No login window popup in Openvpn Gui

Dutchgent

Dear forum,
I downloaded the latest openvpn-install-2.4.6-I602 version of Openvpn and installed it on my desktop. I am using Windows 7 Professional.
I successfully imported the certificate. Now comes my strange issue. When I click to connect the GUI windows shows up showing 'connecting'. That's it, GUI window remains blank/empty and the login does not pop up. Would any one here know what is causing this issue? I suspect it is some setting in Windows 7. The reason is that I installed the same on my old notebook, also Windows 7 Professional and with this notebook I am able to connect flawlessly. When I connect the GUI shows up, and immediately a login box pops up. I filled in my credentials and the connection is completed in few seconds.
I really don't know what is causing this issue on my desktop. I would appreciate your help with suggestion what causes the login box being 'blocked'.
In advance many thanks for your time and effort responding.
😉

TinCanTech

We have a guide here:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/OpenVPN-GUI-New

Can you identify if we have missed something ?

Dutchgent

No this is not solving my issue. as per you step 'Trouble with connecting to a server" I see a blank window with the statement "Current State: Connecting" and below the field is blank. I opened the 'view log' and this is showing:
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 OpenVPN 2.4.6 x86_64-w64-mingw32 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [PKCS11] [AEAD] built on Apr 26 2018
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 Windows version 6.1 (Windows 7) 64bit
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.0h 27 Mar 2018, LZO 2.10
Enter Management Password:
I am convinced it is not the client or the connection. I suspect some Windows OS setting is preventing the login boc to come up. It seems hanging since it state 'Connecting'.

Ps. Sincere apologies for posting again as I thought it was not posted. Tried to delete it but cannot.

TinCanTech

Dutchgent wrote Sincere apologies for posting again as I thought it was not posted

Don't worry about it 😉

Dutchgent wrote I opened the 'view log' and this is showing:
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 OpenVPN 2.4.6 x86_64-w64-mingw32 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [PKCS11] [AEAD] built on Apr 26 2018
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 Windows version 6.1 (Windows 7) 64bit
Thu Jul 26 23:51:48 2018 library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.0h 27 Mar 2018, LZO 2.10
Enter Management Password:

Openvpn is waiting for you to enter a password. I am not sure why you are not seeing a prompt.

Please post your client config file so we can examine it.

Dutchgent

Dear TinCan,

thank you for your support.

Here is my client config, I omitted server address and certs, rest is exactly as copied from file. It need to say that it works in my notebook (same OS as my desktop). I just wonder what supporting driver or application such as .net framework is important to activate the login window box asking for my credentials. So here is the config:

remote [my server address].com 1194
float
nobind
proto udp
dev tun
sndbuf 0
rcvbuf 0
keepalive 15 60
comp-lzo adaptive
auth-user-pass
client
auth SHA1
ns-cert-type server
<ca>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
…
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

</ca>

<cert>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
…
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

</cert>

<key>
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
…
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

</key>

TinCanTech

Have you protected your cert/key with a password ?

If so you may need to specify --askpass in the config file .. Although, the README.md says the GUI should do this automatically.

The required dependencies are checked when you install OpenVPN, if they are not found the installer should display a message about it. When you do an install there is a log file displayed on screen which will read:

Checking .NET Framework version...
.NET Framework 4.0 Full found, no need to install.
Proceeding with remainder of installation.
Completed

that is if .NET is installed ..

You could try re-installing ..

TinCanTech

It turns out the most likely cause of the problem you are experiencing is
that openvpn is already running the instance you are trying to start ..

john1950

I had to add the --askpass to the command line of openvpn-gui.exe version 2.5 the first time I ran the program to make it prompt for passwords.
I set it to remember the user name and password and now it prompts (with user name and password prefilled) for password even without the option --askpass being used.
It would be nice if this was the default as you don't expect this kind of CLI behavior from a GUI.

vaporsurfeit

Hi Dutchgent,

It seems like a potential compatibility issue with your desktop. Try running OpenVPN GUI as an administrator. Right-click on the OpenVPN GUI icon and select "Run as administrator." This often resolves permission-related problems in Windows 7. Give it a shot and let us know if it helps!