Viscosity stuck at creating connection, doesn't quit

Got a problem with Viscosity or need help? Ask here!

mjb

Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 7:00 pm

Post by mjb » Tue May 31, 2011 7:08 pm
Hi all,

I installed viscosity (v1.2) on my Windows Professional XP machine. Installation went fine. Next thing I did was import a connection (ovpn file). I get the confirmation dialog that the import was successful. However, it keeps on saying "creating..." next to the connection, and when I click on the viscosity icon, it doesn't allow me to connect to the new connection (also says creating there).

Also, it's not possible to quit viscosity properly. The icon disappears but two processes are still running in the background. I have to kill viscosity.exe manually, otherwise I can't restart the application.

As soon as I have managed to restart viscosity (using the above kill trick), the created connection is there in the list. However, viscosity gets stuck at connecting (in the log it says it wants to create a network adapter for this connection, but nothing happens).

I installed viscosity under admin account, now running as normal user. I can reproduce the issues of being stuck at creating/connecting and not being able to quit as admin also. Tried this several times (also with fresh viscosity installation), same result. Using the Mac version of viscosity, all is fine with the same imported connection.

Any ideas of what could be wrong?
Thanks!
mjb

Eric

User avatar
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:27 am

Post by Eric » Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:07 pm
Hi mjb,

It's getting stuck trying to create a network adapter for that connection. When Viscosity was installed, did you click "Continue Anyway" to the prompt asking to install the drivers for the Viscosity Virtual Adapter?

Then when you go to quit, Viscosity waits to make sure everything closes down and finishes properly (connections disconnect safely, etc). If it's getting stuck creating an adapter, it will not close.

Are you receiving any error messages from Windows popping up when you create a connection? After waiting for at least 30 seconds, do you see any "Viscosity Virtual Adapter V9" connections appear in your Network Connections list (Start->Control Panel->Network Connections".

Could you try going to C:\Program Files\Viscosity\Resources and double click on "InstallViscosityDrivers" to run it and let us know what happens? Hopefully that will throw a meaningful error to why the adapter can't be installed. If you see no errors, it should create a new Viscosity adapter in your Network Connections list.

Also, are you running a 32 or 64bit copy of Windows XP?

Cheers,

Eric
Eric Thorpe
Viscosity Developer

Web: http://www.sparklabs.com
Support: http://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sparklabs

mjb

Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 7:00 pm

Post by mjb » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:59 pm
Hi Eric,

thanks for your detailed answer. I'll try to answer your questions:

I don't remember Viscosity asking to install drivers during the installation - also, there are no new network adapters in my network panel. I can verify this later be reinstalling Viscosity if required.

I never received any error message from Windows. I also never see the "Viscosity Virtual Adapter V9" appearing.

Running "InstallViscosityDrivers.exe" actually worked - I don't get any window or message during the process but some network connection symbos in the notification area of the taskbar appeared. Checking the network connections shows that the Viscosity virtual adapter is there now...

When I run Viscosity after this, it still keeps saying "No associated network adapter was found, creating one." Then, nothing happens. In the taskbar, the newly created Viscosity network adapter still says "A network cable is unplugged". Viscosity keeps being stuck at this process and it won't close properly.

I'm running a 32-bit copy of Windows XP professional, version 2002, service pack 3.

I have the following software installed on my computer that might interfere with Viscosity. This might help solving the puzzle.

- Astaro SSL VPN client (the [sluggy&buggy] VPN app I'm using now. It has its own network adapter associated.)
- F-Secure Client security (managed centrally in our company)
- I'm on a Thinkpad with ThinkVantage Access Connections running

Thanks for your help! Happy if I can help solving this.
mjb

Eric

User avatar
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:27 am

Post by Eric » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:24 pm
Thanks for the reply, mjb.

Can I get you to edit the connection you are trying to use, go to the Advanced tab, and tick the box that says "Don't create a network adapter for this connection". The connection will then use the adapter created before when you ran that test program.

Click save then try to connect your connection. Let us know how that goes.

Cheers,

Eric.
Eric Thorpe
Viscosity Developer

Web: http://www.sparklabs.com
Support: http://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sparklabs

mjb

Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 7:00 pm

Post by mjb » Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:50 pm
Hi Eric,

just did what you said - ticked "Don't create a network adapter for this connection" in the advanced tab. When I try to connect now, I get the following log messages:

Checking reachability status of connection...
Connection is reachable. Starting connection attempt.


But then nothing happens (I stopped it after 5 minutes). Sorry to say it still doesn't work.

Also, I made the following observation. If I exit viscosity ( = viscosity disappearing from taskbar but still running in the background) and change the network I'm using (e.g. by unplugging ethernet and switching to WLAN), viscosity crashes. Windows then pops up with the following error report (this is the error signature only, I can't copy paste the full log):

Event Type: clr20r3 P1: viscosity.exe P2: 1.2.0.0 P3: 4dd25de6 P4: system.windows.forms P5: 4.0.0.0 P6: 4aba1e14e P7: 939 P8: 17 P9: system.invalidoperationexception

Don't know if this helps.
mjb

Eric

User avatar
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:27 am

Post by Eric » Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:05 pm
Hi mjb,

There is something either stopping the Viscosity Service from running, or blocking communication to it. Do you get a notice when you start Viscosity that it is unable to communicate with the service?

Can you try turning off any firewalls or anti virus software you have running and try again.

Also, can you go to Start->Control Panel, go to Administrative Tools, then go to Services, and ensure that "Viscosity Service" has it's status listed as "Started". If it doesn't, right click it and select "Start", otherwise, right click it and select "Restart", then try using Viscosity again.

Also, could you let us know what (if any) other security software you are running, as it is the most likely cause of the problems. You may prefer to do this via our support email located at the bottom of this page - http://www.thesparklabs.com/support/.

I will have a look into the software you mentioned above and see if I can replicate the issue with any of them.

Cheers,

Eric
Eric Thorpe
Viscosity Developer

Web: http://www.sparklabs.com
Support: http://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sparklabs

matt.wasserman

Posts: 14
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 9:41 pm

Post by matt.wasserman » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:59 pm
I had the exact same problem on Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit. Trying to get Viscosity to connect to VPN on login. Made some progress with it, Viscosity now starts and can connect every time, but does not log into the VPN automatically, icon goes directly to disconnected. But here's what I did.

Uninstalled Viscosity, and deleted the Viscosity directory, followed by reboot.
Reinstalled Viscosity.
Ran the utility to install Viscosity drivers.
Opened Viscosity.
Created a new connection from scratch - importing from the .ovpn file creates a network adapter (or so it appears) and you don't want it to do that. So make sure you know all your settings before you start.
Told new connection not to create a network adapter.

After that, everything works except for automatically connecting to VPN when Viscosity starts.

If I can get through the last step here, this would be a pretty big win for us - the OpenVPN GUI is not the most user friendly client. Any thoughts on why it won't automatically connect?

Thanks
Matt

James

User avatar
Posts: 2313
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:47 pm
Hi Matt,

I'll leave it to Eric to look into why you had to go to all that trouble to be able connect properly (I'm the Mac guy), as you certainly shouldn't have to go to such lengths.

However there is a bug in the current stable release (1.2.0) of Viscosity for Windows that prevents the "Connect at startup" option from working in many cases. This has been fixed in the latest beta release, which you're welcome download from here.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs

matt.wasserman

Posts: 14
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 9:41 pm

Post by matt.wasserman » Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:48 am
Works. Awesome. Thanks.

Now, is there a way to use my 50 seat license for Mac to license the Windows version?

James

User avatar
Posts: 2313
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:46 pm
Hi Matt,

Shoot us an email ([email protected]) with your requirements and we'll get some more licensing information sent your way.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs
32 posts Page 1 of 4