IT Pro Tips for Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems VPN Client 5

Deployment Tips (9)

Most Common Setup Type

Windows Installer (MSI)

Average Package Difficulty Rating

Rated 2 / 5 (Somewhat Easy) based on 2 ratings

Most Commonly Reported Deployment Method

Windows Installer with Custom Transform (MST)

120

Note

Vendor releases MSI with the installer. I extracted vpnclient_setup.msi from vpnclient-win-msi-5.00.00.0340-k9.exe using 7-zip. In order to allow the installation to proceed from the network (which Cisco recommends against, because the installation momentarily knocks network connectivity off at the end of the install) create a transform - I called it allow_network_install.mst - using Orca and modify the following under the "CustomAction" table:

CsCaDll_GetInstallDriveType - DELETE ROW
CsCaDll_GetInstallDriveType1 - DELETE ROW

I also created a second transform (vpnclient_profiles.mst) to install our connection profiles (to Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\Profiles\, which is where the client checks by default for connection profiles) and to create vpnclient.ini in the Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\ folder. The INI file specifies, among other things, the default profile ([GUI]\DefaultConnectionEntry). You can also specify the [main]\RunAtLogon (1=bring up window before logging into windows) and [main]\DialerDisconnect (1=disconnects VPN when logging off) options if you want.

I used Orca for the network install transform, and AdminStudio for the profiles transform. This app was then deployed silently via ZENworks 7.0.1. Since ZEN caches the installer, the little hack that avoided checking if the installer was running from the network is sufficient to avoid a 1603 error on deployment. Note that during deployment a cmd.exe window appears as files are being copied, even if the interaction is set to silent. Since we deploy this in the shop before the laptop leaves the building, it's not a big deal for us; corporations needing something more discreet might need to look into that further. In my testing I found that ZEN could be configured to suppress the reboot prompt (Distribution Options | Options - set "Reboot" to "Never" and "Prompt for Reboot" to "Don't prompt") and the client would still work without a reboot.

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

tmountjr
04/10/2007
Show Comments ( 0 )

119

Note

Here is a script we made to deploy the current v5.0.x Cisco Secure VPN Client . Because the network connection is dropped a few times during the install, this script copies the install files to the local system first. We also suppress the reboot. Steps we used are:

1) Download the current Â“VPN Client Software for 2000/XP/Vista - Microsoft InstallerÂ” from Cisco. (Valid CCO login is requiredÂ…)

2) Extract the downloaded vpnclient-win-msi-5.0.xx.xxxx-k9-bundle.exe

3) Extract the vpnclient-win-msi-5.0.xx.xxxx-k9.exe to a network share (we used \\share3\software) and put the install files into a directory (we used Â“\cisco\secure vpn client\2000-xp-vista\currentÂ”).

4) Also, we copy over exported connection entries, .pcf files, for our environment at the end of the script.

5) See the script below:

mkdir c:\temp

mkdir "c:\temp\vpn client\"

copy "\\share3\software\cisco\secure vpn client\2000-xp-vista\current\" "c:\temp\vpn client\"

"c:\temp\vpn client\vpnclient_setup.msi" REBOOT=Supress /qb

cmd /c mkdir "c:\program files\cisco systems\vpn client\Profiles"

copy "\\share3\software\cisco\secure vpn client\*.pcf" "c:\program files\cisco systems\vpn client\profiles\".

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

parentt
06/04/2007
Show Comments ( 0 )

119

Note

It has been reported that upgrades to version 5.0.01.0600 of the Cisco VPN Client in non-English versions of Microsoft Windows may fail. This issue is being tracked by Cisco Bug ID CSCsj89801, and Cisco has made available a workaround in the form of an MSI transform, which is available from http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/windows?psrtdcat20e2 ( registered customers only) (file name vpnclient-international-transform-5.0.01.0600.zip). Future versions of the Cisco VPN Client for Windows will not require this workaround.

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

jlapvetelainen
09/14/2007
Show Comments ( 0 )

118

Note

Had some problems with 5.0.02.6060 when logged in to a domain, using localized (Swedish) Windows so I'm not sure if the problem exists on other configurations.

The installation took about 35 minutes to complete if the computer where attached to the network when installing, when logged in locally it took 4 minutes.

Solved it by make an MST and remove custom action CsCa_GetLocalPrivName and then set these properties with custom actions:
GROUP_INTERACTIVE
GROUP_USERS
GROUP_LOCAL_SYSTEM
GROUP_ADMINISTRATORS

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

Bobo
04/25/2008
Show Comments ( 0 )

118

Note

Here is a script we made to deploy the current v5.0.x Cisco Secure VPN Client . Because the network connection is dropped a few times during the install, this script copies the install files to the local system first. We also suppress the reboot. Steps we used are:

1) Download the current VPN Client Software for 2000/XP/Vista - Microsoft Installer from Cisco. (Valid CCO login is required

)

2) Extract the downloaded vpnclient-win-msi-5.0.xx.xxxx-k9-bundle.exe

3) Extract the vpnclient-win-msi-5.0.xx.xxxx-k9.exe to a network share (we used \\share3\software) and put the install files into a directory (we used \cisco\secure vpn client\2000-xp-vista\current).

4) Also, we copy over exported connection entries, .pcf files, for our environment at the end of the script.

5) See the script below:

mkdir c:\temp

mkdir "c:\temp\vpn client\"

copy "\\share3\software\cisco\secure vpn client\2000-xp-vista\current\" "c:\temp\vpn client\"

"c:\temp\vpn client\vpnclient_setup.msi" REBOOT=Supress /qb

cmd /c mkdir "c:\program files\cisco systems\vpn client\Profiles"
copy "\\share3\software\cisco\secure vpn client\*.pcf" "c:\program files\cisco systems\vpn client\profiles\".

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

parentt
06/04/2007
Show Comments ( 0 )

1

Note

Above issue with install while being connected to a Domain appears to be rectified in later versions (5.0.03.0560) and above. I had the same problem with the older English version. You can deploy with standard msi commands.

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

Muckmeister
09/13/2008
Show Comments ( 0 )

1

Note

This is for latest Cisco VPN client for Windows released 2009 in Mars: Cisco Systems VPN Client 5.0.05.0290

1. Extract all the files to a folder (witch help of 7-zip or other extractor program)
2. copy all your pcf files to the same folder (not in a sub folder such as Profiles)
3. Run this command from script:
%~dp0vpnclient_setup.msi REBOOT=Supress /qb
or just simply
vpnclient_setup.msi REBOOT=Supress /qb
4. now it has been installed, it has creted the Profiles folder and copied in the pcf files. This is a tricky since older versions didn't create the Profiles folder and you had to create it in the script, but no more with THIS version (5.0.05.0290)

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

jbappdeploy
06/09/2009
Show Comments ( 0 )

-1

Command Line

This is the uninstall string for Cisco VPN Client 5.0.05.0290:
MsiExec.exe /X{F3C1DE9E-5E16-4BA9-B854-7B53A45E3579}

Setup Information:

Setup Type: unspecified

Deployment Method Used: unspecified

Deployment Difficulty: unspecified

Platform(s): Windows

jbappdeploy
06/09/2009
Show Comments ( 0 )

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Versions

Cisco Systems VPN Client

Version

5

Questions & Answers (3)

Questions & Answers related to Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems VPN Client

1

ANSWERS

How to deploy Cisco Systems VPN Client 5.0.07.0290 and apply profiles?

By: smullaney 9 years ago 2.3k views

smullaney commented 9 years ago

2

ANSWERS

Cisco VPN profile problems when using SCCM 2012

By: chriz78 9 years ago 5.4k views

115joyjuh commented 7 years ago

41

ANSWERS

Deploying Cisco VPN client via Active Directory

By: woodyard 19 years ago 45.4k views

aussupport answered 10 years ago

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By: ortmanc 21 years ago 3.5k views

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By: ortmanc 21 years ago 3.9k views

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Deployment Tips (9)

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Cisco Systems VPN Client

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Questions & Answers (3)

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