How To Install Cisco Vpn Client On Windows 8

Home
Networking
Cisco

My office revamped its infrastructure a few months ago so we can work from anywhere. Our server was moved to the cloud, our computers were replaced with laptops running Win 8 (have now been upgraded to Win8.1) and we have a Cisco firewall and VPN set up. We are using Cisco VPN client 5.0.07.0290 with ASDM 6.6(1) and ASA 8.6(1)2 and Java Ver 1.6.0-37. The issue we have is that we can establish a connection with the VPN but no data is being sent or received. It would seem the issue is specific to Win 8.1 because we have one employee still running Win 7, and they can connect and use the VPN without any trouble. I have already setup the Citrix DNE and changed the registry with no luck. Does anyone know of another work around are have any advice on how to remedy this problem?

Brand Representative for Cisco

Hello, Colin. BPM215 is correct, the regular Cisco VPN client is already EoL and there was no official update released to support Windows 8.X. I recommend looking intoCisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client ( http://cs.co/9002ie84). What is the model of your ASA, by the way? Please send me a message if you have additional concerns and need local support/quote from Cisco. Kind regards.

The help desk software for IT. Free.

Track users' IT needs, easily, and with only the features you need.

12 Replies

I believe you may want to switch over to the Cisco AnyConnect client. From my understanding the traditional Cisco VPN client is at End of Life and won't be available for download past this summer. Also I believe development and new releases have stopped for the past year or so.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/security/vpn-client/end_of_life_c51-680819.html

Brand Representative for Cisco

First, thank you to everyone for the quick responses. We are using the ASA-5512x in our office. I have been hoping to find an easy solution for awhile now, with no luck. I have begun to realize that either using the AnyConnect or rolling back our OS' to Win 7 are the only real options available. Also, the person who did our infrastructure buildout personally chose the Cisco VPN Client. Considering it has been announced as EoL since 2011 do you think he should be liable for correcting this issue and not charge us for any extra work that will need to be done?

How long ago was the infrastructure built by this person? Was this person a consultant to the company or a regular employee?

Also if you log into your ASA and issue the command "show version" you should see a list of features you are licensed for and your license type. You want the AnyConnect Essential Licenses. Example is shown below. If you don't have that enabled you may need to talk with Cisco about your current license situation.

Maximum Physical Interfaces : Unlimited perpetual

Maximum VLANs : 150 perpetual

Inside Hosts : Unlimited perpetual

Failover : Active/Active perpetual

VPN-DES : Enabled perpetual

VPN-3DES-AES : Enabled perpetual

Security Contexts : 4 perpetual

GTP/GPRS : Disabled perpetual

AnyConnect Premium Peers : 4 perpetual

AnyConnect Essentials : 750 perpetual

Other VPN Peers : 750 perpetual

Total VPN Peers : 750 perpetual

Shared License : Disabled perpetual

AnyConnect for Mobile : Enabled perpetual

AnyConnect for Cisco VPN Phone : Disabled perpetual

Advanced Endpoint Assessment : Disabled perpetual

Brand Representative for Cisco

You are welcome, colin. Is this person your Cisco partner/representative or company employee? It might be good to coordinate with that person, for any credentials that you need to access support on your ASA 5512-X (like SmartNet). You can look into Cisco AnyConnect Essentials or AnyConnect Premium license (for clientless and Cisco Secure Desktop) for your VPN client users.

Built in November '13 with many flaws that had to be worked out through January '14. He was contracted and paid very weel for his time.

Well in my opinion if the build out was that recent and the consultant used End of Life software then yes I would request them to remedy the situation free of charge or at a very very reduced rate. More than likely the consultant didn't even realize it was EOL because it has been so widely used for many many years.

At the end of the day setting up a AnyConnect profile isn't that hard. You mainly would lose time having to install to the end users. Let us know if you run into any problems.

JameyFelsing

This person is a verified professional.

Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional.

May 13, 2014 at 16:52 UTC

This worked for us on an 8.1 laptop.

If you receive this error on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 while trying to connect with the Cisco VPN Client then the solution is a simple registry fix.

To fix:

1. Click Start and type regedit in the Search field and hit enter.

2. Navigate toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA

3. Find the String Value called DisplayName

4. Right click and select Modify from the context menu.

5. In Value data, remove @oemX.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;. The Value data should only contain Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows.

6. Click Ok.

7. Close Registry Editor.

8. Retry your Cisco VPN Client connection.

Thank you for the response James. As mentioned above, we do not recieve an error when trying to connect. A connection is established but no data can be sent or recieved. Also the registry has already been modified in the way you describe.

We changed VPN clients.

We have used Shrewsoft VPN with pretty good success on both 32 and 64 bit systems. Vista, Windows 7 and we just deployed a laptop with Windows 8.1 and it is working fine. Been using if for a few years.

https://www.shrew.net/software

I tried all the registry hacks I could find to get a Windows 8.1 Pro tablet to connect to an old PIX using the Cisco VPN client, and never was able to get it to work. I ended up installing Shrew Softs VPN client to get it to work.

https://www.shrew.net/download/vpn

BreakAwayLoyalty is an IT service provider.

Is the Shrewsoft software free? I am experiencing the same issues with CISCO VPN client on Win 8.1...

This topic has been locked by an administrator and is no longer open for commenting.

To continue this discussion, please ask a new question.