OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

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robathome
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:11 pm

OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by robathome » Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:27 am

Hello all,

I have an OpenVPN GUI version v11.31 (on Windows 11) from my pfsense firewall. There is a .ovpn file which connects and all works OK.

I moved the .ovpn (and all other related files) from config to the config-auto folder and when I open the GUI or connect manually I get:

---------------------------
OpenVPN GUI
---------------------------
Could not parse --management option in <C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config-auto\pfSensetet.ovpn>.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Even if I delete all entries from the config file so it's blank I get the same error. User has full permissions on this folder.

(The pfsense is quite old and doesn't work with the newest versions of openvpn client so I'm stuck with this one, and I'm trying to get it to connect on windows startup)

robathome
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:11 pm

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by robathome » Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:54 pm

As no responses - is it worth me updating to a newer GUI version and try to get it working with my pfsense? Would the newer client act on the config-auto folder contents properly?

robathome
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:11 pm

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by robathome » Thu Mar 09, 2023 9:38 am

Further playing with this and hopefully this will help someone in future. This "auto" folder won't start from the GUI so I just put the files from config into config-auto, then disabled the GUI and enabled the OpenVPNService - start that and it connected OK. Also changed the encoding of the password.txt file to ANSI following another thread on here, but don't think that was the crucial part.

It's a shame that I have no way of seeing the VPN with the nice green/orange/black icon in the systray but it's working automatically now.

holgi
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:41 am

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by holgi » Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:43 am

Hello,
same problem.

config-auto not works with GUI
and no pre-logon on loginscreen with Windows 11.

Have anybody a fix or workaround?

Holger

robathome
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:11 pm

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by robathome » Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:41 am

My VPN is stable now I've made it the service, but annoying I couldn't get it working the documented way, and no icon so I (actually non-technical users of my PC) can't just stop/start the VPN easily.

larsen
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2021 7:22 pm

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by larsen » Tue Nov 21, 2023 9:45 am

Had the same problem and for me the problem was my text editor not complaining on saving, but lacking admin privileges, the config file would be saved to "C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\OpenVPN\config-auto" as a second file. So while everything looked fine in the text editor, OpenVPN would still use the unaltered original file without the management option needed.

See https://github.com/OpenVPN/openvpn-gui/issues/661

dawidmos
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2024 12:47 pm

Re: OpenVPN not auto-connecting "Could not parse --management"

Post by dawidmos » Mon Sep 16, 2024 12:48 pm

I think some dumb user create this option. Why client normal config file need "management".

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