Installation and Communication
34
USB Connection
The USB client port supports (by default) a Network mode of operation. This enables a secondary network
interface as a virtual adapter over USB. The interfaces co-exist and if the Ethernet connection fails, the
application can switch to USB using a specific IP and can control the reader. To use the USB port for
network connection, install the USB RNDIS Driver on the PC or follow the instructions to install the
Microsoft RNDIS driver for Windows 7 below.
To connect the FX7500 or FX9600 to the host PC, insert a USB cable into the USB client port on the reader.
For the FX7500, see Figure 9 on page 21 or for the FX9600, see Figure 12 on page 24. Connect the other
end of the cable to a USB port on the host PC.
Zebra USB RNDIS Driver
To use the USB port for network connection, install the Zebra USB Remote Network Device (RNDIS) driver
and enable the driver on the FX7500 or FX9600. The Zebra RNDIS driver supports 32-bit version operating
systems Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008. For Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit systems,
it is recommend to use Microsoft RNDIS driver (see Microsoft RNDIS Driver for Windows 7 on page 35).
To install the RNDIS driver on the host.
1. Download the installer file Zebra RNDIS.msi from www.zebra.com/support to the host PC.
2. Select this file on the host PC to install the host side drivers for using the USB Remote Network Device
Interface on the FX7500 or FX9600.
3. Connect a USB cable between the host and the reader. The Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard
screen appears.
4. Select the No, not this time radio button and click Next.
5. Select the default option Install Software Automatically (Recommended).
6. In the Hardware Installation pop-up window, select Continue Anyway.
7. Select Finish to complete the installation. This assigns the host an auto-configured IP address. The
network is now ready to use and the reader’s IP address is fixed to 169.254.10.1.