USB Card reader (ACR38) not showing up as 2 separate USB devices

[WernerC]

After upgrading to Fusion 10.1.2 my smart card reader does not work properly.

I found on Connect a USB Smart Card Reader​  :

"When you attach a smart card reader to your computer, the reader appears as two separate USB devices in the Fusion interface."

Before the upgrade I indeed found 2 separate USB devices. Now after the upgrade it just showed up as one device.

What to do?

Thanks.

W.

[bluefirestorm]

Shut down the VM and try adding the line

usb.generic.allowCCID = "TRUE"

to the vmx configuration file of the VM and see whether the exclusive VM connect option to the smart card reader becomes available again.

To make the "Shared ACS ACR38U-CCID" disappear, add the following line to the vmx configuration file.

usb.ccid.disable = "TRUE"

You may have to add both lines to make the exclusive option appear again. For certain makes/models of smart card readers, neither the "shared" nor exclusive mode use appear unless both lines are in the vmx configuration file. So if you have no need for the "shared" just add both lines and see whether it resolves your issue.

[WernerC]

Where can I find the vmx configuration file?

[bluefirestorm]

Every VMware VM has its own vmx configuration file.

Follow KB link below as it will explain it better than I do on how to edit the VM vmx configuration file in Fusion.

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1014782

[WernerC]

Well did all that.

First made a copy of the original .vmx

Then put in both lines, resulting in not showing any USB device connected. 😞

Then restored the original .vmx file and edited the first line in, resulting in the same as before, only one USB icon available.

I can use the smart card up until I get the following error: ERR_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_SIGNATURE_FAILED

[bluefirestorm]

What about other USB devices such as USB flash/thumb drives, external USB HDD/SSD, do these types of USB devices appear in the list?

If these USB drives don't appear then the problem is likely because of something else.

Did you also upgrade the host OS to High Sierra? High Sierra could be blocking some of the VMware kernel extensions. Go to the System Preferences, Security and Privacy and make sure VMware is not being blocked.

Are other VMs powered up when you edited the vmx configuration. Reason I asked is that the shared smart card is intended to share the same smart card reader between different VMs, so if it is "in use" through sharing, the exclusive mode could also fail.

[WernerC]

Thanks, Bluefirestorm, you just solved the issue.

It was indeed the MacOs that was blocking VMware Inc. from changing/loading system software.

You can allow them to do these changes in the General tab of the Security & Privacy System preferences.