VPN Client for Vista using Parallels

A recent client needed me to run some Windows-only software from their network. Since I have my lovely new MacBook with Parallels and Vista installed, I thought this should be no problem.

Famous last words.

Actually it wasn’t so bad. I don’t actively hate Vista, at least not since it is held captive in my MacBook. The problem was that I needed to connect to the client’s LAN using a Cisco VPN client and Vista didn’t like that software one bit. It would simply fail with no explanation or logging every time.

I found a solution, or at least a thread discussing possible solutions at Bill Evjen’s Blog and I crossed my fingers.

It worked

The short version of the sequence that worked for me is:

• Install preconfigured VPN client 5.0.00.14 from company. Try to connect, fail. But, this put the connection settings in the registry.
• Uninstall the client, reboot
• Install the 5.0.00.340 version available from rapidshare. Reboot.
• Give it a run and think positive thoughts. It worked for me using the UDP connection type.

[tags]vpn,parallels,vista,cisco-vpn[/tags]

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