Broadcom 5880 Smart Card Reader

[bmwsandman]

I found the following error in the Guest OS Event Log related to the Smart Card Service which is what I think is at fault here

Smart Card Reader 'Broadcom Corp Contactless SmartCard 0' rejected IOCTL GET_STATE: The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request. If this error persists, your smart card or reader may not be functioning correctly.

Command Header: XX XX XX XX

[socratis]

OK, good, the card reader is seen in the guest. That's a good first step. Have you tried stopping/restarting the Smart Card Reader services, after the device is successfully recognized by the guest? I have a feeling that since the service is set to run at start up, but the card is "inserted" in the guest after the VM has already started, the service fails due to the lack of appropriate hardware.

[bmwsandman]

when i was getting the error yesterday, i tried restarting the Smart Card Service and it didn't help. still got the same error.

i didn't change anything but now (today) i can't replicate this error.

[socratis]

but now (today) i can't replicate this error.

Does that mean that it's working now?

[bmwsandman]

no, its not working, the guest os still doesn't recognize the smartcard when its inserted even though the guest os seems to recognize the reader

[socratis]

I tried to look at it as if the problem existed in a physical computer. And I was surprised that it does more often than not. Even Microsoft has a TechNet article about it with a really nice troubleshooting chart. The problem is not as simple as plug-and-play, and it's much, much better to what I could have come up with.

From: Troubleshooting Smart Card Plug and Play Issues. Also:

• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... rohardware
• http://www.id.ee/?id=34282
• https://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-de ... -work.html
• Search for "troubleshooting broadcom smart card readers"

[bmwsandman]

thanks for info. I've seem most of this already, and tried it.

there is just something about the Broadcom smart card reader 5800 and virtualbox that isn't right.

as a test, I bought an external usb smartcard reader, and it works fine just fine with VB and the same smartcard. It uses different drivers of course.

And as I mentioned the Broadcom reader works fine with VMWare player with the same drivers, setup, etc.

I wish there was a way to identify within VB what the problem is

[championofcyrodiil]

I have been using VirtualBox with these Dell Laptops (Precision & Latitude) for about 5 years. And EVERY TIME I have to use an external USB card reader because the Broadcom one shows up as a device, but never reads the card once inserted. my host is Debian 9 and the guest is windows 10. Previously I have had the same issue with Ubuntu, etc. Doesn't ever matter its VirtualBox that is having issues.

pcscd is the only service i think might capture the card and prevent VirtualBox from seeing it, but I've stopped that service and still no luck..

The looks I get from the other engineers when I have to plug in an external USB card reader to my $1500 laptop with a built in card reader is one of skepticism and has gotten old. And of course they blame it on the fact I'm using Linux... also VMware Player works with this card reader so I don't know what the deal is.

Every time I upgrade to the newest VBox, (currently using 5.1.28 r117968 (Qt5.7.1)), i cross my fingers in hopes that someone else uses a Dell Laptop with built in card reader through VBox and has this resolved.... but it never is.

[aedinius]

Code: Select all

2018-04-02T16:59:17.62321 kern.warn: [ 8818.844238] usb 4-1.8: usbfs: process 14648 (USBDevIo--1) did not claim interface 0 before use

I get this when connecting the 5880. When I connect any other USB device, including a different smartcard reader it doesn't throw this error.

This issue is still present as of 5.2.8.

[bmwsandman]

Well i think i finally conquered this problem.

setup: Virtualbox 6.0.2 running on host Win10 on a Dell 7490, guest is a Win 7 pro

1.disabled the three smartcard Services on the host (win10)
2.selected USB 2.0, and added a usb filter to capture all the Broadcom devices: Vendor ID is 0a5c. no other values in the filter
3.started the guest, and installed the latest ControlVault drives. The guest will get the ControlVault Device, and the "smart card readers" devices
4.restarted the guest to finalize the driver installation
5. now the Guest sees the smartcard when inserted

hope this helps

[bmwsandman]

I wanted to post an update to this solution:

In the end i did not need to disable any smartcard services on the Host, or Guest.

Getting the drivers installed on the Guest is the most difficult part. You will need the controlvault drivers from dell.com

i now have two USB 2.0 filters setup to capture the Broadcom devices (the smartcard reader and controlvault devices)
1. Name=broadcom corp [0101], Vendor id=0a5c, product id=5834, revision=0101 {your values may vary}
2. Name=Broadcom CV, vendor id=0a5c, product id=5831 {again, your values may vary}

do not insert the smartcard in the host until you get the drivers installed on the guest. it seems that with the smartcard inserted on the host, the host will hold the reader in-use. This will prevent the guest from capturing the devices

Once the guest sees the devices (in device manager), install the CV drivers, and reboot.You might try installing the drivers even if the guest doesn't see the devices.

With all this setup, there is still a few usability issues:
1. after the guest is booted, i have to pull and re-insert the smartcard to get the guest to recognize the card
2. when i shutdown the guest, the host does not recognize the broadcom devices (I end having to reboot the host to get the broadcom devices online)

hope this helps

[socratis]

hope this helps

It most certainly will! Thanks for posting the step-by-step guide!

[bmwsandman]

@socratis

i have determined if i 'release' the captured usb devices before i shutdown the guest OS, then the host will re-acquire the devices in device manager

so my question is, how can i programmatically force the guest os to release the usb device before or during the shutdown?

[socratis]

so my question is, how can i programmatically force the guest os to release the usb device before or during the shutdown?

If you simply shutdown the guest, then the USB device will pass to the host. Why do you need to do it programmatically? And programmatically ... how?

[bmwsandman]

if i just shutdown the guest, it does not release the usb device back to the host correctly. ie. the host does not recognize the usb device correctly. Thus i can't restart the guest because the device is in an invalid state. A reboot is required for the host to recognize the usb device.

so i was thinking if i could run a shutdown script that would first release the usb device, then the host would happy.