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Cisco VPN Client Needed For Work, will it work with Snow Leopard

Hey Guys,
So I have Cisco VPN Client 4.9.01 with some settings (including passwords I do not know) that my Corporate job offered on their FTP Site. Works great for using my Lotus Notes e-mail.

I am just wondering if this will work with Snow Leopard. People are talking about using Apple's VPN client. I suppose this would be fine if I knew the passwords! If I have to use the Apple VPN Client, is there a way to export the settings from my Cisco client and importing to Apple?
Thanks!

Posted on Aug 26, 2009 9:21 PM

Reply
46 replies

Aug 26, 2009 10:49 PM in response to David Selevan

Good news and bad news. Bad news is I can't really contact Cisco or my Company. They offered the Cisco VPN client awhile ago for our multimedia department, the company is Windows and IT only supports Windows. They don't want to hear about my Mac.

Good news is I found 4.9.01.0180 which supposedly works on Snow Leopard! So should hopefully be set for Friday!!

Dave

Aug 28, 2009 4:45 PM in response to David Selevan

I have the Cisco VPN Client 4.9.01 and couldn't connect under Snow Leopard. I kept receiving the "error 51" message with no luck getting around it.

I was able to use the new Apple client once I figured out how to decrypt the group password in the IT supplied pcf file. If you have the pcf file, right-click on it and open it with Text editor.

For the VPN (Cisco IPSec) connection:

OS X VPN = pcf file value
Server Address = Host
Account Name = Your VPN login ID
Password = Your VPN password

Click on "Authentication Settings"

Group Name = GroupName
Shared Secret = GroupPwd

If your GroupPwd value is blank but you have an enc_GroupPwd, you can search the web for decrypting Cisco VPN passwords, copy/paste in the value and get the "clear text" version to use for the "Shared Secret" value.

This is one place you can go to for this decryption:

www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode

That's it. Then you can use the new built-in Cisco VPN for your connection.

Aug 28, 2009 7:30 PM in response to KAdamsInCo

Thanks for this.. I have been wanting to free myself from the Cisco software for a while.. and this did the trick. I always wondered why I could VPN into my work network with my iPod touch without any 3rd party software but needed the Cisco software on my iMac.. turns out I was just entering the wrong info! Works flawlessly!

Aug 29, 2009 11:23 AM in response to Ted Pin

Glad it worked for you. Would have been too complicated for me and I don't think it would have worked.
Uninstalling and re-installing worked in 10 seconds.
Most people who use these things are paranoid about security in the first place, and some of these companies aren't big Mac fans. I couldn't get any of the secret information using those websites. Getting IT to officially admit I can access their VPN on a Mac is hard enough, there is no way they would supply me with or even know the password. I think someone in our IT department must have come up with these profiles 10 years ago or something, because I'm the only one who seems to be able to access our network. So I'm just glad I got the old one back up and running.

Cisco VPN Client Needed For Work, will it work with Snow Leopard

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