currently have two settings saved on the ChameleonMini, and these are saved as setting #1 and #3. I cycled from #1 to #3 by doing nothing more than pressing the button. The ChameleonMini allows for eight settings (#1 - #8) to be saved at once. That means you can have eight different smart cards saved with different card types and UIDs. Here, the numbers are used as save locations. The setting numbers do not need to be sequential.



Let’s add another setting to the ChameleonMini by using the “setting=<number>” command. By default, the new setting will have no card configuration (returns none). With two commands I was able to set the configuration to Mifare Classic 4k and I changed the UID so that it reads ‘ABCD1234’.

Now, whenever I press the button I can cycle through my settings with setting #6 now available. I can verify this by using the “setting?” command:

Conclusion

While the ChameleonMini is unable to change colors like a real chameleon, its advanced settings allow it to be adapted to any smart card environment.

For a full list of ChameleonMini commands click here.

To purchase your own ChameleonMini, or view our other products click here.