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cbraxton
New Contributor

VPN client licensing (Forticlient)

We have a Fortigate 30E installed about a year and a half ago for VPN access. Is there currently a basic VPN client available that is free? We are not using any of the subscription or management services. However when installing, running, and connecting with the latest Forticlient version 6.x a message comes up that VPN access is only available free for 3 days after which a license must be purchased. (This was not the case with our earlier installations of Forticlient 5.x.)

 

I found a 2014 post here saying a free SSL VPN client is available through the Fortinet FTP site but that appears no longer to be the case, at least ftp.fortinet.com doesn't come up.  Is the free VPN-only client still available? This would primarily be for Windows, but a Mac version would be good to have as well if available.

17 REPLIES 17
Toshi_Esumi
Esteemed Contributor III

FortiClient itself has always been free for download:

https://www.forticlient.com/downloads

Currently they offer both 6.2 and 6.0. I never tried 6.2 yet.

If you don't want anything else but VPN, you just need to choose "Only VPN" when you're asked while installing it.

orani

Toshi Esumi is right. For VPN connections there was always a free client. You only need a license if you want this client have more features like antivirus and some more.

Orestis Nikolaidis

Network Engineer/IT Administrator

Orestis Nikolaidis Network Engineer/IT Administrator
cbraxton
New Contributor

I thought that was the case, but last weekend I was working on installing the VPN client on a Mac and it kept insisting that it would only work for 3 days without a license. We tried both the full client and VPN-only client. As a workaround we wound up adding a Cisco-style VPN to the Fortigate and using the built-in Mac VPN client.

 

However yesterday I downloaded and installed the Windows VPN-only client from forticlient.com and did not have any issues. (Just an annoying banner saying to upgrade to the full version.) Not sure what was going on with the Mac.

thelatinist
New Contributor

I'm having the same issue.  I installed the VPN-only client, but I'm receiving the following message on the login page:

 

Please connect to Endpoint Management Server (EMS) for license activation. Unlicensed VPN access is available until Aug 17, 2019 11:40:48 PM

Anyone have any ideas?

cbraxton

Was that with Windows, or a Mac? Maybe it's a problem with the Mac VPN client? As I mentioned the Windows version seems to be working as expected. I don't currently have a Mac available to retry the VPN client on that platform.

 

smari
New Contributor

I'm getting the same message on my mac, must be a recent change since I had 6.2 installed, no licence activation needed.

Uninstalled the 6.2, installed 6.0 ( for some poc I'm doing ).

Fetched the new client again from forticlient.com and now I'm getting the message :

Please connect to Endpoint Management Server (EMS) for license activation. Unlicensed VPN access is available until Aug 30, 2019 10:45:32 .

Guess I'm going back to 6.0.

NSE7, FMG, FAC, FAZ .

1500D's, 1200D's, 900D's, 300D's, 200D's, 100D's and bunch of small stuff.

 

NSE7, FMG, FAC, FAZ . 1500D's, 1200D's, 900D's, 300D's, 200D's, 100D's and bunch of small stuff.
lucas_h_
New Contributor

Just wondering, has this somehow been resolved? A lot of my colleagues are getting the same error message, and I am trying to fix this.

peter123

I get this error too. But I use only the FortiClient only VPN.

lucas_h_

You have to use the 6.0 version of Forticlient, that's what worked for me at least.

Follow this link and download Version 6.0 on the lower half of the page: https://forticlient.com/downloads

 

Hope this helps!

 

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