Having problem with Stormshield SSL VPN client? I solved it

 In this post I write about some problems with installing and using Stormshield Vpn Client under Windows systems.

I finished 3-days training "Stormshield Network Administrator". This training was executed in formula: "bring your own laptop". We should have installed vpn client at least 1 day before training to avoid wasting time during training. I did it, but it wasn't enough.

First problem occured when I tried to connect with provided vpn login and password. I got a message: unexpected errors occured. I saw a screen from vpn client saying that the client is trying to authentificate, reconnecting, assigning IP address. And that's all, every time it was unsuccessfull. Then I read producer's requirements more detailed. I had had OpenVpn gui client on my laptop, producer recommended to uninstall it before installing SSL Vpn client. I did it and it was a mistake. I tried uninstalling SSL Vpn client and installing again and I saw one error-installing tap interface failed. That was the right tip! After installation Stormshield client, my tap interface didn't exist. But it wasn't so easy. I installed Stormshield client and had still errors. Then I got smart idea-why not to install OpenVpn client, so that it was working before. Here you should first uninstall Stormshield client and than choose installing Stormshield client with custom installation. In the options uncheck Windows tun interface, leave only tap interface. Uncheck also OpenVpn gui client. When you finish the installation, then install Stormshield client and try to sign in to vpn with provided server address, login and password. In my case it worked, but after a few hours I spotted next error. When my computer got sleep and after waking up again, vpn connection didn't work. So I repeated all the above steps and it worked again. But in this case my recommendation is not to hibernate or sleep your computer during training or at lease, manually disconnect from vpn service when you are going to sleep your computer. Repair package on windows tap interface you can find here.

Another tip may be useful. Stormshield client works only under Windows. Try to unpack the msi package with 7 zip for example and you will see openvpn app, server and client certificates and few more things. If you can create your own ovpn file and put authorisation details to txt file (login, password), it is possible to sign in to vpn server from Linux.