Omnikey 3021 USB Smart Card Reader

Bought this so that I could do some work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm an NHS doctor, and whilst most of our work is face-to-face, we do have some admin work that can be done from home. Our remote access works via Citrix Workspace. If you're running Windows, then stop reading. This card reader works as expected. It's sturdy and reliable, yet small enough to fit in a pocket. It just works. Buy it without hesitation. If you're using a Mac, read on: To be honest there were a few teething issues under macOS. It didn't work at first, but I got it working in the end. I thought I would share my troubleshooting process for those in a similar situation: - Trying to connect through to the web portal via Safari did not work. Eventually, I found out that Safari launches a "light" version of the Citrix Workspace app, that doesn't read peripherals properly. The solution was to connect to the NHS portal via Firefox, which correctly launches Citrix Workspace as an external app. This "full-featured" version of the app is able to read the smartcard correctly, but ONLY if you have had the reader connected as the remote machine was logging on. - Citrix will only recognise your card reader if it's active (i.e. connected, with a card in the slot) before the remote machine starts to load. If your card is not being read, one helpful trick is to sign off from the remote session (using the start menu of the remote machine) and then start a new connection from Firefox. This forces the remote session to start up again, at which point the reader should start to work correctly. - Another tip is to check whether your employer uses the "Identity agent" app to recognise the smartcard. If so, you will see an identity agent icon in your Windows VM taskbar. Right-click on this to quit the app, and then reload it from the Start menu. This trick usually works if the above steps fail. In summary, this is a good card reader. Under Windows, it 'just works'. Under macOS, things are a bit more fiddly, but that's due software issues, and not the card reader itself.

Good buy. Does the job, works well on remote access with no issues.

Love the portability of this Smart Card Reader to read my NHS smartcard via my macbook for remote VPN accessing.

Works for NHS smart card if working remotely! No additional installation steps needed just as other reviews say. The wire between USB and reader is very long which may be useful for some Thanks!

Perfect little card reader.

Does what it says on the tin - it reads smart cards. Was recognised immediately by my Surface Pro from work and was fully compatible with the security software on that device, which is why I purchased this particular model. Comes with a decent length USB cable to help position it, but doesn't cover with any bells and whistles, like pads to fix it in place, but that's no big deal. It's got a small footprint and profile, so it won't be difficult to place it discretely on your desk

I bought this to be able to use my NHS smart card when working on my home laptop. I literally just plugged it into the usb connection and then put my smart card in the reader and it worked no problem at all. I did not need to download anything to get it working. My laptop is windows so I am not sure if it works as easily on apple.

This is a lightweight but well constructed reader from a respected and established international vendor. As expected it worked first-time out of the box on Windows 10. It easily ready the Estonian Identity Card and all functions were available. There is a clear blue LED confirming data transfer. It has a pretty long strong USB cable permenently attached.