Comments on: Fixing Cisco VPN Client 4.9 With Parallels Desktop 3.0 on Mac OS X

By: B Campbell

B Campbell — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:40:15 +0000

This is what helped me when I had this problem:

http://forum.maas360.com/go/mobileitexpertise/fix-for-cisco-vpn-error-51-unable-to-communicate-with-the-vpn-subsystem/

By: Ron Pelley

Ron Pelley — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi
this is great, but since I don’t usually get involved in using the Terminal, could you help me out with the “for dummies” version. As in how do we make sure we put the right stuff in the right place using Pico and how do we save it as an overwrite of the existing file?
That would really help.
Thanks in advance

By: Chris Barber

Chris Barber — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Using Pico is pretty simple. Double click the Macintosh HD and navigate to:

Applications > Utilities > Terminal

Launch the terminal and type the following at the command prompt:

sudo pico /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN

In order to edit the startup script, you must have super user access. The sudo command will allow you to run a command as the super user. Just type your password in when it prompts for the password and then Pico will launch:

Find the StartService() function and add the bolded text:

StartService ()
{
    #disable fw0
    /sbin/ifconfig fw0 down

    if [ -d $CISCO_VPN_DIR ]; then
        ConsoleMessage "Starting Cisco Systems VPN Driver"
        kextload $CISCO_VPN_DIR
    fi
}

Remember, your interface may be called something other than fw0 such as fw1. Press CTRL-X when you are finished and it Pico will prompt you to save:

Save modified buffer (ANSWERING "No" WILL DESTROY CHANGES) ?                                                                
 Y Yes
 N No           ^C Cancel

Press "Y" to save and you should be good to go. Give your box a quick reboot and just make sure that everything works.

By: Ron Pelley

Ron Pelley — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well, that was quick. Thanks so much. I edited it as you suggested. There was one extra step at the end which seemed to invite me to rename the file, but I just hit return and it saved. I restarted, the file looks like it should (I think the formatting is a little different, as the #disable fw0 is not indented) and the VPN still comes up OK. However, when I do an ifconfig -a I see that FW0 is still there and has an IP address. What’s up with that?

By: Chris Barber

Chris Barber — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When you run ifconfig, just make sure that the fw0's flags = 8822:

fw0: flags=8822 mtu 2030
        inet 169.254.107.94 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 169.254.255.255
        lladdr 00:19:e3:ff:fe:69:37:c4 
        media: autoselect  status: inactive
        supported media: autoselect

By: Ron Pelley

Ron Pelley — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

fw:0 flags=8822

So I gues I’m all set.
Thanks

By: Geoff Smyth

Geoff Smyth — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thankyou very much for this fix, was doing my head in.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi,
I just wanted to thank you for this detailed blog. It was very easy to follow and allowed me to upgrade to 3.0 without a hitch.
Greg

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am still not able to get this to work. What are your network settings in Parallels? I am using Bridge mode, but I have tried the others. Thanks!

By: Chris Barber

Chris Barber — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I personally do shared networking because I want to be able to have my Mac talk to my VMs and vice versa when I don’t have Internet access.

I have run bridge mode, but that was before I installed Parallels 3.0.