No card reader detected on View 4.6 linked clones

[BryanHorton]

Hopefully someone can help me.  Setup is as follows:

     - VMware View 4.6 environment

     - floating linked clone pool (VMs are refreshed after user logs off)

     - Windows Vista x32 parent image fully patched (specifically the Army Gold Master image)

     - VMware Tools / View Agent (PCoIP smart card enabled, Thinprint disabled) / .NET framework 3.5 installed in that order on the parent

     - ActivClient 6.2 patched up to .119

The situation is when logging into this pool the ActivClient icon in the system tray pops up and says no card reader detected and shows the yellow exclamation mark over the icon.  Strange thing is I can RDP to the parent and the reader is detected as expected.  I can even logon with a CAC via RDP.  Seems like this is PCoIP related but I am pulling my hair out trying to fix this.

On the parent I have tried reinstalling VMware Tools/View Agent/.NET in the proper order, reinstalling ActivClient w/ patches, enabling some services (smart card service is enabled and started).

Not sure where to go from here.  Can anyone provide guidance?

Thanks,

Bryan

[BryanHorton]

Some other points which might help someone steer me in the right direction.

     - When attempting to logon to this pool with a smart card after entering PIN the logon prompt comes back and shows a user icon called 'SSO User'.  I'm sure this is related to ActivClient not seeing the card reader but researching this issue has not assisted in resolving the problem.

     - We have a second parent image (also an Army Gold Master image) which we are not seeing this issue on.  All the same apps are installed as on the other parent image.

Any ideas on some things I could try to work through this?

[tacticsbaby]

What kind of client are you using to connect to your pool? Not sure where to start but try checking your firewall settings if you have Windows firewall enabled on your clones. Perhaps port 38111 is not open. I believe this port is needed for USB redirection. You may also try reinstalling the view agent. Hope this is useful.

[BryanHorton]

Thank you for the reply.

We are using two different View clients to logon to both parent images.  One is a ThinApp of the View 4.6 client and the other client is embedded in Teradici firmware on our ClearCube zero clients.  Windows Firewall is disabled via group policy and the service is disabled.  The View client shows USB redirection not available when logging into both pools.  Also, both parent VM's have the exact same VM settings in vCenter.

I have reinstalled the View Agent several times on the parent we are having problems with.  Seems like the View agent would be the culprit since the symptoms indicate the card reader works via RDP but not in a PCoIP View session.

Bryan

[Linjo]

Oh, thinapped view client? That might be the cause of this...

Try a normal install and also upgrade the Clearcube clients to the latest firmware, there are a few smartcard issues fixed there. (3.4.1)

// Linjo

[BryanHorton]

Thank you for the advice. Fortunately, I got to the bottom of this mess late yesterday evening. The fix was one of the two changes listed below (I'm think the first was more likely to have been the root cause but I could be wrong).   First change: installed Install_Root3.13.msi. Previously I had only ran InstallRoot3.13A.exe. Both of these install the DOD root certificates but the msi actually has a guy install interface and adds an entry in Add or Remove Programs list.   Second change: uninstalled ActivClient 6.2/view Agent 4.6/.NET FrameworkwSP1/VMware Tools (restarted whenever I was prompted).  Removed all software in the order listed. Then reinstalled VMware Tools/all Windows Updates including .NET Framework SP1/View Agent 4.6/ActivClient 6.2 with 6014 patch. Of reinstalled in the order listed as well.   After snapshot and recompose ActivClient was able to detect a reader in a PCoIP View session. Thank you agin for the replies.   Bryan