Eureka! I got VPN working in Ubuntu!

Cisco VPN settings

For months I have been trying to get a Cisco VPN connection working with the NetworkManager applet in Ubuntu with no success.

I’ve had to resort to using a Bash script that connects using the vpnc command line utility, and then using sed to manipulate the /etc/resolv.conf file so I can use both my name servers and the VPN name servers. This works okay, but things get wonky several times a day forcing me to disconnect/reconnect.

Well, I finally got it working the right way. How did I do it? Sorry, not really sure. It definitely had something to do with the gnome keyring though.

This may be what made it finally work, but no guarantees:

• Make sure you have the required software (some of this may not be needed, but it won’t hurt anything to have it installed): sudo apt-get install network-manager-vpnc network-manager-vpnc-gnome vpnc
• Open your VPN connection settings (right click on NetworkManager icon, click Edit Connections, click VPN tab, click your VPN connection then click Edit). Check the “Available to all users” box at the bottom, then click Apply. Close all the NetworkManager windows. Go back to your VPN connection settings, and uncheck the “Available to all users” box and click Apply. Try connecting to your VPN.