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SkepticSensei
SkepticSensei
Explorer
February 15, 2022
Question

Possibe Solution/Work around for Win11 VPN not connecting

  • February 15, 2022
  • 11 replies
  • 24546 views

Good afternoon everyone!

 

Came across an issue today and I think I found the problem, and a work around solution.

A few people I have seen have this issue, so I wanted to post my results in case anyone else needs them.

 

Original Issue: Forticlient (ipsec) VPN not connecting on Windows 11

 

After some troubleshooting, I found that the VPN would work only over Wifi and not via Ethernet.

I then tested a USB to Ethernet adapter, and it was able to work.
So I narrowed the issue down to the onboard Ethernet driver.
Driver was up to date, so I did the typical uninstall/reinstall, Did not work.
However I knew my Windows 10 machines worked flawlessly.

 

Solution: I was on Realtek driver version 1168, So I decided to try downgrading the Wifi driver to 10.54.
That fixed the issue.

 

It seems the problem is related to the newest Realtek Ethernet drivers, at least it was for me.
I don't know if other brands have the issue too.

 

I wanted to get this information out there for anyone who needs it, and so Fortinet can be made aware of the issue to look into Driver compatibility problems.

 

If you have this issue, and this resolves it for you, please let me know, I am curious to see if this fixes for everyone with the issue.

Thanks!

 

    11 replies

    AlexC-FTNT
    Staff
    AlexC-FTNT
    Staff
    February 16, 2022

    Thank you as well! Good spotting!

      css-support
      css-support
      New Member
      April 27, 2022

      I am currently having the same exact issue along with a couple of users that use lenovo laptops that have the realtek drivers.  Great find!!!!!

        RomanSharkDJ
        RomanSharkDJ
        Explorer
        May 31, 2022

        I just registered to also confirm the issue is real, and happens in HP Gaming laptops as well, with Realtek Gaming Gbpe Ethernet Devices, which Windows 11 seems to force updating in Windows Update using "Realtek - Net - 1.0.0.23 (Driver Update)", then we need to revert back every time to previous driver (the one from HP supports download page which is SP111133 for me at least, owning a HP Pavillion Gaming 16-a0033ns). Hope this helps someone too and that this issue is fixed! It seems this is not happening in Windows 10, so W10 with latest Realtek drivers seems to be working, the issue is only in W11! (so strange btw)...

          goneriding
          goneriding
          Explorer
          October 26, 2022

          I can confirm that a Realtek USB ethernet adapter was also causing a problem.

          I tried another USB ethernet adapter and it worked and was using ASIX AX88179 driver.

          I am using a Dell WD19s docking station.  After reading this I tried updating to a newer driver version 8/23/2022 1153.9.823.2022 and it does not work.  In Device Manager I Uninstalled the device and deleted the driver.  Then refreshed devices and windows installed a driver version 4/19/2022 10.52.418.2022.  The VPN will now connect. 

          After this I tried updating the driver again just to see if it would break again and it did.  I rolled the driver back and now it works.  

          BillWabo
          BillWabo
          Visitor III
          January 10, 2023

          Windows 11 with the last Realtek Gaming 2.5 Gbpe Ethernet Devices driver is having the problem only with VPN IPSEC, that is working only with vpnssl. Installing the lastest driver for windows 10 fix the problem with IPSEC.

            BillWabo
            BillWabo
            Visitor III
            January 26, 2023

            Fortinet know the problem.

             

            Fortinet Answer: "...there will be no fix from the forticlient side as this is not a forticlient issue.This issue is with Realtek drivers and a drivers update might fix the issue.To avoid this issue, try not to use the latest Realtek driver, it has the bug, just use the driver that comes with Windows and that should work."

             

            There is a new Driver from Realtek 2023/02/24 version 124.011 , 1125.011 , 1166.011 , 1168.011 and it's not fixed.

             

            I tried to contact Realtek about it... no answer...So good luck to reach Realtek about it!

             

            Windows 10 driver on windows 11 works fine.

            kimrdk
            kimrdk
            New Member
            May 4, 2023

            Try FortiClient 7.0.2.

            Just had same issue, downgrading Realtek driver still didn't work. But this version worked on Windows 11.

            RomanSharkDJ
            RomanSharkDJ
            Explorer
            May 4, 2023

            Thanks! But I'm using current latest Forticlient VPN version 7.0.8.0427... any ideas where to get the installer for VPN version 7.0.2? I cannot find anywhere... :( so the only workaround for me is to keep using previous realtek drivers from HP drivers download page (not windows update latest version).

            kimrdk
            kimrdk
            New Member
            May 4, 2023

            It's on the support site https://support.fortinet.com/Download/FirmwareImages.aspx

              TheAdept
              TheAdept
              New Member
              June 29, 2023

              I have had great success resolving this issue with the Realtek driver version 10.59.20.420 downloaded directly from Realtek https://www.realtek.com/en/downloads

              Hope this helps others.

                RomanSharkDJ
                RomanSharkDJ
                Explorer
                July 8, 2023

                Thank you! I've had to download WIN10 Driver instead of WIN11 driver from Realtek Website in order to make it work, because Win11 driver version still has the same issue, but it was version 10.65 (win10 Auto Install NDIS download from realtek website) still works and it's newer than my HP driver from HP support website for my laptop. Thank you!

                parteeksharma
                Staff
                parteeksharma
                Staff
                July 8, 2023

                Dear SkepticSensei,
                Thankyou for providing the information at this portal. Hope this information would be helpful for other users who are using the latest Realtek driver version 1168.

                Regards,
                Parteek

                jdoyon
                jdoyon
                Visitor III
                August 15, 2023

                Can we have details on the precise bug affecting the RealTek driver?

                 

                We are enterprise customers of Dell, which uses this chipset accross various pieces of equipment and redistributes the drivers. Although RealTek might not pay close attention, I wonder if I could bring this up to Dell instead, maybe they could see about getting this fixed or providing a workaround.

                 

                Thanks

                proxysteel
                proxysteel
                New Member
                October 26, 2023

                I'm also seeing this issue and reached out to Realtek support who have been very helpful.

                They have requested various logs which I have provided, so hopefully they can use this information to establish the root cause and possibly develop a new version of the driver which works with Forticlient.

                I have a workaround for the Windows 11 driver version which is to set the driver architecture to NDIS in the registry:

                1) Find the driver service key : Device Manager > Network Adapters > Realtek USB GbE Family Controller > Properties > Details > Change drop down to 'Service' and note down the value.

                2) In registry : "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\*driver service key value*\Parameters" - configure DrvNetArch to 0 which changes the architecture from NetAdapterCx to NDIS.

                3) Reboot to apply change

                  RomanSharkDJ
                  RomanSharkDJ
                  Explorer
                  October 26, 2023

                  Thank you! I was just trying your solution using the updated driver that Windows 11 installs from Windows Update, but that "DrvNetArch" does not appear in my device registry:

                   

                  Clipboard01.jpg

                   

                  so I added it manually (create DWORD, set DrvNetArch as name, then set value to 0) and now I am restarting to see if the solution works.


                  EDIT: Nope, it doesn't work :( By creating manually that registry DWORD doesn't connect, same error as before (VPN failed error message). I have installed driver version 1168.13.424.2023 from Windows 11 Update (auto-updated by selecting devide > search for driver updates), so I'm reverting once again to the driver version I know it works (until windows decides to update it one more time haha).

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