Help with FortiClient VPN on New Laptops

EDIT: Just want to let everyone know the problem is fixed thanks to @flatland99. The fix was installing Visual C++ 2015-2022. I thought it was already installed, but turns out it wasn’t. Thanks everyone!

Hi everyone,

We are getting new laptops to replace the old ones and I can’t get FortiClient VPN to work properly. I am using version 7.4.1.1736, but I have also tried older versions. The client is not showing any errors in the logs and doesn’t time out, it just stays stuck on the connection screen. When I try to disconnect, it gets stuck on the “disconnecting” message and won’t close the session. Also, our FortiGate is not showing any connection attempts in its logs that I can find. All the settings are correct. I checked the NIC drivers and tried several versions with no luck. I’m really confused since there are no logs to help me figure this out. Any ideas or help would be awesome.

Have you checked if the Visual C++ 2015-2022 runtime is installed? I had a similar problem, and I found a post that said these were needed. That fixed my issue. Another sign of trouble is if the FortiTray icon doesn’t show in the tray.

@Vivian
This worked! Thank you so much!

@Vivian
I will try this on Thursday. Hope it works!

FortiClient is pretty problematic these days, honestly. For us, version 7.2.3 works well with both SSL VPN and ZTNA. The newer versions have had some strange issues.

I had this issue with the 7.4 version of FortiClient VPN. I went back to 7.2.5 and now it works well.

I’ve had issues with Lenovo laptops in the past too. They seem to work fine with 7.4.1 but had problems with 7.2.5. Not sure if this helps. If you’re using the paid version, you might want to open a support case.

@Zem
We are changing to ThinkPads, so I guess we’re in the same boat. I’ll try 7.2. Thanks for the tip!

It’s been a mess with Forti. We wanted to update because of the recent CVE threats, testing 7.4.1. Some connections work, some don’t without any errors. Now we’re going back to 7.0.10! It still works fine. Why is this so complicated?

@Adler
Yeah, we want to update because of the CVE too, but I guess we have to accept the risk.

Terry said:
@Adler
Yeah, we want to update because of the CVE too, but I guess we have to accept the risk.

Yeah, maybe we’ll just accept it too.

That’s odd. I just updated everyone in the office to 7.4.1.1736 and had no problems, except it doesn’t keep the user ID. I also set up two new laptops with Windows 11, and they worked fine.