FortiClient VPN - Stuck on "Connecting"

[JPL-Safari]

Installing 7.4.0.1658 on two different Windows 11 (Dell Vostro and Dell Inspiron) Laptops.  Both laptops were Wiped and Prepped with the same Windows 11 23H2 Pro OS and are set up using very basic Intune Profiles (Intune barely does anything).

The VPN Client, when launched, only goes as far as "Connecting".  It never times out and appears as if its stuck.  

Are there any Windows Settings I should be looking at which would impact the clients ability to establish a connection?  Logs dont appear to show anything indicating the VPN is even attempting to connect.

[RomanPalmieri]

Good afternoon, to fix this, you must install the Visual C++ 2015-2022 libraries.

https://learn.microsoft.com/es-es/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

Architecture Bond Version

X86	12.0.40664.0	vcredist_x86.exe
X64	12.0.40664.0	vcredist_x64.exe

Then open it from C:\Program Files\Fortinet\FortiClient\FortiTray.exe 
and mark as new the connection.

Regards.

[johnsonjame]

The FortiTray.exe app is missing a .dll file. That why it's stuck on Connecting.

Download and install the 2 Visual Studio Redistributables from this topic: DLL files missing after Windows 11 update - Microsoft Community

After that your FortiClient should be working again.

[w3tech]

I ran into a very similar issue with FortiClient 7.4.0 on fresh windows 11 installs. The client would get stuck at “Connecting” and logs didn’t show any connection attempts.

What helped me was first running FortiClient as Administrator and checking that the FortiClient Service was actually running. I also made sure the firewall allowed FortiClient and updated the network drivers on the machines. On some setups, reinstalling the client and letting it repair the TAP adapter fixed it.

If you’ve already tried all of that, sometimes using an earlier version of FortiClient can bypass Windows 11 23H2 quirks.