VPN Cisco Client install problems

Hi DeeDoubleYou,

I have had a simillar problem in the past when installing a newer version of the Cisco VPN Client over an older version. The installer never removed the old items properly. In the end I wrote my own script for removing all components of old Cisco VPN Clients.

Essentially in Terminal I ...

# Unload the CiscoVPN Service

/System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN stop

# Unistall the GUI

rm -rf /Applications/VPNClient.app

# Unistall the GUI Unistaller for v3.7

rm -rf /Applications/Uninstall\ Cisco\ VPN\ Client.app

# Unistall the CiscoVPN Statup Service

rm -rf /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN

# Remove the Cisco VPN KEXT

rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/CiscoVPN.kext


# Remove Profiles, Certificates, etc

rm -f /usr/local/bin/vpnclient

rm -f /usr/local/bin/ipseclog

rm -f /usr/local/bin/cvpnd

rm -f /usr/local/bin/cisco certmgr

rm -f /usr/local/bin/vpn_uninstall

rm -rf /etc/cisco-vpnclient

rm -rf /etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient

rm -rf /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient

rm -rf /etc/opt/CiscoSystemsVPNClient

rm -rf /opt/cisco-vpnclient

rm -rf /opt/CiscoSystemsVPNClient

rm -rf /private/opt/cisco-vpnclient

rm -rf /private/opt/CiscoSystemsVPNClient


# Remove the Framework

rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/cisco-vpnclient.framework


# Remove any Package Receipts

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-api.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-bin.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-gui.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-kext-part1.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-kext-part2.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-kext.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-profiles.pkg

rm -rf /Library/Receipts/vpnclient-startup.pkg



All of this needs to be done with suitable administrator access, so you would need to use the sudo command in terminal.

Some of these files will not exist if you never had the early version 3 and 4 Cisco VPN Clients.

I dont have a Universal version of the Cisco Client to use on my Machine, but do use v4.9.00 (0050) on an intel iMac without any major issues other than being a bit slow.

Regards

TimeLord

<hr>


Intel Core 2 Duo 20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2GB 2.33GHz

Hi DeeDoubleYou,

I have done some more exploration and have identified what is causing your problem but do not have a definitive solution.

The v4.9.00 (0050) Cisco VPN client is indeed a Universal binary designed to operate on both the PPC Macs and the Intel Macs, however it does require OS X 10.4.x.

I have used it most of this year (since March) without issue on an older PPC iMac. I took delivery of a 20" Intel Core 2 Duo iMac on the 22-Sept and based my response to you on my initial successful use of the v4.9.00 (0050) Cisco VPN client. It does work and allow you to access the VPN you are likely to require. The problem is really later when you are not even using the Cisco VPN client. If you have the Cisco VPN Client installed you cannot shutdown your computer. If you try to perform a shutdown or restart you are likely to either restart (even if you chose shutdown), or will receive a kernel panic and be forced to hold the power button to power off the computer.

What's Happening.

Part of the many components installed when you install the Cisco VPN client is a 'StartupItem', CiscoVPN, within the directory ... /System/Library/StartupItems

This provides a service used by the Cisco VPN Client and is started at the time the system is started. As a service this should respond the the commands start, stop, and restart.
ie.
To start the Service ...
sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN start
To stop the Service ...
sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN stop
To stop then start the Service (a restart) ...
sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN restart

When you try to issue the stop command (eg. by shutting down the computer) the result is a condition where I think a kernel panic occurs and the computer restarts.

This happens if you try the ..
sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN stop
command in a terminal window.

This condition does NOT occur on PPC Macintoshes, I am unable to test this on a first generation Intel Core Duo, but is definitely repeatable on a new generation Intel Core 2 Duo.

Solution.
This is something that Cisco will have to fix. There is NO easy solution for this problem.

A Workaround.

My solution is to remove this StartupItems service, and start it only when I need to use the VPN Client. To use the Cisco VPN Client, I have created an Applescript which will ℹ start the CiscoVPN service, then (ii) launch the VPN Client. This now means my computer will startup without the service, and will shutdown properly, without always restarting.

Steps
(1) in terminal move the Cisco StartupItem to the Applications folder

sudo mv /System/Library/StartupItems//CiscoVPN/ /Applications/

(2) in the Finder simply drag the application 'VPNClient' into the CiscoVPN folder that you just moved into Applications.

(3) Create a 2 line Applescript and save it as a script or application to ...
~/Library/Scripts/StartVPN

do shell script "/Applications/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN start" with administrator privileges
do shell script "open /Applications/CiscoVPN/VPNClient.app"

(4) Ensure the 'Show Script Menu in menu bar' Checkbox is checked in the application 'AppleScript Utility'

Now whenever you need to use the Cisco VPN Client, simply select 'StartVPN' from the Applescript menu. Unfortunately you will be asked for an Administrator password every time you want to use it.

Hope this helps.

TimeLord

<hr>


Intel Core 2 Duo 20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2GB 2.33GHz

I know this has been answered but would updating to 10.4.8 help? The release notes say that the update resolves some issues with Cisco VPN. Just a suggestion.

Also, if you decide to go for the upgrade, when you restart the computer will restart twice not once. It also will take its time doing it, the download being 206MB after all.