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diablo06
Contributor
Contributor

Mac OS X built-in SD card reader problem

I have the recently introduced (June 2009) Macbook Pro 15" unibody with the buil-in SD card reader. I am running XP (current on all patches except for some of the optional software patches) and unable to see the SD card reader. It did see the reader once and I was able to write data to it. I have tried restarting the Virtual Machine, verified that the card is readable. Interestingly, a diskette drive 'A' shows up in Windows Explorer and when I tried accessing it, it gives the typical 'please insert a disk...'

Is anyone having a similar problem or has experienced it?

Thank you.

Pino

www.LanSmith.com

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mcurreri
Contributor
Contributor

Same problem as you. Works fine in Boot Camp. I also don't see an external HD that I have.

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Chairface
Contributor
Contributor

It's two years later and I can't use my built-in SD reader with VMware Fusion either. Is this expected to be fixed? It's kind of a hassle to grab an external reader.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

The built-in SD card reader works fine for me (Fusion 3.1.2, OS X 10.6.7 host, Ubuntu 10.04 guest). Have you connected the SD card reader to the guest (Virtual Machine > USB)? Please provide more information about your setup.

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Chairface
Contributor
Contributor

On the newer MBP, the SD card reader is not a USB device. It doesn't show up under the USB menu on VMware and is not in the USB section of the Mac's System Profiler. That's why using an external SD card reader works fine but the internal one doesn't. Is there a bug filed for this? I understand if it's not fixable but it's annoying.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

On the newer MBP, the SD card reader is not a USB device.

What model MBP do you have? I have a MacBookPro5,5 which I believe is the same generation as what the OP has; it's a USB device for me.

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Chairface
Contributor
Contributor

It's an early 2011 MBP, 15" Hi-Res screen. Model ID is "MacBookPro8,2".

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MSurfer
Contributor
Contributor

VMware team may not notice about this.

From what I've observed, beginning from Mac mini 2010 model except iMac 2010 model, the SD Card reader isn't listed as a USB device on the Mac.

So any models will face the same issue.

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Chairface
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, I suspect they were't aware but I that's just a guess. I was hoping to get a statement to see if it will ever be supported or not. It's not a deal breaker for me if it is never supported but I would like to know that VMware is at least aware of the issue and investigating to see if they can support it.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

From what I've observed, beginning from Mac mini 2010 model except iMac 2010 model, the SD Card reader isn't listed as a USB device on the Mac.

So any models will face the same issue.

Sorry for the delay. I asked around a bit to be sure, and you're right, new Macs have the SD card reader is now on a PCIe bus instead of USB. We do not currently virtualize PCIe (the standard disclaimer about not being able to comment on unreleased products/timelines/features/etc. applies), so you cannot pass these SD card readers through to guests. As you've found, a workaround is to use a USB SD card reader.

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PorpoiseSeeker
Contributor
Contributor

July 16, 2011.  Mac configuration shows this

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:     MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier:     MacBookPro5,4

  Processor Name:     Intel Core 2 Duo

  Processor Speed:     2.53 GHz

  Number Of Processors:     1

  Total Number Of Cores:     2

  L2 Cache:     3 MB

  Memory:     8 GB

  Bus Speed:     1.07 GHz

  Boot ROM Version:     MBP53.00AC.B03

  SMC Version (system):     1.49f2

Built in SD Card Reader:

  Vendor ID:     0x05ac

  Product ID:     0x8403

  Revision:     1.00

  Serial Number:     000000009833

VM ware guest OS is Windows XP pro

This SD card reader is not visible in any way from XP. Attempting to add new hardware does not find the device in any list of installables.

Device manager shows a non-working device, but it is an M-Systems DiskOnChip 2000 which is a solid state disk which is not on this computer.

Ideas???

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