VPN client licensing (Forticlient)

[cbraxton]

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.

[Toshi_Esumi]

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.

[cbraxton]

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]

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]

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.

[lucas_h_]

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!