FortiClient Issues on Windows 10: A Frustrating Experience

As a network administrator, I've always been impressed by the capabilities of Fortinet's FortiGate firewalls and FortiClient VPN clients. However, my recent experience with FortiClient on Windows 10 has left me feeling frustrated and puzzled.

I wish Fortinet would offer a bundle similar to Cisco ASA Security+, which provides comprehensive security features. Instead, I'm forced to deal with the limitations of FortiClient. One such limitation is the lack of control over client updates in non-licensed environments. This makes it challenging for me to ensure that all clients are running the same version.

Another issue I've encountered is the lack of documentation on compatible versions of FortiGate and FortiClient. Given that FortiGate 5.4 is the latest version, I expected FortiClient to be compatible with it. However, my experience has been inconsistent, with some users reporting issues while others do not.

In my case, two PC techs who were experiencing problems almost 100% of the time on Windows 10 reported that a specific version of FortiClient (5.4) resolved their issues. However, I've also encountered cases where the VPN client would hang and fail to connect, only to work temporarily after restarting the VPN service.

The problem seems to be related to communication between the VPN client and the FortiGate firewall. In some cases, a restart of the VPN service or reinstalling the client has resolved the issue. However, in other instances, nothing appears to fix the problem.

I've also noticed that sometimes, after a successful connection, the client is unable to connect again using either the VPN client or web access. This issue affects both Windows 7 and Windows 10 clients on different FortiGate models (300C, 300D, and 400D) with various firmware versions (5.2.3 and 5.2.6) and FortiClient versions.

In my ticket, the support engineer provided a version of FortiClient to test, but it did not resolve the issue. I also tried a 'fix' for a similar problem observed on Windows 8, but that was unsuccessful as well.

The connection process goes well until 98% completion, at which point it stops without any error message. In some cases, the client connects and then immediately disconnects. Since upgrading my 300C to FortiOS 5.2.6, I've experienced random issues with incoming connections through FortiClient and FortiVPNSSL.

Overall, my experience with FortiClient on Windows 10 has been frustrating and challenging. I hope that Fortinet will address these issues in future updates and provide more comprehensive support for their products.

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