Vpn Establishment Capability From A Remote Desktop Is Disabled

Cisco AnyConnect - VPN Establishment Capability from a Remote Desktop is Disabled ryan I ran into this issue this morning when attempting to setup a VPN on a Hyper-V virtual machine. VPN Establishment capability from a Remote Desktop is disabled. A VPN Connection will not be established. Solution: By default, VPN establishment capability is disabled once you remote into a remote desktop session. To enable Cisco Anyconnect VPN through a remote desktop you must first create an Anyconnect Client Profile.

KB ID 0000546

Problem

If you connect to to a client via RDP then try and run the AnyConnect client, you will see one of these errors;

VPN establishment capability for a remote user is disabled. A VPN connection will not be established

VPN establishment capability from a Remote Desktop is disabled. A VPN connection will not be established

This, behaviour is default, and despite me trawling the internet to find a solution (most posts quote changing the local AnyConnectProfile.tmpl file, this file does not exist using Version 3 (I was using v 3.0.4235).

Update: With Early versions of AnyConnect version 4 it does not tell you what’s wrong, the VPN appears to connect and then disconnect quickly. If you have debugging on the firewall you will see the following;

Vpn remote desktop not working

Profile settings do not allow VPN initiation from a remote desktop.

Note: This is fixed in version 4.8 and you will se the error at the top of the page.

Solution

To solve this problem we need to create an AnyConnect profile, load the profile into the firewall, then associate that profile with your AnyConnect group policy. With modern versions of AnyConnect you can do that in the ASDM. With older versions you need to use the stand alone profile editor (see below)

Edit AnyConnect Profile With ASDM

Connect to the ADSM > Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Network Client remote Access > AnyConnect Client Profile.

Give the profile a name > Select a group policy to apply it to > OK.

AllowRemoteUsers: Lets remote users bring up the VPN, if this forces routing to disconnect you, it will auto terminate the VPN.

SingleLocalLogon: Allows multiple remote logons but only one local logon.

OR (older versions)

Apply the changes, and then save to the running configuration.

Edit AnyConnect Profile With Stand-Alone Profile Editor

1. First download the AnyConnect Profile Editor from Cisco. (Note: You will need a valid CCO account and a registered support agreement/SmartNet).

Update: The AnyConnect Profile Editor is now built into the ADSM, it becomes available once you have enabled any AnyConnect image. Once you have a profile created you can skip straight to step 3, and skip all the other steps.

If you cannot download the software here’s a profile (I’ve already created) you can use. If you are going to use this, jump to step 5.

2. Once you have installed the profile editor, launch the “VPN Profile Editor”.

3. The setting we want is listed under Windows VPN Establishment, and needs setting to “AllowRemoteUsers”, In addition I’m going to set Windows Logon Enforcement to “SingleLocalLogon”.

AllowRemoteUsers: Lets remote users bring up the VPN, if this forces routing to disconnect you, it will auto terminate the VPN.

Vpn Establishment Capability From A Remote Desktop Is Disabled Hyper-v

SingleLocalLogon: Allows multiple remote logons but only one local logon.

4. Save the profile somewhere you can locate it quickly.

5. Connect to the firewalls ASDM > Tools > File Management > File Transfer > Between Local PC and Flash.

6. Browse your local PC for the profile you created earlier > Hit the “Right Arrow” to upload it > This can take a few minutes, depending on your proximity to the firewall.

7. Make sure the file uploads correctly > Close.

8. To associate this profile with your AnyConnect//SSL Group Policy, click Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Network (Client) Access > Group Policies > Locate the policy in use for your AnyConnect clients > Edit > Advanced > SSL VPN Client > Locate the “Client Profile to Download” section and uncheck the inherit button.

Cisco Anyconnect Error Vpn Establishment Capability From A Remote Desktop Is Disabled

9. Click New > Browse Flash > Locate the profile you uploaded earlier.

10. OK > OK > Apply > Save the changes by clicking File > Save running configuration to flash.

11. Then reconnect with your AnyConnect Mobility Client software.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

I ran into a problem recently while I was using remote desktop on one of my servers hosted up on Azure. While I was on that server, I needed to make a VPN connection back to our corporate network. Unfortunately, after I installed the Cisco AnyConnect client, and I tried to make the connection, I was greeted with the following error:

Vpn Establishment Capability From A Remote Desktop Is Disabled. A Vpn Connection

VPN Establishment capability from a Remote Desktop is disabled. A VPN Connection will not be established.

I did a lot of research, and found out that in order to allow this, you need to first setup a Client Profile on the Cisco ASA. Here are the steps I went thru to get this completed.

Vpn Remote Desktop Not Working

  1. Launch the Cisco ASDM
  2. Click on Configuration.
  3. Expand “Network (Client) Access”
  4. Click on “AnyConnect Client Profile”
  5. Since, I did not have any existing profiles, I clicked the Add button.
  6. Pick a name for the Profile.
  7. Select the Group Policy that this profile will apply to, and click OK
  8. Before editing the profile, click on the Apply button to generate the XML file.
  9. Under “Preferences (Part 1)” go to “Windows VPN Establishment” and select AllowRemoteUsers from the drop down, and then click OK.
  10. Click on the Apply button to update the XML file.
  11. You should now be able to test connecting to your network from within a Remote Desktop session.
  12. Assuming everything works as expected, I recommend hitting the Save button to write your configuration to memory.