We've had several comments about the IOGEAR GSR202. One of our customers sent us one of the readers that doesn't work. We spent some time working with it, and this is what we found.

IOGEAR's USB-C Common Access Card Reader requires the card to be inserted directly into the reader where electrical contacts retrieve the data stored in the card's chipset. IOGEAR's physical contact readers are designed to eliminate misalignment, which. Smart Cards are the next generation of secure and user friendly identification, authentication, and data storage solutions. The IOGEAR GKBSR201 is an efficient and accurate Smart Card reader solution. The keyboard with the integrated card reader solution will help minimize the clutter of an external, free-standing card reading device on your desk. Unless you are able to identify a reader designed for use with iPad/iPhone - that explicitly carries the Apple “Made for iPad/iPhone” and has a corresponding App that provides support - you’re not going to be able to connect a CAC reader.

The hardware component will still show up in Device Manager even if the card reader is disabled. It does the same with Bluetooth. To enable the card reader, you’re going to have to dig around your PC’s manual, or your card reader’s manual. A correctly configured and properly detected SD card will show up in File Explorer.

For identification purposes, our reader has a Product ID of 0x9540 and a vendor ID of 0x058f. To see the same information on your reader, open System Profiler ( from the Utilities folder ), select USB, and then select the card reader. You should see something like this:
When I attached this reader to Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6, & v10.7; I could not get it to be recognized by pcscd ( a daemon on Mac OS X that is used to communicate with smart card readers ). On Mac OS X v10.6.8, the following output appears in the system log when the reader is attached:

• pcscd[27]: Non-smartcard device launched pcscd [Vendor: 0X58F, Product: 0X9540]

In an attempt to make this reader work, I did the following:

1. Make a backup of the file the file /usr/libexec/SmartCardServices/drivers/ifd-ccid.bundle/Contents/Info.plist.
2. Edit the file above ( I used 'vi' ).
3. At the bottom of the section <key>ifdFriendlyName</key>, add a Friendly Name for the reader:
   
   • <string>Alcor Micro, Corp. 0x9540</string>
4. At the bottom of the section <key>ifdProductID</key>, add a Product ID for the reader:
   
   • <string>0x9540</string>
5. At the bottom of the section <key>ifdVendorID</key>, add a Vendor ID for the reader.
   
   • <string>0x058F</string>
6. Save the file and get pcscd to refresh ( sudo killall pcscd, unplug the reader, and then connect it again ).

Now, the reader works! This solution ( at least for me ) has the side effect of the following line a few times every second:

• Dec 14 15:44:04 carl com.apple.securityd[23]: /SourceCache/SmartcardCCID/SmartcardCCID-35253/ccid/ccid/src/commands.c:945:CmdGetSlotStatus Card absent or mute

That's not a good solution, but at least it works ( if that's the only option you have ).

Iogear Cac Card Reader Not Working

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

How To Use Iogear Cac Reader

Carl