My laptop has a SD Card Reader. I want to use it in Ubuntu guest OS (the host is Win7).

The method is widely available if you search it:
Step 1. In Win7, Computer Management -> Disk Management, find the disk number of the SD card. In my system it’s “Disk 1”
Step 2. In the settings of Ubuntu VM, Hardware -> Add -> “Hardware Type” select “Hard Disk”, Next -> “Virtual Disk Type” select “IDE”, Next -> select “Use a physical disk”, Next -> In “Device”, select (in my system) “PhysicalDrive1”.

The problem is: there is always only “PhysicalDrive0” shown in the above step, even when I can see “Disk 1” (SD card) in Windows Disk Management.

After wasting a few hours, I found the solution: VMware Workstation, at least on Win 7 (I haven’t tested other OS), should be started with “Run as administrator“. Then you will see “PysicalDrive1” (or what ever drive corresponding to the SD card).

Hope this trick can save you some time.