Contivity VPN client install failing

[hocker]

I have been having trouble installing the contivity VPN client, version 4.6 on my Windows XP professional laptop. When I run the install program, selecting the default installation location and to install as a program (not service) I get the error:

"Severe: Installation of the Contivity VPN client failed"

This occurs at the point where the setup program is trying to install the driver.

Looking at the c:\windows\setupapi.log file (which I believe logs install errors) I see the following:

[2003/10/05 16:47:50 2516.32 Driver Install]
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): nt_ipsecext
#-198 Command line processed: C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\engine\6\INTEL3~1\IKernel.exe -Embedding
#W059 Selecting best compatible driver failed. Error 0xe0000228: There are no compatible drivers for this device.

This leads me to believe that somehow it can't find any drivers to bind to. I am having a potentially related problem with Windows, where if I try and install a client or service on a network connection, I get the error:

"Network connections: Could not add the requested component. The error is: The specified path does not contain any applicable device INFs"

This is in spite of the fact that I have not given it a path. Again, this might not be relevant.

My question is, without reinstalling windows (not an option as I am in the field right now) how can I get the extranet client installed? Is there a way to 'manually' install it?

I have searched the Internet without luck to find a solution to this problem and have personally spent about 5 hours trying to fix it!

 

[hocker]

Sorry to reply to my own thread, but I meant to say version 4.65, not 4.6 (although I have tried 4.6, 4.15 and 4.10 and they all do the same thing).

 

[road2hana]

This is a Registry problem I just solved for myself.

The %DevicePath% environment variable has overflowed its fixed size as a REG_SZ type. It must be changed to an expandable REG_EXPAND_SZ type.

I guess installers must add their search path to this variable and it grows as the system ages.

In Regedit:

1. open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

2. If the DevicePath entry is type REG_SZ, Double click it and copy the value string to the clipboard. (If it's already type REG_EXPAND_SZ, it could be corrupted. Find a good system to copy one from.)

3. Delete DevicePath

4. Create a new entry for DevicePath with the type REG_EXPAND_SZ

5. Double click the new DevicePath entry, and paste the clipboard into the value string.

NOTE: I had to clean up a redundant path entry at the end of the string. You may have to start over with a clean path. Try %SystemRoot%\inf or find a good system to copy from.

6. Close Regedit, restart and you should be able to install network components and the Contivity drivers.

 

[hocker]

Wow - that did it. Fantastic!

FYI, just fixing the path isn't enough; you do indeed need to delete the key and create a new REG_EXPAND_SZ type key. My key was REG_SZ.

In my case some garbage characters were in the path; this confused the installer, clearly. Sounds like a bug...

Thanks.