Technical Tip: How to enable debug log in FortiClient

Description

This article explains how to enable debug logging in FortiClient.

Scope

FortiClient.

Solution

To enable debug logging in FortiClient:

1. Open FortiClient.

2. Go to Settings.
   
   

3. Under Logging, set Log Level to Debug, as shown below:
   
   

4. Click "Export Logs" and save the logs to a location of your choice.

For FortiClient Free versions, if the Log Level option is greyed out, select the lock icon in the top-right corner to unlock the settings before changing the debug level.

Note:

Proposals cannot be changed unless an EMS licence is acquired.

For FortiClient that are managed through EMS, the logs can be collected from the EMS portal by following these steps:

1. Configuring and collecting Endpoint Debug logs under EMS -> Endpoint Profile, select Edit -> System Settings, use Advanced instead of Basic settings -> Log Level -> Change 'info' to 'debug and select all features.

2. Reproduce the problem.

3. Go under FortiClient -> Section 'About' -> Diagnostic Tool, check everything, run Diagnostic Tool, and the output file should have '.cab' or '.zip' extension, usually present in '%temp%\Diagnostic_Result'.

4. Reverting configuration under EMS -> Endpoint Profile, select Edit -> System Settings, use Advanced instead of Basic settings -> Log Level, change 'debug' to 'info' and deselect features not needed (or all of them).

Related article:

Technical Tip: How to collect diagnostic logs from EMS and FortiClient for troubleshooting