OpenVPN Support Forum

The OpenVPN Connect client 3.4.1 (4522) running on an M1 MacBook Pro (Ventura 13.1) is disconnecting my VPN connection when I close my Screen Sharing session to that machine.

The machine isn't sleeping (I have disabled every sleep option the pmset command-line utility has, I left caffeinate running in a Terminal window on the laptop, and I'm ssh'd into it) but Connect drops the VPN connection anyway.

Why is Connect deciding to drop the VPN connection and how can I prevent it?

Hello GrowfyBruce,

No idea at the moment. What screen sharing exactly are you using? A particular program or a built-in function of macOS to share screen? Can you provide details? Does the user get logged out on the machine when you exit the screen share?

I am pretty sure Connect is not deciding anything on its own, it does not have awareness of what actions you're doing. It more than likely is encountering a situation where it is being told by macOS itself to stop, or by some other action of macOS or the screen sharing program is prevented from doing its job. It would be nice to understand exactly with details how to reproduce what you are doing, so that we can copy that situation here in a test setup, and see if we get to see the same behavior. If we do, we can look into a possible solution for it. Without being able to reproduce it here we're just taking a stab in the dark.

Kind regards,
Johan