VMWare, Windows 7, My.AF.mil

[cschmelz]

I used VMWare to access military websites that require use of a CAC (common access) card from home (only windows). I had it working great under Fusion 3.1.2 and XP SP3 but then boom, quit working. I finally gave up on XP and ordered Windows 7. Windows 7 is working fine, can go to my bank HTTPS site but any time I try to go to a military (my.af.mil or ccqas) I get a 'unable to access this website' error. works fine from firefox in the mac environment, but not Windows!

Thoughts? This is painful. Can't access site from windows, but must to log in with card. CAN access from mac, but doesn't work with card.

 

[balamw]

Is your CAC reader a USB device? Have you "pushed" it into your VM?

B

 

[fhall1]

I use a Win7 VM with Parallels and a Cherry USB CAC reader...for me it "just worked", no drivers to install or anything.

 

[Hyper-X]

First of all make sure your browser settings have not changed. Make sure that only SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 are checked.

Have you recently changed/updated your CAC card? Not all cards are the same, some are Gemalto, some Oberthur, etc. Depending on which specific card you have, it's possible that you might have to update your ActiveClient software. Most cards don't need the ActivClient software in Windows 7, it works natively however some cards like the one I have (Oberthur 128 Dual 5.5) does need the .119 update in order to work, so in my case ActivClient is needed.

A great resource is through my friend Chief Danberry's site at www.militarycac.com.

Make sure your CAC reader is detected by Windows (you can see it in the Device Manager), if not make sure it's enabled in VMWare.

Next is ensure that your CAC card's digital certificates are being downloaded onto your machine so that your browser can use them. You should have 3 certificates total. To manually pull them off your card, open up User Console (the cac card icon in the systray by right clicking it), then go to Tools > Advanced > Make Certificates Available to Windows. If all goes well you should see a pop up that shows your name and some certificates with some numbers.

Next re-download and install the latest DoD Certificates, found on MilitaryCac.com. If you can manually log into my.AF.mil, you can get them from there as well.

Next, clear your browser's cache and temp files, it may not be a bad idea to also clear the history in the process.

Still have issues? Check the AF section on Militarycac.com at the following link.

http://www.militarycac.com/airforce.htm

 

[cschmelz]

Thanks so much....I have been able to get on since, though not 100% reliably. I also recently bought the Mac software that enables CAC login through Safari ($29.99 from Thursby) and it actually allows MY.AF.MIL logins. CCQAS (medical credentialing web program) doesn't work though as it appears to require IE6 or better..Part just doesn't load in Safari unfortunately.

First of all make sure your browser settings have not changed. Make sure that only SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 are checked.

Have you recently changed/updated your CAC card? Not all cards are the same, some are Gemalto, some Oberthur, etc. Depending on which specific card you have, it's possible that you might have to update your ActiveClient software. Most cards don't need the ActivClient software in Windows 7, it works natively however some cards like the one I have (Oberthur 128 Dual 5.5) does need the .119 update in order to work, so in my case ActivClient is needed.

A great resource is through my friend Chief Danberry's site at www.militarycac.com.

Make sure your CAC reader is detected by Windows (you can see it in the Device Manager), if not make sure it's enabled in VMWare.

Next is ensure that your CAC card's digital certificates are being downloaded onto your machine so that your browser can use them. You should have 3 certificates total. To manually pull them off your card, open up User Console (the cac card icon in the systray by right clicking it), then go to Tools > Advanced > Make Certificates Available to Windows. If all goes well you should see a pop up that shows your name and some certificates with some numbers.

Next re-download and install the latest DoD Certificates, found on MilitaryCac.com. If you can manually log into my.AF.mil, you can get them from there as well.

Next, clear your browser's cache and temp files, it may not be a bad idea to also clear the history in the process.

Still have issues? Check the AF section on Militarycac.com at the following link.

http://www.militarycac.com/airforce.htm

 

[Hyper-X]

Np, glad you figured something out.

A lot of those websites are coded with the intent of using older browsers like IE6 and IE7, however if you're a user of IE9, you'll need to enable script debugging in order for it to work with all the new Java plugins they're using.

As far as Thursby's PKard, I never tested it on OSX Lion personally but my resources tell me that it will.