Forticlient VPN 7.4 never connects

[pfournier]

Forticlient VPN 7.2.3 works just fine, but 7.4 just gets stuck on 'connecting' no matter what I change in the settings. 

Is there a fix for this beyond just going with an older version? It doesn't seem to matter whether I upgrade an existing 7.2.3 install or if I install fresh.

Update with Fix: Per this post Fix for FortiClient VPN app being stuck at "Connec... - Fortinet Community the fix is to install the Visual Studio Redistributables from this link https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/dll-files-missing-after-windows-11-update/d9b0...

After installing this the issue is resolved.

[jsauer]

The typical issue I have had with Forticlient not connecting is IPv6 being active on the interface you're using. If it's a wireless connection, disable IPv6 for that connection and try again. If it's wired, deactivate it there and see if it works.

[pfournier]

I tried this, it did not help. 

[Dachrixkross]

It's an SSL or IPSEC vpn?

Any log or indicator?

[pfournier]

SSL, using SSO, external browser for authentication (though it doesn't get that far, and disabling both these options does not change the behaviour) 

Where do you get the connection logs? Even changing the level to debug the logs only seem to show the install/update status and nothing about connection errors

[FortiNole]

There is a bug in 7.2.4 that causes this.  There is a version that corrects this issue.  7.2.4.6880

[pfournier]

The version on their website is 7.4 though, not 7.2.4

[wcmichael]

@FortiNole is right on the money. I had to reach out to the TAC, they emailed me a "Special Build" that fixed the SAML authentication problems for us. I uploaded the special build to our EMS server and deployed to my clients that way.

[HuijzerL]

I'm a bit confused. The original post mentions upgrading to version 7.4 not to version 7.2.4. We too experience the 'stuck on connecting' with FortiClient version 7.4.0.1658 on some of our laptops.

Is a special build you mention available for 7.4.0 or is the special build only for 7.2.4?

[Brandon1]

We also ran into this issue. Unfortunately, the only fix was reverting back to 7.0.3 as any of the 7.2 versions were causing the same issue.