It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here because I have been crazily busy working on a massive flex site with a great team over at Tribal DDB London. Hopefully it will go live at the start of next year so I can talk more about it. In the meantime, here is a quick tip for anyone having trouble connecting to a VPN powered by Juniper software’s Network Connect after installing the trial version of Flash CS3.
After installing a trial of Flash CS3 I noticed that I became unable to connect to the VPN. Network Connect would connect briefly and then pop up an alert saying “The Network Connect session terminated. Do you want to reconnect? (nc.windows.app.23711).”
After a bit of googling I found out that there were complaints about the early betas of CS3 and the Bonjour service that they installed affecting networking. And this is what was causing my problem. If you press Ctrl-Alt-Del and look at your processes then you will find a “mDNSResponder.exe” service running after installing Flash CS3. Ending this process allows you to connect through Network Connect.
You will have to do this every time you have restarted your computer as the process is automatically started with the system. Alternatively you can stop the service which starts the mDNSResponder process.
Go to Start Menu > Run and type in “services.msc” to open the services configuration panel. Look for a service with a name something like “##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762##” (I think the bit after the dot will change on each computer). To confirm it’s the correct service double click on it and look at the “Path to executable” – it should be “C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe”. If it is then change the “Startup type” to “disabled” and press the “Stop” button. You should now be able to connect to your VPN.
As far as I can tell, neither of these solutions have had a detrimental effect on my trial install of Flash so I think that they are safe changes to make but no guarantees! Hopefully the information will save someone the time it took me to find the answer.
71 Comments, Comment or Ping
FYI
For me the application in the services panel wasn’t ”##Id_String.. etc” but “Bonjour Service”.
November 29th, 2007
Thanks for the information! I installed Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 and ran into the same issue. I followed your instructions. Thanks!
December 8th, 2007
Hello, thank you very very much for this great help I searched long time for solution. I got same failure with Photoshop CS3. After disabling Bonjour , everything was ok. Thank you.
December 10th, 2007
I also want to thank you. This issue was driving me crazy and it even had Juniper support stumpped. I had the same process running but mine came from software called Gizmo Project.
December 11th, 2007
You’re a life saver! Thanks.
January 6th, 2008
Appreciate your input !
Ending the process “mDNSResponder.exe” was the solution for me. Thanks
January 18th, 2008
Thanks for sharing. I’ve almost had to rebuild my new laptop because of this issue. In my past experience, the new KODAK EasyShare does the same thing to NC. The only solution I’ve found was to completely rebuild the PC and not to install EasyShare at all…
January 28th, 2008
Wow – nice call! Thanks for the help.
February 1st, 2008
this is exactly the information that i needed, thanks!
February 7th, 2008
Worked for me, thank you. mDNSResponder may also be used by iTunes.
February 11th, 2008
Itunes problem here too. Thanks !
February 13th, 2008
Thank you so much for posting this! This was exactly my problem. Stupid Flash.
February 15th, 2008
Thanks a lot, your post saved me.
February 19th, 2008
You saved me.
Thanks.
February 21st, 2008
amazing! genius! it worked!
February 25th, 2008
you saved me too, thanks a lot !!!
February 26th, 2008
you save my day, tks.
I met the same problem.
February 27th, 2008
Thanks man. You are a life saver. Great work. This issue had me baffled for a few months.
February 28th, 2008
Thanx it worked like a charm.
February 29th, 2008
Thanks Also!!! I’m not using CS3, but Vegas 8 Pro. Killed the same process and Juniper now works.
March 3rd, 2008
you’re the man
March 10th, 2008
GREAT JOB !!!
March 11th, 2008
you are great man ive been looking and looking finaly you’re the man.
March 12th, 2008
Thanks for the great tip! I just purchased The Web Premium Creative Suite 3, and have run into the same problem, but probably would have never suspected that as the cause of my VPN troubles if I wouldn’t have found your blog!
March 15th, 2008
Thank You for posting this – This was driving me crazy!
March 16th, 2008
I have struggled with this problem for over a month and I got stuck with Outlook Web Access. Our Tech Support was unable to help me. THANK YOU!
March 18th, 2008
It was a great help..Working now perfectly..Hope there will be no problems in future..Thanks!!
March 24th, 2008
A site I’m on. Anyway, Kev, you are a bit incorrect on some of your points. To get everyone started correctly, try the following, please: 1. Let Bonjour install (install it if you don’t have it; when its running, it will self update anyway – let it). Bonjour is at 1.0.4 now for both PC and Mac. 2. After you update Java, you MUST also REPAIR Bonjour (this is in the Apple.com faq of Bonujour – it is Apple’s fault, they admit that) 3. No rebooting needed, use and enjoy – Bonjour service must be opened on any/all (personal) firewalls on a specific port (which is mentioned in the Bonjour help files, I recall 5350 maybe – it’s in the 5000’s for sure). No Kev, you are NOT likely to see the running program you suggest as a service all the time, you would in fact be lucky to see it, and stopping it will NOT necessarily fix your IP connection issues. The one thing that will NOT get fixed is certain sites with Fhlash 8 or less running – case in point=Apple’s own website ! It will crash everytime in Windows2000, XP or Vista (usually), Apple has to fix their flash site before it will EVER work in Safari (even Mac users have had it crash from time to time)
March 31st, 2008
Great job,
you saved me and our company a lot of time !
Roman
April 7th, 2008
Thank You,
You save my live ….
April 9th, 2008
Thank You (((Hugs)))
April 11th, 2008
Thank you for saving me from formatting again my laptop
April 15th, 2008
Is the “mDNSResponder.exe” service named different for Vista?
April 17th, 2008
It is commonly installed with the following software:
•Apple applications including iTunes, iPhoto, and iChat
•All Adobe CS3 software
•Trillian Pro
•Flash Player 9
•Gizmo Project
Removing Bonjour for Windows
1. Open a Windows command prompt and type the following command:
“C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe -remove”
2. Navigate to the following folder in Windows Explorer: C:\Program Files\Bonjour
3. Rename the mdnsNSP.dll file in that folder to mdnsNSP.old
4. Restart your computer
5. Delete the Program Files\Bonjour folder
with the Adobe Master suite if you do a custom install you can elect to not install the Bonjour service.
with iTunes 7.5 and up the service will appear as Bonjour and can be removed from the control panel>add/remove programs
I run into this issue all the time on various builds XP/Vista (this does not effect MACs)
This will also effect Juniper Windows Secure Application Manager
April 21st, 2008
Thank you in tons…You have saved my time and efforts…without VPN … lemme not event think of…Thank u once again.
May 4th, 2008
If Bonjour isn’t on there and none of those apps are on there then what? Does anyone have a good solution? Running Vista Ultimate with almost no apps installed.
Thanks
May 4th, 2008
Thnx, This was exact the problem a user had at home and she mentioned bonjour was standing in her firewall. If not I never would have come on this site and solution!. thnx again.
May 9th, 2008
I had terrible time with this error message. While googling this on the web, this page was the first hit. Thanks for this information. For me it was Bonjour service. This was satrted:automatic. I first stopped and then disabled it.
May 9th, 2008
Thank you so much for your help. That was exactly what i was looking for!
May 10th, 2008
Thanks, this has been a great help solving this confusing issue., I always thought it was Juniper problem.
May 13th, 2008
Worked like a champ! Saved me a trip to the office.
May 31st, 2008
Worked like a charm.
June 14th, 2008
Brilliant! Thank you
June 21st, 2008
so simple and effective – anyone with his problem should follow the instructions!
June 24th, 2008
You’re a lifesaver! Thanks very much!
July 7th, 2008
thanks a lot…this worked time! ;-)
July 12th, 2008
Your the man. Thanks for this info.
July 12th, 2008
http://www.adobe.com/go/kb400982
Adobe says this can be disabled – it’s only used for Macs and contribute authentication – also shows you how to delete the service.
July 18th, 2008
Your post also resolved my issue. Thank you.
July 23rd, 2008
Thank you very much.
Knew about Bonjour but couldnt work out why this was failing on a different machine with no itunes. Now i do! CS3 trial!!
Thanks again.
July 28th, 2008
I found that once Bonjour is disabled the iTunes assistant tells you that it enables file sharing, connecting to AppleTV, etc. Fortunately I don’t need those services but just FYI for others.
August 1st, 2008
Thanks for all of your help! This was such a simple fix to a confusing issue!
August 9th, 2008
This is a very nice catch. thanks for your help.
August 20th, 2008
Thanks for this tip. It saved me re-install of wondows.
September 6th, 2008
Wow thanks!
September 10th, 2008
Perfect tip .. helped me to get vpn running /Kenneth
September 19th, 2008
That’s a very very sweet tip! Thank you!
October 3rd, 2008
Great job! Works for me
October 7th, 2008
Brilliant! Got me out of a big hole with my remote access
October 13th, 2008
Brilliant. Thanks so much!
November 14th, 2008
Thanks, mine was bonjour, installed with itunes, sorted now.
November 24th, 2008
This post was very helpful and resolved my issue. Thank you very much
November 26th, 2008
Thanks a lot for this wonderful tip... I googled the Juniper site and many more, but did no good .... Finally, found this .... Saved my time re-installing XP .....
December 10th, 2008
That same behavior will also be seen if the Juniper VPN Network adapter gets disabled. It should always be sitting in the "cable disconnected" state when it's not in use. If it gets disabled it'll still show connected for a second and then disconnect.
December 29th, 2008
AMAZING !!!! I had the biggest headache because of this ... thanks so so much !!!!
January 27th, 2009
Mate, thanks a bunch! I recently installed itunes just to manage my ipod through my company's laptop and this started giving me trouble. Your post quickly got me into action, without pulling much of my hair(I have only little left)
February 19th, 2009
Thank you!
March 19th, 2009
Yes, itunes fuckt up my network connect to.
Thanks a lot for this great post !!!!!
Dave
April 3rd, 2009
Finally......I got it solved.
Thx a million.
December 4th, 2009
I had a similar issue, im off-site using an ADSL link in from another office but every time I connected to my main site I would lose connection after approx 20 seconds losing all my IP settings and have the DHCP client hanging trying to establish a new connection, I would then have to delete the Juniper applications to re-establish a connection to the ADSL router. I tried all of the above advice but did not have any of the mentioned services running. I have found a work-around for this which I hope may help folk in the same situation, a fairly easy one in the end. I assinged myself a static address off of the range issued by the router and havent been disconnected since. It seems the client had an issue with my DHCP service?!
January 13th, 2010
The culprit are not apple applications on Windows Vista SP1
===============================================
Hi,
When I used to connect from home to my company network through my personal laptop running Vista SP1, the connection used to drop every now and then. I called our company IT Service desk and they gave steps like
1. Connect to different switch - VPN url (our company runs multiple switches spread across geographies).
2. Uninstall bonjour service which comes with Apple applications (I was not running this service as I do not run any Apple application),
3. Uninstall Java installed on my laptop
4. Clear browser cache, etc.
However none of it fixed the problem. I was about to bring my laptop to office to hand it over to IT service desk for them to fix it, when I tried to do some googling. I found the post below at: http://www.enusbaum.com/blog/2008/04/18/does-your-juniper-vpn-client-keep-disconnecting-after-you-connect/ relevant to my problem and a possible solution.
===============================
1. Hi,
This is indeed an issue on Vista SP1 Wireless, and sometimes Wired connections too regardless of Bonjour being installed.
If you want a fix, you need to go into the TCP/IP properties of the network interface you are using, and choose “Advanced…” Under interface metric, untick “Automatic Metric” and enter “1? in the box.
Seems to be an issue with the Vista TCP/IP stack but doesn’t affect *all* installations.
Cheers,
Con
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I applied the above step to all network adapters on my laptop (LAN connection – wired, wireless and Juniper) and it solved my problem. Hence, thought of sharing it with you, so that other users facing this problem can fix it.
Thanks,
Shashi
February 2nd, 2010
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