Paralles 6: Upgrade and Cisco VPN

If you are having issues with your cisco VPN client in Windows 7 after upgrading from Parallels v5 to v6, uninstall Cisco VPN completely, reboot, Install VPN, reboot.

I had an issue with my W7 where I could connect to the VPN but could not access our web based software via IE. After the re-install of Cisco everything worked well.

 

Host machine:Macbook Pro, OS:Snow Leopard 10.6.4
After upgrade to Parallels to v6, it stopped working Cisco VPN client for MAC on host machine.
Cisco VPN clients connects for few seconds, then detects as if IP address of host was changed, detecting IPs of virtual adapters of Parallels, then disconnects.
Disconnecting if IP address changed is supposed behaviour of Cisco VPN client but it should not try to bind to vnic0 and vnic1. I tried complete uninstallation/reboot and installation again does not help.

Issue started immediatelly after upgrade to v6 from v5.

Anyone had simmilar issue and has some solution?

Rgds,

Tauras

 

I'm having the same problem after the upgrade, but only when I try connecting using my phone in tether mode. When I use wifi my Cisco VPN connects fine, but if connected using my Samsung Verizon phone, then the VPN disconnects after 5-6 seconds with an Error 422. This happens wether or not Parallels is running. (In addition, Parallels does not recognize the connection using the phone.)

Stan

 

Have you tried using Snow Leopard's VPN client instead? My Windows XP virtual machine can use it to connect to file shares on my company's intranet and I can use it to access my company's exchange servers from Entourage on the Mac side.

If you have a .pcf file (contains Cisco configuration information for the Windows Cisco VPN client), then you can use the information in there to setup Snow Leopard's Cisco VPN client.

Server Adress = Host
Account Name = Username
Password = UserPassword
Shared Secret = GroupPwd
Group Name = GroupName

If your .pcf file has a enc_GroupPwd then you can use http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode to decode it.

 

I tried using the info in the .pcf file, but the VPN would not connect. I didn't see where it asked for Shared Secret or GroupName. We use the RSA Securid.

On a separate note, by changing my network from Bridged to Shared I could at least connect to the internet within Parallels using my cellphone tether. I still could not connect with VPN through my tether, even on my Mac side without Parallels running.

 

What fields does your .pcf have filled in? What's AuthType set to? Does it have a GroupName field? Does it have a enc_GroupPwd field or GroupPwd field?

Go to System Preferences -> Network. Press + to add VPN, type Cisco IPSec. Click Authentication Settings to enter Shared Secret and Group Name from the info in the .pcf.

I'm not sure what RSA Securid is. Maybe you can use the info at http://coreygilmore.com/blog/tag/securid/

 

I have exactly the same problem described by Tauras. When I use my USB broadband card (interface ppp0) to get access to Internet the CISCO VPN Client connects to the remote server but after 5 seconds it gets disconnected. Reviewing the log it complains about a "change" of IP address in the adapter:


85 12:23:01.896 10/07/2010 Sev=Warning/3 CM/0x83100027
Adapter address changed from 200.95.164.224. Current address(es): 10.211.55.2, 10.37.129.2.

86 12:23:01.896 10/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IKE/0x43000001
IKE received signal to terminate VPN connection


I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the VPN Client with no luck.

However, when I use my WiFi access to Internet at home (interface en1), it works just fine. This started to happen as soon as I upgraded to Parallels v6.

Does anybody have a workaround?

Thanks

 

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

 

FIX: Parallels 6 / Mac VPN disconnects

Finally I can post a SOLUTION ! ! - had troubles to reply

Here it is:


Problem recap.:
Right after system start the following happens (Console):
- com_parallels:_kext_prl_vnic: created vnic0 NAT for 10.211.55.0)
- com_parallels:_kext_prl_vnic: created vnic1 DHCP for 10.37.129.1

vnic0/vnic1 are predominant until system shutdown.

When establishing a VPN connection over 3G the VPN Client first get the correct IP, 5 sec. after it suddenly
change to "current address(es): 10.211.55.2, 10.37.129.2".



Solution:
(Prohibit the vnic0 / vnic1 creation process at startuo by altering the Unix file "ParallelsDispatcherService")

Go to:
- <your Mac> / Library / Parallels
- ctrl-click on "Parallels Services". The Options menu appear then chose the 2nd option "Show contnts"
(german: "Paketinhalt zeigen")
- In the new window continue to: Contents / Resources.
- There, ctrl-click on "ParallelsDispatcherService" and chose "open with" then "other program..." then select "TextEdit"
- In TextEdit expand the window until no line is apart. Search (cmd+F) the whole text for: vnic
- Delete all lines with a "vnic" entry (delete the whole line that there is no space between the upper and lower lines)
There should be the 3 following stings you'll delete:
-KernelExtensionVnic="${KEXT_DIR}/prl_vnic.kext"
-LoadKernelExtension "${KernelExtensionVnic}"
-UnloadKernelExtension "${KernelExtensionVnic}"

After a computer restart vnic0/1 will not be created anymore. The IP won't change in VPN connection.

Finally it took me a few hours to analyze this - but it works fine and permanently!
After you can even run the Mac Cisco VPN Client (connected!) beside Parallels running, and you don't need to
disable *Connected" in Parallels/Configure/Network.

The absence of vnic0/1 doesn't even change the behavior of the VM at all. I don't know what these really are for...

If you have a problem - reply. I'll check the forum later.

swissmac

 

I deleted the lines out of the file, and VPN now works on my Mac even when using my cellphone tether. Only problem is that I cannot connect the virtual machine over the tether network. In Parallels 5 I believe that if I was hooked in to the tether on the Mac side and then started up Parallels it would use the connection with no problem. Now I don't have that.

 

@hadleysw

Sorry, I replied more than 24h ago. Somehow I don't get it technically right in this forum...

Ok. I'm glad that the fix worked for your VPN.
You're right, bluetooth tethering is not working in VM after the fix. I don't use it in VM so I didn't test this.

What cellphone do you have? With iPhone you can tether over USB cable. I'm not sure if that works with other mobiles. USB tethering works fine after the fix.

I did the following:
Mac
- set new location for mobile tethering (not implicitly)
- plugged in iPhone (tethering on), in Mac network settings the iPhone appears as new service. Few sec. after it is connected
VM settings
- Parallels/Configure/Hardware/network: I didn't change anything (mine is "Default Adapter"), connected
- Parallels/Prefs/Advanced/Network (tab "Change Settings"): Neither "Shared" nor "Host-Only" DHCP is enabled

When tether-network is connected on mac, I start the VM. On Windows I activate the LAN connection (as the mac
was connected over WiFi or Ether). All the internet services work fine.

Right, it's not an over-the-air solution but the cable fits in every pocket

Hope that works for you.

Greets
swissmac

 

Hi there. I had many issues with Cisco VPN client on Windows 7 64 bit (VM and on a HP laptop). I am now using a product called ShrewVPN from Shrew.net
The program is freeware (although I did donate a coffee). It imports .pcf files and in my opinion works flawlessly both on a HP laptop and on Parallels 5 and 6 with Windows 7.

 

Solution allows VPN connection via host, but VM now has no NIC

swissmac1, your solution fixed the problem of not being able to establish a VPN connection on my host machine (Mac OS X 10.6.4 & running Windows XP on Parallels 6.0.11826), but my Windows VM cannot connect to the Internet because it does not have a network card configured. I get the error message:

"The network adapter does not exist.
There is no network adapter on your Mac for the "Parallels Shared #0" virtual network. The network adapter 0 will be disconnected."

So, while the solution of editing the ParallelsDispatcherService file fixed the VPN connection problem, it created a new problem of not having a network adapter available within the VM.

 

AlexC2, your problem may have different origins.

1
Start with the most simple:
- did you check if your network is set "connected" (Menubar <Configure> - Hardware - Network - check "Connected")

2
If this was not the cause try the following:
- Under <Configure - Hardware> delete your "Network x " device by clicking the <minus> below the Device-List
- Press <OK>
- Enter <Configure - Hardware> again
- Re-create your Network-Device by clicking the <plus> below the Device-List
- Chose your preferred connection
- Press <OK>

3
That does not work either?:
- Select "Default Adapter" as Network-Type

4
Still not?
Do you have more than one Mac and did you copy the edited "ParallelsDispatcherServices" from one to the
other machine?:
- ParallelsDispatcher... is a "user/machine-personal" file that can not be applied on different users/machines
- ParallelsDispatcher... need to be edited apart on every single user/machine
- Hope you've made a copy of the original(s) ParallelsDispatcherServices
- Replace the edited with the original, restart your Mac, apply the procedure again on the original file

Hope one of the 4 solutions work for you. Otherwise we sit down again.

Greets
swissmac

 

I'm getting the same messages as AlexC2 when I have my phone tethered by USB to my Mac. I tried the solutions from swissmac1, but still get the messages. When I tried switching from Shared Network to Bridged/Default Adapter, I get a similar message to his, "The real network adapter Default Adapter used by the virtual adapter 1 is not connected to the network. Make sure the real adapter is connected to a wireless or wired network." I notice that under Bridged Adapter there are only three choices: Default Adapter, Built-in Ethernet, and Airport. It looks like Parallels version 6 software does not recognize a connection through a USB port to a tethered phone.

 

I found a solution to my problem

swissmac1, thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately, the first 3 steps that you outlined did not work for me. I was still getting the same error stating that the network adapter did not work. I did finally resolve my problem by doing a complete uninstall of Parallels and installing Parallels 6.0.11828. After the uninstall/install, I did not have to modify ParallelsDispatcherServices, it just worked!

Following up on your 4th point in your previous reply, I only have one Mac, and I never moved or edited ParallelsDispatcherServices from one Mac to another. I have, though, been using Parallels since version 4.x and I have transferred my Mac account from one machine to another as I have upgraded and changed computers a total of 3 times. I can't say with certainty that that had anything to do with the problem, but the uninstall/reinstall seemed to solve any conflicts.

Anyone interested in uninstall and reinstalling Parallels, download the latest version of Parallels http://www.parallels.com/download/ mount the disk image by double clicking on the downloaded file. That should open up a Finder window showing the contents of the mounted disk. There you will find an uninstall application. Open that and proceed. Make sure to select all of the uninstall options (I believe that there was one for settings). The uninstall process will not delete your VM snapshots. Once you have reinstalled Parallels, start Parallels and open your VM by going to File => Open in the menu bar. Find your VM snapshot, usually found in /Users/YourAccount/Documents/Parallels, and you are done.


Regards
Alex

 

AlexC2
I'm glad you found a solution.
Hadleysw, sorry to trouble you both.

When I update to x.11826 and x.11828 the problem was back and I had to alter DispatcherServices
again to get my VPN/3G connetion going. For me it seems that the updates are replacing
the edited DispatherServices with the original ones.

Since I got the fix, I applied it on three Macs of colleagues with completely different configs.
I got the "Adapter not connected" error only once when I copied my altered file to another Mac. After I
replaced it by the original and edited it directly on the other mac, the error did never occur again. Since my
colleagues apply the fix by them selves they never had a problem with Parallels or VM (in the way they/me using it).
Thats what I can say.

Of course, 4 (ongoing) successful attempts are not expressive enough to be universally valid. And you show that
under other-other configs. the fix could cause other problems.

Let's hope that Parallels comes up with an official (extensively tested) update that repairs the VPN/3G problem, so no one has to care about 'creepy' fixes

Greets
Swissmac

 

I can confirm this problem.

I am normally tethering an iPhone 3G with my Macbook Pro which has got Parallells Desktop 6 installed. I am running Cisco VPN Client in my host OS Mac OS X. The following log error is displayed in the log of the Cisco VPN Client after about 3-5 seconds after I connect. It does not matter if I tether using USB cable or Bluetooth:

1757 09:57:16.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IPSEC/0x4370000F
Added key with SPI=0xe5e1311f into key list

1758 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Warning/3 CM/0x83100027
Adapter address changed from 172.20.10.2. Current address(es): 10.211.55.2, 10.37.129.2.

1759 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IKE/0x43000001
IKE received signal to terminate VPN connection

1760 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IKE/0x43000013
SENDING >>> ISAKMP OAK INFO *(HASH, DEL) to 192.165.191.49

1761 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/5 IKE/0x43000018
Deleting IPsec SA: (OUTBOUND SPI = 972ACC4F INBOUND SPI = 1F31E1E5)

1762 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IKE/0x43000049
Discarding IPsec SA negotiation, MsgID=E0158FBF

1763 09:57:21.604 12/07/2010 Sev=Info/4 IKE/0x43000017
Marking IKE SA for deletion (I_Cookie=734DD3B676BC5A88 R_Cookie=72933A4274A94C70) reason = DEL_REASON_ADDRESS_CHANGE

I can also connect to any VPN using Cisco VPN Client as long as I have an ethernet or WLAN connection to the network, just not when I'm using a tethered mobile phone or 3G/4G mobile internet connection.

I am going to try the workaround posted above, but would love to see an official Parallells solution to the problem.