Error:InitSTEP returned 'Cannot find STEP VxD'

[zeek7]

I getting the above error when starting Cisco VPN Client. The installed client is vpn523.2k.XP.exe and my OS is XP. I installed this same version on Win2K with no problems. It installs with no issues on XP as well but when I start the client I get the InitStep error message. The program then starts and I can then do a connect and am promted for secreat password which I supply and at this point I would normally get the Radius challenge screen which I'm now not getting. Any ideas on the cause of this issue? As I mentioned the client works fine on Win2K but is giving me issues on XP. All help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[skeetersmom]

Have you found the solution? I'm having the same problem.

 

[zeek7]

No I haven't found the answer or a workaround. Please let me know if you come up with something.

 

[nixit]

Try the following, let me know if it works (I found it via google):

If you receive “error Init Step returned- cannot find Step VxD”: The Windows NT VPN Client setup program automatically launches a macro that installs the IntraPort VPN Access Server network driver. The Windows NT system requires that an IntraPort network driver be installed before the VPN 5000 Client will work. If the macro fails for any reason, use the following instructions to manually install the driver.


Step 1 Install Windows NT VPN 5000 Client software using the “ Installing the Client for Windows NT” instructions.

Step 2 Log on to the system as a user with administrator privileges.

Step 3 From the Start menu, select Control Panel > Network and click the Protocols tab.

Step 4 Click Add. Select Network Protocol dialog box displays.

Step 5 Click the Have Disk button.

Step 6 Enter the path to the folder you copied or downloaded the files to earlier, for example, C:\temp.

Step 7 Click OK.

Step 8 When the Select OEM Option dialog box displays, highlight Cisco Systems VPN Intermediate Driver.

Step 9 Click OK to begin installing the driver.

Step 10 After the driver is installed, click Close to exit from the Network Control Panel.

 

[bwilliam13]

Does anyone have a solution for this? That last post doesn't even pertain to XP.

 

[billybollocks]

CISCO Support state that to fix this you should use the steps detailed above and manually install the drivers. however as many of us have found this is not the case.
Im currently working on this issue too. My problem is even worse because the user Im dealing with had a Nortel VPN client installed prior to installing the CISCO Client. problem there of course is that CISCO and Nortel are not compatible and cant be on the same computer. next problem is that if you remove Nortel it's a dirty uninstall and corrupts the registry when you install CISCO resulting in the Error:InitSTEP returned 'Cannot find STEP VxD' problem
Im working with a number of different departments to resolve this.And a total rebuild does not fix either It seems to be specific to XP rather than 2k. As soon as I get a fix I will let you know

 

[Grand13]

Anyone with anyluck getting beyond this error. any chance its another program that is messing with it? Please help ASAP, thanks

 

[Grand13]

sorry to post again, but maybe is there some program that I can install that has this missing step included in it?

 

[bwilliam13]

Well, my solution wasn't pretty/easy. I just migrated all of our clients off of the 5000 client/concentrator onto our 3000 and PIX firewalls with the unified 4.x client.

I didn't have time to sit around and research how to get an end-of-life product to jibe with a bunch of stuff that was still supported...so I chose the difficult, but easy-to-support-in-the-end approach...everyone on the same platform.

 

[StuartJeanLittle]

I get the EXACT same error only in Win2K. The installed client is vpn-5000-win-2000-xp-5.2.3. I installed this same version on Windows XP with no problems. It installs with no issues on 2000 as well but when I start the client I get the same InitStep error message.

 

[buckmeisterq]

This is a squirrely problem. This is about the most/best info I've found out about this error on the web, and there is still *no* solution. I'm getting this error on a fresh image of XP with all the latest service packs and patches. Has anyone here found a workaround or solution? I'm going to try and email everyone who's posted to see if anyone has figured it out.

 

[gverheij]

Had the same problem on my XP Machine.

uninstalled VPN 5000 Client.

Followed all the steps documentend in :

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/471/vpn5K_uninstall.html

rebooted machine.

Installed VPN 5000 client

Error was gone

 

[gverheij]

Whoops :~/
I forgot to mention that I also removed all step.sys files
from the system after I uninstalled VPN 5000 client software

 

[buckmeisterq]

Still having this problem, none of the suggested solutions have any effect whatsoever. I followed gverheij's suggestions to the letter (multiple attempts) with no results- still the same error. Anyone else figure this one out? Anyone have any wild suggestions that might lead to a fix in some roundabout way- maybe suggestions for searching the web looking for other topics that might shed light on a possible solution for a parallel problem that we could adapt to fix this problem?

 

[johndoeSD]

still no one with a solution?

i have tried the steps above, with similar results to the last author (i.e. none).

i tried doing it with installing the Service first, the Service last, the Service after the installer had made all of its requests but before it copied any files. nothing. i tried looking through regedit that the mentioned page says to look for in win2000, but there was none of it in winXP .

does anyone have any idea what it's doing? any friends at Cisco? anyone read this list who might be connected to the source in any way? what exactly is this "InitSTEP" process, what is "Step VxD", and why is it failing? a missing config file? a missing .DLL? anyone?

 

[buckmeisterq]

I still haven't found a solution. One thing that I am pretty sure is causing it is the fact that another VPN client is installed on the machine first (my "fresh install" is a standard image provided by another dept.). My company uses a VPN client wrapped in a company logo (I'm not sure if it is Cisco or Nortel on the inside) and when that is installed, it seems that even if it is uninstalled, the Cisco client does not work.

 

[johndoeSD]

buckmeisterq, what you said got me realizing we had a different VPN client installed on the machine to start with, and despite attempting to uninstall that first before ever putting the Cisco client on the machine, the InitSTEP problem would occur. i trashed my IS dept's install of XP and installed it myself, and only then did installing the Cisco client work!! the uninstall of the Contivity client that my company uses must have trashed some vital piece of system information.

i hate to point anyone else to having to re-install windows for this ... but it's not the first time i've had to re-install windows to rectify a problem with networking that couldn't be solved any other way.

 

[Pioneer4x4]

I also had this problem on 2 computers that had the Cisco Unity client installed on after the 5000. After doing an uninstall I found that there is a file CVirtA.sys leftover in the system32\drivers\ and I deleted it and the registry entries;
HKLM\SYSTEM\CCS\Services\CVirtA
HKLM\SYSTEM\CCS001\Services\CVirtA
HKLM\SYSTEM\CCS002\Services\CVirtA
...
I was able to reinstall the 5000 client and it would function.

 

[lelila02]

Just nailed this one. Tried everything everyone and Cisco suggested and came up short. Deleted the Cisco entry in the registry and that nailed it.

Good luck