Ubuntu's forticlient has expired

[pablo-yanez]

Hi

A customer of mine grants me access to his network using forticlient.

I installed the Ubuntu version using the official repos from here https://www.fortinet.com/support/product-downloads/linux

Now I'm getting this error message

FortiClient SSLVPN is unavailable: FortiClient VPN trial has expired.
Please contact your administrator or connect to EMS for license activation.

Looking in other threads (https://community.fortinet.com/t5/Support-Forum/Forticlient-free-version-expires/m-p/231) that I need the "FortiClient VPN" only. However I don't know how to get that.

I've found this article https://docs.fortinet.com/document/forticlient/7.2.2/administration-guide/666761/linux but I'm not sure how to get any of these files.

I'm able to log in support.fortinet.com, but if I go to Firmware downloads, I only see a blank list and the error message Sorry, you don't have any product covered by a Fortinet support contract.

Where do I get the FortiClient VPN for linux so that I don't have to reinstall it all the time this error message appears?

This KB article https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiClient/Technical-Tip-How-to-install-FortiClient-on-Ubuntu-22-... says

Ensure FortiClient is downloaded through the Fortinet Support Portal, support.fortinet.com.

But, how can I "ensure" that?

Thanks

[AEK · Accepted solution]

Hi Pablo

That's because you downloaded the commercial version (license needed).

The free version will not expire. You can download it from this link:

https://www.fortinet.com/support/product-downloads#vpn

Under the "FortiClient VPN-only" section, click the "DOWNLOAD VPN for Linux .deb" button.

[pablo-yanez]

Thanks for the link, I've installed it.

Too bad that this pages https://www.fortinet.com/support/product-downloads/linux doesn't make it clear that this applies to the commercial version only.

If someone from Fortinet is reading this thread, it would be good to make that clear on the link mentioned above and also to add a link to "FortiClient VPN"-only page.

Thanks.

[AEK]

Actually there are to products:

• "FortiClient" is the commercial version that needs license
• "FortiClient VPN" is the free version

On the page you shared is just FortiClient.

[pablo-yanez]

Yes, I get it now. My customer told me I need FortiClient to access his network. I hadn't heard about FortiClient before, so the first thing I did was to google "FortiClient linux" and went to the mentioned page above.

I was not aware that these are two different products. Like I said, a small "Note: this is the commercial version, for the free version go here" would be nice.