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Personal Common Access Card (CAC) reader


LT4Life

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Guest gasmc130
So I broke down and got a CAC reader for use at home. Worked great on my PC, but I bought a Macbook and can't get it to work. Anyone use theirs on a Mac, successfully?

I had a team of IMers try to get it to work on my MacBook during my last exercise. I've resorted to running Parallels and WinXP on my MacBook to get it to work. But if you find another solution let me know.

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I had a team of IMers try to get it to work on my MacBook during my last exercise. I've resorted to running Parallels and WinXP on my MacBook to get it to work. But if you find another solution let me know.

I've researched it and it's a royal pain in the ass to get the software and a CAC reader to work with a Mac. Installed Fusion or Parallels and Windows is the only work around.

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  • 3 months later...
Also, make sure you've actually loaded your certificates from your cac into the activecard program. Right click on the system tray and open the program, then load/view certificates.

Okay, I need help with this so I can take my laptop TDY.

I recently got a new CAC and now I can't use it on my laptop for any websites (Portal, Leaveweb, Webmail, etc.). The certificate that shows up is the old card, which worked fine on all those sites (apparently they automatically update on .mil computers, but not on personal computers). I went to AF Portal using my 69 character password and downloaded the newest ActiveClient software (6.1.3.1) to see if that would help, but now ActiveClient doesn't even recognize my card - I get the message "Your smart card is not initialized," which I assume is because it doesn't have the new certificate (the card works fine at work). I called the Comm Nazis, who told me, "I dunno...we don't deal with personal laptops," and the only site I found on Google requires a CAC to access (go figure)

So how do I get the certificate for my new card and/or get ActiveClient to recognize my card?

I have already cleared my old certificates, and it does not allow me the "Make Certificates Available for Windows" option.

And two separate but similar questions -

- Is there a way to label a website as "trusted"? When I was able to log on with my old card, every time I tried to open one of these websites, I would get an IE07 warning screen that said something to the effect of, "The certificate from this website is not trusted...do you wish to continue (not recommended)." Not a huge deal, just a pain to have to click through it every time.

- Is there any way to load this stuff to Mozilla? I would completely $hitcan IE 07 if it weren't for these .mil sites.

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This does not answer your question, unfortunately, but it does address the problem of using a card reader on vista. My IM and comm guys were completely unable to help me, much to my surprise, so I emailed the manufacturer's tech support people to get instructions on how to load drivers and firmware for vista. Maybe this will help someone else out there.

Please plug in the SCR331 Reader into the host running Vista. If it has CCID firmware, then it should work immediately.

Follow the steps below, only if the device enumerates as "STCII Smart Card Reader" as it needs a firmware update to work under Vista:

1. Download the file: ftp://ftp.us.scmmicro.com/security/driver...ccid_update.zip

2. Unzip the downloaded file

3. Use the driver present in the "driver" folder

4. Run the FWUPDATE.EXE in the "app" folder to update the firmware

Now the reader can be used under Vista.

Your PCS Support Team,

SCM Microsystems

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- Is there any way to load this stuff to Mozilla? I would completely $hitcan IE 07 if it weren't for these .mil sites.

Give this a try: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3182

It works for me, may look a bit sketchy, but haven't had any problems with it. Be sure to read the reviews, specifically the issue with the "alternate driver." I had to do that fix to make mine work.

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Give this a try: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3182

It works for me, may look a bit sketchy, but haven't had any problems with it. Be sure to read the reviews, specifically the issue with the "alternate driver." I had to do that fix to make mine work.

I tried that too, just gave up and I use IE for CAC enabled sites and that ghey AETCBRI site.

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  • 2 months later...

I know we're not all computer savy but I'm hoping someone out there has got a fix...

Just got a new laptop that has vista and IE7 - I've installed the CAC software and the driver somone provided in the above posts -

However I still can't get webmail, SMS, or the portal to work ... it will recognize my card and I'll choose a certificate but then nothing.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

(time passes and post is re-edited)

I found out what works! Download Activclient 6.1 from Cnet and it works fine with Vista/IE7

Edited by PirateAF
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Guest ddcac

I was able to find some good drivers at envoy data...

http://www.envoydata.com/security/scm/scr331.php

I know we're not all computer savy but I'm hoping someone out there has got a fix...

Just got a new laptop that has vista and IE7 - I've installed the CAC software and the driver somone provided in the above posts -

However I still can't get webmail, SMS, or the portal to work ... it will recognize my card and I'll choose a certificate but then nothing.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

(time passes and post is re-edited)

I found out what works! Download Activclient 6.1 from Cnet and it works fine with Vista/IE7

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Guest USAFPilotRuss
I had a team of IMers try to get it to work on my MacBook during my last exercise. I've resorted to running Parallels and WinXP on my MacBook to get it to work. But if you find another solution let me know.

I've been sifting through Apple's Fed Mailing List and I think I might have found a solution. I'll be working on it when I have a little more time.

What card readers are you guys using with OSX and do you have the latest 10.5.6?

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I've been sifting through Apple's Fed Mailing List and I think I might have found a solution. I'll be working on it when I have a little more time.

What card readers are you guys using with OSX and do you have the latest 10.5.6?

As long as you have Mac OSX 10.5.x, you should be good to go using any CAC reader with Safari (No go for me using Firefox unfortunately). I got mine working with safari a couple weeks ago. With 10.5.x, you don't have to go through the extra steps you may find online of 'flashing' the CAC reader or uploading drivers. 10.5.x will find it just fine and you also don't need any 'middleware' stuff like you do in windows or special drivers for the reader. It's built right into the OS for 10.5.x and beyond.

The only catch is that you have to import the DoD Root certificates in the Mac. To do that, go to DISA's certificate site here and follow the instructions on this site CAC on a Mac

Once you're good to go, you'll have to be sure to insert your CAC (sts) BEFORE you start safari. If safari is running, you have to shut it down first, insert the CAC (sts) then restart safari and go to webmail, portal, etc.

Hope that helps. I'll now go kill myself for geeking out this bad.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

I can't believe I have to ask this...

Anyone with Windows 7/IE9 having issues with using their CAC reader to get on the Portal, sharepoint, etc.?

I tried using the reader without ActiveClient, since I've got the newer ID that supports that with Win7. Worked for a few days, then got the "IE cannot display the website" screen. Installed ActiveClient, still the same thing. Anyone??

EDIT: Disregard. Remembered something I read in the office a while back about un-checking SSL 2.0 in the IE Properties tabs. Worked, problem solved.

Edited by JarheadBoom
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  • 6 years later...

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