openvpn submenu of network-manager unresponsive

[Andrew Tinka]

OpenVPN was previously working well. I used the Network Manager menu to access VPN configurations and connections.

Now, the "VPN Connections" menu is still present, with all my usual connections, but selecting any of the options does nothing. Also, selecting the "Configure VPN..." option does nothing.

I watched /var/log/syslog, but nothing happens when I select any of the VPN options.

I was able to access my VPN connections through "Edit Connections...", export the settings into a .conf file, and use "sudo openvpn --config connection.conf" on the command line to successfully connect. So I don't think it's a problem with OpenVPN, just with the network-manager GUI.

System info:

Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
Release: 14.04

network-manager-openvpn:
  Installed: 0.9.8.2-1ubuntu4
  Candidate: 0.9.8.2-1ubuntu4
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.8.2-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

What I expected to happen:
  1) Clicking "Configure VPN" in the "VPN Connections" submenu should bring up a configuration dialog
  2) Clicking one of the VPN connections in the "VPN Connections" submenu should start the VPN connection process, with a status message and a lock icon on the network widget when connected

What happened instead:
  1) When clicking on "Configure VPN", the menu closes, and nothing else happens
  2) When clicking on one of the VPN connections, the menu closes, and nothing else happens

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Vesa Vainio (vesa-vainio)]

I have a very similar system configuration and I'm having the exact same problem. I've been using OpenVPN from the GUI successfully for months, but just out of the blue it stopped working.

I've previously had some problems with OpenVPN GUI being unresponsive, but usually it has been corrected by reinstalling network-manager, deleting VPN configuration and importing it again. This procedure does not fix the problem this time.

I have purged the openvpn packages and reinstalled them, deleted and re-imported the VPN conf and rebooted the whole system in different combinations, but anything doesn't seem to help.

Also by running command 'killall unity-panel-service', the OpenVPN GUI becomes responsive for one command so I can click Configure VPN..., but after trying to click the actual VPN connection, nothing happens and the submenu becomes unresponsive again.

[tallien (tallien)]

I am on 14.04.3 LTS and have probably had this bug for about at least a year now, based on when the "Edit Connections" panel says my VPN connections were last used. I can't remember now when it started for me, but it was probably around the time I upgraded to 14.04.

In my case my connections are using VPNC rather than OpenVPN, but the rest of the issue seems similar.

My VPN Connections submenu is not greyed out, but clicking produces no effect. All other options on the applet menu work when clicked except for the VPN submenu.

I only just now discovered today that I could actually still get connect to a VPN using the buttons under System/Network. Prior to now I have been surviving by using sudo vpnc connect from the terminal.

So far, nothing I have tried has made the submenu responsive, including reinstalling network manager and all the plugins I could find in Synaptic.

[Mark (mark-bixbite)]

Also getting this bug on 15.04.

GUI + VPN were previously working.

As described above, network manager menus work apart from the "VPN Connections" sub-menu. Attempting to start a VPN or using the "Configure VPN..." elicits no response.

The "Edit connections..." menu item does bring up the same panel that I'd expect to see via "Configure VPN", and I can edit network connections and VPN details there, but I can still not start the VPN connection I create as it simply produces no result when I tell it to start the VPN.

I've tried reinstalling network-manager / network-manager-openvpn / network-manager-openvpn-gnome, removing all connections etc, but to no avail. Cannot find any mention in log files either.

Fun.