All posts tagged ProfileXML

Always On VPN Disconnects in Windows 11

Always On VPN administrators migrating their endpoints to Windows 11 may encounter a scenario where Always On VPN randomly disconnects when the VPN profile is deployed using Microsoft Intune. The same configuration deployed to Windows 10 devices works reliably, however. In addition, Always On VPN profiles deployed using PowerShell (natively or with SCCM) or PowerON DPC do not experience this problem.

Troubleshooting

Administrators troubleshooting this issue will find the root cause is associated with the Always On VPN profiles being removed and replaced each time the device syncs with Intune. This occurs even if there are no changes to the configuration. Removing and replacing the Always On VPN profiles on each device sync is unnecessary, of course, but is also highly disruptive to connected users.

Intune and XML

The Intune team identified the issue, and a fix was made available in the August update. However, many of you have reported the issue persists with some Windows 11 clients after installing the latest updates. Further investigation indicates that although the issue has been resolved when using Intune and the native VPN device configuration profile template, the problem still occurs when using the Custom device configuration template.

Workaround

Microsoft is aware of the issues with deploying Always On VPN client configuration settings using XML in Intune, but there’s no indication when or if they will fix it. Until then, administrators have two options to address this problem.

Native VPN Template

When deploying Always On VPN client configuration settings to Windows 11 endpoints, use the native VPN device configuration template, as shown here.

Using the native VPN template does have some limitations, however. The following settings are not exposed using the native VPN template and can only be configured using XML.

XML

If you must use XML, I’ve had some success by ensuring the order of XML settings is exactly as Intune expects. Follow the steps below to confirm the XML settings order in your XML configuration file.

  1. Deploy your XML file with Intune.
  2. Run Get-VpnClientProfileXML.ps1 to extract the deployed XML settings.
  3. Compare the order of settings to your existing XML.
  4. Make changes to ensure all settings in your XML are in the same order as the extracted XML.
  5. Publish a new XML configuration file using Intune and test.

I’ll caution you that this workaround doesn’t always work reliably. Some customers report that this solved their problems entirely, while others have indicated it does not. My testing shows the same results. Let us know in the comments below if this works for you!

Additional Information

Always On VPN Windows 11 Issues with Intune

Always On VPN PowerShell Script Issues in Windows 11

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by Richard M. Hicks on October 9, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Always On VPN, AOVPN, AovpnDPC, Application Filter, Azure AD Join, Azure VPN, Deployment, Device Management, device tunnel, DPC, Dynamic Profile Configurator, Endpoint Manager, Enterprise, enterprise mobility, InTune, MDM, MEM, MEMCM, Microsoft, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Microsoft Intune, Mobility, OMA-DM, OMA-URI, Operational Support, PowerShell, ProfileXML, Remote Access, SCCM, System Center Configuration Manager, systems management, Traffic Filter, Update, user tunnel, VPN, Windows 11
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on October 9, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/10/09/always-on-vpn-disconnects-in-windows-11/

Always On VPN and VpnStrategy

NetMotion Mobility for DirectAccess Administrators – Split vs. Force Tunneling

Always On VPN supports a variety of VPN protocols for the user tunnel. Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) and Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) are the most common. I wrote about the advantages and disadvantages of each in this post. To summarize, IKEv2 provides the highest security options but suffers from operational limitations. SSTP offers excellent security and is generally more reliable.

VpnStrategy

Always On VPN administrators must choose between IKEv2 and SSTP when configuring the Always On VPN user tunnel. Some administrators may prefer to use IKEv2 when available but then fall back to SSTP if it is not. To accomplish this requires editing the rasphone.pbk file and setting the value of VpnStrategy to 8, as described here.

Challenges

Unfortunately, setting the VpnStrategy value to 8 poses some challenges. Updating rasphone.pbk requires editing a text file on each endpoint post-deployment. Updating rasphone.pbk can be automated using the Update-Rasphone.ps1 script or Microsoft Intune proactive remediation.

Limitations

By default, Windows will overwrite the VpnStrategy setting in rasphone.pbk when fallback occurs. For example, setting VpnStrategy to prefer IKEv2 over SSTP will be reset to use SSTP first if a connection with IKEv2 fails. There’s a registry setting available that’s supposed to prevent this, but it doesn’t always work as expected.

Windows 11

There’s good news for administrators deploying Always On VPN on Windows 11. Microsoft recently introduced support for additional NativeProtocol types in XML. Specifically, VPN protocol preference can now be defined using the ProtocolList native protocol type. When using the ProtocolList native protocol type, each supported VPN protocol is listed in order of preference using the syntax shown below.

In addition, the RetryTimeInHours value defines the time Windows will try the last successful connection protocol. Setting this value to 0 overrides this and ensures the preferred protocol (the first protocol in the list) will always be attempted first.

SSTP Only

Previously the VPNv2CSP only supported IKEv2 or Automatic as values for the native protocol type. Windows 11 now supports SSTP as a native protocol type. Administrators configuring Always On VPN user tunnel connections using SSTP exclusively can now use this option.

Caveats

While the settings above are supported in both Windows 11 21H2 and 22H2, there are some known issues when enabling these settings. Specifically, when administrators define the ProtocolList value for the native protocol type, IKEv2 is always shown as the active protocol, even when an SSTP connection is established.

Also, if ProtocolList is used, the VPN connection cannot be managed using PowerShell. The VPN profile will not be displayed when running Get-VpnConnection at the time of this writing. Hopefully Microsoft will fix this soon.

Additional Information

Always On VPN CSP Updates

Always On VPN IKEv2 and SSTP Fallback

Always On VPN and Intune Proactive Remediation

Always On VPN Protocol Recommendations for Windows Server RRAS

Always On VPN IKEv2 Features and Limitations

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by Richard M. Hicks on May 22, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in administration, Always On VPN, AOVPN, Azure VPN, Deployment, Device Management, Enterprise, enterprise mobility, IKEv2, InTune, MDM, MEM, Microsoft, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Microsoft Intune, Mobile Device Management, Mobility, Operational Support, PowerShell, Remote Access, Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, Security, SSTP, systems management, user tunnel, VPN, Windows 11
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on May 22, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/05/22/always-on-vpn-and-vpnstrategy/

Always On VPN and Device Sharing

Always On VPN client configuration settings are typically deployed in the user’s context. However, this presents a unique challenge when sharing a single device with multiple users who have an Always On VPN profile assigned to them. By design, Windows designates only a single user profile on a shared device to be “always on”. When multiple users with assigned Always On VPN profiles share the same machine, it could yield unexpected results.

Auto Trigger Profile

When an Always On VPN profile is provisioned to a user, Windows records information about this profile in the registry. Specifically, the Always On VPN profile’s name and GUID are recorded, as well as the user’s Security Identifier (SID) and the path to the rasphone.pbk file that contains the Always On VPN profile.

Multiple Users

When a new user logs on to a shared device and receives their Always On VPN profile, Windows overwrites this existing data in the registry with the current user’s information. Each time this user logs on, their Always On VPN connection will establish automatically. Any other users with Always On VPN profiles configured on the same shared device will no longer connect automatically after this. The most recently deployed Always On VPN profile will be designated the “always on” profile.

Connect Automatically

In the above scenario, any user with an assigned Always On VPN profile on the shared device can take over the “always on” designation by opening the VPN connection properties and checking the “Connect automatically” check box.

When this happens, this user will now own the “always on” profile, and other users on the shared device will no longer connect automatically.

Workarounds

If multiple users share a single device requiring Always On VPN connectivity, you have a few options.

Intune

If you are deploying Always On VPN client configuration settings using Intune, you must use the Custom device configuration profile template. Specifically, as shown here, you must deploy your XML configuration file using the ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/VPNv2/ OMA-DM URI.

Unfortunately, the native Intune VPN template does not support deploying Always On VPN profiles in the “all users” context.

PowerShell

When using PowerShell, either natively or with SCCM or another software deployment tool, administrators can use my Always On VPN deployment PowerShell script with the -AllUserConnection parameter.

PowerON DPC

When using PowerON Platforms’ Dynamic Profile Configurator (DPC) to deploy Always On VPN client configuration settings using on-premises Active Directory or via Intune, no changes are required. DPC deploys Always On VPN user profiles in the “all users” context by default.

Additional Information

New-AovpnConnection.ps1 PowerShell Script on GitHub

PowerON Platforms’ Dynamic Profile Configurator (DPC)

Always On VPN DPC with PowerON Platforms’ DPC

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by Richard M. Hicks on March 27, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in administration, Always On VPN, AOVPN, AovpnDPC, Deployment, DPC, Dynamic Profile Configurator, Endpoint Manager, Enterprise, enterprise mobility, GitHub, InTune, MDM, MEM, MEMCM, Microsoft, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Microsoft Intune, Mobile Device Management, Mobility, OMA-DM, Operational Support, PowerShell, ProfileXML, Remote Access, user tunnel, VPN, Windows 10, Windows 11
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on March 27, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/03/27/always-on-vpn-and-device-sharing/

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