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IT Services

VPN Software for Mac

Note - The VPN software to download below is under licence to the University of Manchester. Please do not distribute it by any other means other than referring other staff or students of the University to use this website.

 

Installing the VPN software requires you to download two things, the software and the accompanying profile.

For users running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion), wishing to use the inbuilt VPN client, please scroll to the end of this page for instructions.

 

Step 1

You need to download the correct version of the software. Please see below:

For OS X 10.2 - 10.3.x - use client 4.8
For OS X 10.4 PPC - use client 4.8 or 4.9
For OS X 10.4 and above Intel - use client 4.9
For OS X 10.7 - the Cisco 4.9 client will only work when the machine is force-booted into 32bit mode. Alternatively, use the inbuilt client (see bottom of page)

and all users must:

Remember to note the location of where the files are being saved so that you can find the folder again (it might be useful to save it to your desktop).

Step 2

Step 3

  1. Go to where you have downloaded/saved the VPN software.
  2. Depending on your configuration, there will either be one or two icons. If there are two icons, your computer has automatically decompressed the downloaded file. If not, you will need to do this manually by double-clicking on it.
  3. Double-click on the file named Cisco VPN to start the installation.
  4. You will be prompted with a screen that says you need an administrator password to install the software. Click on the lock icon, and type your administrator password.
  5. Click Next.
  6. On the next few screens, you will be asked various installation questions. The defaults should be fine unless you have a specific place in mind to which you want the application installed.
  7. After you have indicated your installation choices, a window should appear, summarizing these installation choices. Click Previous to make changes or Install to complete the installation. The install process takes around 3-5 minutes to complete fully. When the installation process has completed, you will need to click Done.
  8. Open Finder, go to Applications and double-click VPN Client
  9. From the 'Connection Entries' menu select 'Import'...
  10. Find the folder where you downloaded the files and select the VPN profile called MacUsers.pcf
  11. The process is now complete.

If you have problems with the latest release of 4.9 you can download the previous version of 4.9 if necessary.

Snow Leopard/Lion Inbuilt Client

Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion) have an inbuilt VPN client which can be configured to operate with our VPN system:

  1. Open 'System Preferences' and select 'Network'
  2. Click on the '+' icon, above the padlock
  3. From the drop-down lists select:
    1. Interface: VPN
    2. VPN type: Cisco IPSec
    3. Service name: UoM VPN
  4. Click 'Create'
  5. Now configure the following settings:
    1. Server address: vpn-gateway.mcc.ac.uk
    2. Account name: your central services username
    3. Password: your password (or leave blank to be prompted each time you connect)
  6. Click the authentication button and enter the following settings:
    1. Shared secret: r3nny
    2. Group name: macintosh
  7. Select 'show vpn status in menu bar' for easy access (optional)
  8. Click connect

 

PLEASE NOTE: the instructions above (for snow leopard and lion) are known to work, but it is a completely unsupported service. University IT service desks cannot provide assistance in further troubleshooting.

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