"Save" button always greyed out when creating openvpn connection

[Paul Smith]

I've just upgraded (fresh install) to Ubuntu 12.04 and add the network-manager-openvpn packages. Now when I select "VPN Connections" -> "Configure VPN" from the network icon in the panel I get the opportunity to "Add" a VPN with a connection type of OpenVPN.

However in the dialog for creating a new VPN, the "Save..." button is permanently grey and I can't ever click it. I've tried filling in everything, choosing different Authentication values, etc. but nothing helps: the "Save ..." button is never selectable.

Unlike bug # 204696 the Add button does work and unlike bug # 980025 I do have a "Save .." button... it's just not clickable.

Maybe it's a privileges problem? But I don't know how to invoke the dialog with the proper privileges?

Help... without this I can't access work anymore...

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04

$ apt-cache policy network-manager-openvpn
network-manager-openvpn:
  Installed: 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ apt-cache policy network-manager-openvpn-gnome
network-manager-openvpn-gnome:
  Installed: 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ apt-cache policy openvpn
openvpn:
  Installed: 2.2.1-8ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.2.1-8ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.2.1-8ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Miha Anžur (miha-anzur)]

On network-manager startup folllowing error appears in syslog

May 2 15:20:24 rak NetworkManager[3175]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp
May 2 15:20:24 rak NetworkManager[3175]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn
May 2 15:20:24 rak NetworkManager[3175]: <info> DNS: loaded plugin dnsmasq
May 2 15:20:24 rak NetworkManager[3175]: <error> [1335964824.894346] [main.c:561] main(): failed to initialize settings storage: Could not load plugin 'ifupdown': /usr/lib/NetworkManager/libnm-settings-plugin-ifupdown.so: undefined symbol: nm_utils_hwaddr_atoba
May 2 15:20:24 rak NetworkManager[3175]: <info> exiting (error)
May 2 15:20:24 rak kernel: [ 1760.190964] init: network-manager main process (3175) terminated with status 1

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

I hate to be one of those people, but if no one can provide a fix or a workaround for this very soon I'm going to have to delete 12.04 and switch to something else. I need OpenConnect to connect to work and I can't wait much longer before this will start to impact me very seriously.

I've invested a good bit of time getting 12.04 to where I want it so I'd hate to switch at this point, but if I can't work from home it's not possible to continue with it: this isn't something I can just get used to like a change to the desktop.

Anyone?

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

Help?

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

I'm unable to reproduce it here, I have a bunch of OpenVPN VPNs with a mix of SSL authentication and password authentication, I just tried and adding new ones works fine.

Can you give more details on exactly what configuration you're using, what type of certificate, where they're located, ... ?

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

I know that for some other SSL related checks (wireless and wired authentication), Network Manager greys out the Save button when it can't load/parse the SSL certificates, so make sure that they are stored somewhere where Network Manager can access them and that they are using a supported SSL cypher and encoding (as of OpenSSL 1.x)

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

I don't need to provide any certificates. In all the previous versions of NetworkManager where I've used this (both Ubuntu and Red Hat), it works like this for me (I'm doing this on a different Ubuntu 10.10 system; I'll verify steps on my 12.04 system when I get home):

right-click NetworkManager applet -> Edit Connections
Click the VPN tab in the "Network Connections" dialog
Click Add
Choose a connection type of "Cisco AnyConnect Compatible VPN (openconnect)"
Click Create
In the VPN tab enter my VPN server name into the "Gateway" field.
Leave the CA Certificate, User Certificate, and Private Key all as the default "(None)" and don't change anything else.

As soon as I fill in the server name, the "Apply" button becomes active. I click it. It works (I have to enter my password of course).

In 12.04 there's a "Save" button, not "Apply", but it never becomes un-grey.

[Javier López (javier-lopez)]

I couldn't reproduce it, in Ubuntu precise:

$ sudo apt-get install network-manager-openconnect

Go to the NetworkManager applet and Edit connections.., Go to the VPN section and add a new connection, select openconnect as the protocol, make click in "Create".., and write anything in the gateway section to activate de Save button...

I made the test in a virtual machine where I conserve a default ubuntu12.04 installation with all the updates.
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

So, I purged network-manager-openconnect and network-manager-openvpn and then I re-installed network-manager-openconnect (only), and it worked!!

Then I tried re-installing network-manager-openvpn again, and openconnect still works!

So now I have no idea what was going on. But my issue is resolved and I can't reproduce it anymore.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

I also had this issue when trying out the OpenVPN feature of NetworkManager - to test if it would be a good alternative to using openvpn directly.
(I have re-installed the system to go from 32 to 64 bit, therefore I cannot try to debug this anymore.)

In general, for people still affected by this, you could use the openvpn package directly (via config in /etc/openvpn), without going through the NetworkManager.

Also, please report back, if you are/were affected by this and the same workaround works for you that worked for Paul.

@Paul: any chance you are using etckeeper and could provide any differences in the configuration files that have changed between working and not working?
Also, have any recommended packages been pulled in when re-installing network-manager-openconnect/-openvpn, which might have been missing before?

[Mark Dammer (mark-dammer)]

Pauls workaround did not work for me. I cannot save any OpenVPN connection at all.

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

Sorry, I lost track of this. I don't have etckeeper on my system. Also when I just tried it again the save didn't un-grey. I wonder if I just don't have the correct SSL certificates for openvpn? I was able to get the openconnect VPN to work, which I know doesn't require SSL certificates.

[Arthur Hartwig (a-hartwig)]

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. I am attmpting to create the first OpenVPN in Network Manager. I installed Network Management framework(OpenVPN plugin) and network amangement framework(OpenVPN plugin for Gnome GUI).

I click on the network manager icon (side by side UP and DOWN arrow) then click on VPN Connections -> Configure VPN... the VPN tab is selected so I click on the Add button, in the Choose a VPN Connection Type popup I select OpenVPN then click on the Create button. Then a new window appears. It is labelled Editing VPN connection 1 and the Connection Name box is filled in with VPN connection 1. I fill in the gateway field, change Authentication Type to Password, fill in the username, change Password type to Always Ask, leave CA Certificate as None and the Save button and Available to all users check box remain greyed out.

Presumably the GUI thinks there is some crucial piece of information missing. For comparison I tried creating an Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN and the Save button and Available to all users check box changed from greyed out to "clickable" as soon as I entered something in the Gateway box.

Please step me through creation of an OpenVPN with username and password authentication or shared key authentication.

[Gjeme Markaj (gmarkaj)]

Found the same issue. Fresh install 12.04, brand new HP machine loaded. When configuring a Open VPN connection using Network Manager, you cannot save the parameters you input. The save button is always "greyed out".

[hugo (hugo-koopmans)]

same issue here linux mint 13 fresh on new sony vaio
save button stays grey ...

[hugo (hugo-koopmans)]

what is strange is that in the lower left corner there is a tick box ticked saying "available for all users¨ and if I hover over the save button it says "authenticate to save for all users on this machine¨
looks like there is a deadlock in here... ?

[drewp (drewp)]

A workaround on 12.10 is to run "sudo nm-connection-editor" instead of using the normal NM menu. And, as you edit in the openvpn config dialog, your terminal will now show validation errors (like 'Invalid setting VPN: username').

[The Loeki (the-loeki)]

I set the user to 'Always Ask' for password, yet I had to give a (nonsensical) password for the p12 file, otherwise it wouldn't ungrey.

Upon connecting, it still asked me for both passwords.

[Andrew.Y (andrew.y)]

@drewp : Thanx for the tip, I'm really tired to guess what the hell it wants (I'm using network-manager-openvpn-gnome). It insists in using password with certificate, no other option.

[Herwig Gans (herwig-gans)]

Just a note:
I thought I catch this bug, but in my case the "save" button was greyed out because of an incorrect proxy address.
As soon as I used "http://" as prefix the save button got active.
So maybe this is not an access rights issue but more an syntax check issue?

[Tharakan (tharakan)]

I have the same issue (Save button is grey) and I have no certificates to install. My VPN requires me to type username/password to connect to a Windows VPN setup.

Let me know if you want me to test something on this setup. I have another (windows) laptop that connects perfectly fine to the VPN, but here, am unable to even save the VPN connection (post openvpn installation).

[Tharakan (tharakan)]

Please find attached a screenshot towards this. Clearly shows the problem and the obvious bug as reported by hugo-koopmans at #16 above.

Again, let me know if you need me to try, or anyone wants to know something from this test-system.

[rsjsyd (roy-rsjenterprises)]

Same Problem on ubuntu 13.04 fresh install. when I run sudo nm-connection-editor it first gives me
** (nm-connection-editor:5549): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: remote
when I input the IP address of the remote gateway it gives me
** (nm-connection-editor:5549): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: ca
for every keystroke. I then tab down and select password as there is no cert required.
nomatter what I do it keeps giving
** (nm-connection-editor:5549): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: ca
and the save button stays greyed out. Looks like a problem understanding the cert/password selection to me.

[Levy (michel-levy)]

In the active commands, during the creation of a VPN connection, I have seen nm-connection-editor.
And with this command, I was unable to create a VPN connection (with the button Saved in grey).
Actually, the Saved button is the "enregistrer" button, because I uses a french version.

[Levy (michel-levy)]

With the command nm-connection-editor, I have three time the message :
** (nm-connection-editor:4907): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: ca

[Levy (michel-levy)]

After another try, I think that there is NO bug in nm-connection-editor, neither in network-manager-openvpn, but an incorrect format in my ovpn file coming from vpnbook.com.
I have tried with another site (not free) ipvanish.com and I can save the connection.

[smlx (sml)]

The solution to this bug is to start:

nm-connection-editor

in the terminal. Terminal messages will tell you which entries the connection considers invalid.

For example, when using certificates it is not possible to save the connection without entering a password - if you want to be prompted for a password each time, just enter a dummy password to allow you to save the connection.

[Paul McCann (ismisepaul)]

Same issue and starting nm-connection-editor does not solve the problem.

Adding an OpenVPN connection with;
Connection Name
Gateway
Type=Password
Username
Password
CA=None

when I run nm-connection-editor I can see the terminal throw error

** (nm-connection-editor:7787): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: ca

This leaves the save button grayed out and I am unable to join my VPN network

Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS

[Peter Kuykendall (peterkuykendall-f)]

Same issue here. However I may have stumbled onto the solution. I was getting the same diagnostic messages as Paul McCann, to wit:

[Paul] when I run nm-connection-editor I can see the terminal throw error

[Paul] ** (nm-connection-editor:7787): WARNING **: Invalid setting VPN: ca

[Paul] This leaves the save button grayed out and I am unable to join my VPN network

It turns out this was due to me not having entered CA info, even though I chose password authentication. I don't know if this is a functional bug (demanding CA info even when using password authentication), or just a lack of indication of what's missing (e.g. a message saying "You still need to enter CA info in all cases").

This was on Linux Mint Maya.

Thanks - Pete

[Gustav (gustav1024)]

I have the same problem when I am adding an OpenVPN connection with:

- Connection name
- Gateway
- Type: Password
- User name
- Password
- CA:None

The "Save..." button stays grey!

I use Ubuntu 12.04 and I installed network-manager-openvpn-gnome.

The question is: Does anyone know a workaround or another way to establish a VPN conncection?? Many people need VPN for their work, so I do too.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager-openvpn (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Nicholas McCready (nmccready)]

My solution at http://codemonkeyseedo.blogspot.com/2013/12/ubuntu-1204-network-manager-vpn-woes.html

[Keith Callenberg (keithcallenberg)]

Many users in this thread indicated that their VPN does not require certificates. However it is possible that your VPN *does* require certificates but that these are provided within your imported OpenVPN (.ovpn) file. This was the case for me, however when I imported the .ovpn file, these certificates were not propagated.

So I highly recommend looking at your .ovpn file in a text editor. If you find <ca>, <cert> and/or <key> sections, here is a workaround:

1. Copy and paste the text between the <ca> and </ca> into a file ending with .crt.
2. Copy and paste the text between the <cert> and </cert> into a file ending with .crt.
3. Copy and paste the text between the <key> and </key> into a file ending with .crt.
4. Import your VPN settings in nm-connection-editor.
5. Select Certificates or Password with Certificates for Authentication Type (as your case may be).
6. Load the 3 files from steps 1 through 3 into their corresponding boxes.

The Save... box should now be enabled.

[rasos (rasos)]

I can confirm that the plugin network-manager-openvpn does not automagically import the certificates and thus rejects to save the settings.

Instead, you need to pull at least the ca into a .crt file as described in #33 and select it separately e.g. to use login / password authentication.

[maksim (m.arutyunyan)]

I have all the same as described in #28 with the exception that it's happen on Lubuntu 13.10 and I don't have any certificate. I only have gateway IP, username and password. "Save..." button is still grey!
Is there a step by step solution?

[maksim (m.arutyunyan)]

Hi, it seems I've got a solution.
All the people here including me wanted to establish vpn connection just using login and password, without any certificates. I guess we were barking up the wrong tree using openvpn.
The right thing to do is this:

sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp
sudo network-manager restart

Then click to NetworkManager -> Configure VPN -> +Add -> Point-To-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) in VPN section. That's it!

[oldspammer (ckskinner)]

My DNS lookups were very very slow. I was using DHCP on one wired interface, so Google search indicated that Settings, Network, Select interface (wired ethernet), Edit, Select IPV4 tab, input additional DNS Servers, Apply or Save would keep settings and cause DNS to be a bit quicker.

However, when landing on the IPV4 tab to edit the wired ethernet connection, the Save button is not greyed out and with no settings changes to the Additional DNS Servers entry form field in this dialog box would probably save the "no settings changes done thus far" and thereby perform what would amount to a "No Operation" to the network settings.

As soon as any characters or a legitimate IPV4 address list is/are added to the Additional DNS Servers field, the Save button greys out so that it will not save _ANY_ change made. This is completely the opposite behavior required of the form. If this is for security purposes it is wrong because the operation of saving should ask for super user / su / administrator credentiails / permissions to make the saved change and then reject the update if the credentials are not supplied or whatever the standard behavior is supposed to be.

[Bruno Girin (brunogirin)]

I have the problem on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with OpenVPN when trying to set up a VPN connection with "Password" type.