Stop Prompt To Install Configurations On Reboot

[bdkj...@gmail.com]

Each time I reboot my Mac, Tunnelblick (which starts at login, as desired) throws up a prompt asking me to install configurations. It's massively irritating because my configurations ARE ALREADY INSTALLED. I click "cancel" in this window and Tunnelblick works just fine.

How can I stop Tunnelblick from showing this spammy window each time my system starts up?

[Tunnelblick developer]

When you say Tunnelblick "starts as desired", what do you mean? You should not do anything to cause that to happen. For example, DO NOT set it to "Launch at Login" in the Dock, and do not make it a "Login Item" in System Preferences. Tunnelblick will launch automatically when you log in if it was running when you last logged out. For more details and other situations Tunnelblick will launch at login, see Tunnelblick Launching at Login.

The only way I can think of that you would get this message each time you log in is if you are starting Tunnelblick yourself, instead of letting it do it automatically. (Did you create some sort of Automator action or shell script to launch Tunnelblick when you log in? If so, make sure Tunnelblick is started without any arguments; arguments to Tunnelblick are paths to configurations to install.) If you want to connect to a particular VPN when Tunnelblick is launched, set the VPN to do that in the "Settings" tab of the "Configurations" panel of Tunnelblick's "VPN Details" window.

[bdkj...@gmail.com]

Negative. I have not created any Automator actions or shell scripts to launch Tunnelblick at login. It is not listed in my loginItems under System Preferences > Users.

I have tried many things to eliminate this problem, including trashing every trace of Tunnelblick on my Mac and then reinstalling it fresh. I understand that you use a hacky method to launch Tunnelblick at login. Where can I see the script that provides that launch argument?

[Tunnelblick developer]

Tunnelblick uses the macOS-standard method of running a script at Login (launchd). That script decides whether or not to launch Tunnelblick. You can see the script itself at https://github.com/Tunnelblick/Tunnelblick/blob/master/tunnelblick/launchAtLogin.sh or on your computer in the /Applications/Tunnelblick.app/Contents/Resources folder. It starts Tunnelblick without specifying any arguments, so it cannot be causing the message you are seeing.

You can try this test:

1. Quit Tunnelblick
   
2. Log out
   
3. Log back in
   

If you still get the install message, something else (not the Tunnelblick script) is launching Tunnelblick with an argument (the path to the configuration).

As to what is doing such a thing, I have no idea. Are you using Tunnelblick downloaded from the website, or is the copy you are using from a VPN service provider? Perhaps they did something odd to the copy they distribute.

There are many, many methods to create such login items. Etrecheck (free software) will list all login items (among other things) and help you find out what is causing this. Note that when looking at Etrecheck output, ignore entries for "tunnelblickd" (note the "d" at the end). That's Tunnelblick's helper daemon, which is used to execute privileged operations when connecting/disconnecting a VPN.

[bdkj...@gmail.com]

Sure thing. I used that procedure and Tunnelblick did NOT start when I logged back in.

However, when I then manually launched Tunnelblick from my /Applications folder, the same window appeared. It does not seem that your launch script is being called with any arguments; what else would cause this behavior?

[Tunnelblick developer]

You launch Tunnelblick by double-clicking it in the /Applications folder and it shows the "install a configuration" window?

Wow! I don't understand that at all.

Quit Tunnelblick, then try copy/pasting the following into /Applications/Utilties/Terminal:

open /Applications/Tunnelblick.app

That should mimic a double-click on the /Applications/Tunnelblick icon in a Finder window.

[bdkj...@gmail.com]

Done. The issue persists. See the attached screenshot:

[Tunnelblick developer]

I just remembered another way that Tunnelblick can install a configuration.

Is there is a folder named ".auto-install" or "auto-install" in the /Applications folder? If so, and if it contains configurations, Tunnelblick will try to install those configurations when it is launched from /Applications.

[bdkj...@gmail.com]

Could that folder exist at and be used from another location? It does not exist in /Applications, as shown:

[Tunnelblick developer]

There was an experimental version of Tunnelblick that installed configurations found in ".auto-install" or "auto-install" in any mounted disk named "Tunnelblick" (i.e, in /Volumes/Tunnelblick/). But modern versions of Tunnelblick don't do that.

What version of Tunnelblick are you using? Was it downloaded from the Tunnelblick website?

[Bryan Jones]

Tunnelblick 3.7.6beta04 (build 5050). Downloaded from the website originally, then updated through the in-app update mechanism.

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[Tunnelblick developer]

There's no such thing as  /Volumes/Tunnelblick, right?

The only thing I can think of is to have Tunnelblick log everything it does, which might help. To do that, copy/paste the following command into Terminal

defaults write net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick DB-ALL -bool yes

To turn off the logging, copy/paste

defaults delete net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick DB-ALL

Launch Tunnelblick by double-clicking (or whatever is easy for you), cancel the offer to install the configuration, and post the results.

You'll find a lot of entries in the Console log. Depending on your version of macOS, it might be under "All Messages", or "System Log". It should start with entries like the following:

6/8/18 8:59:28.790 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: Tunnelblick: OS X 10.11.6; Tunnelblick 3.7.6 (build 5060) Unsigned

6/8/18 8:59:28.931 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 001

6/8/18 8:59:28.989 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 002

6/8/18 8:59:28.989 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 003

6/8/18 8:59:28.989 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 004

6/8/18 8:59:28.989 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 005

6/8/18 8:59:28.990 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 006

6/8/18 8:59:28.990 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 006.1

6/8/18 8:59:28.990 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 007

6/8/18 8:59:28.991 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 008

6/8/18 8:59:28.991 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: init: 009

6/8/18 8:59:28.992 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: initialChecks: 001

6/8/18 8:59:28.992 PM Tunnelblick[34724]: DB-SU: initialChecks: 002

On Friday, June 8, 2018 at 8:47:15 PM UTC-4, Bryan Jones wrote:

Tunnelblick 3.7.6beta04 (build 5050). Downloaded from the website originally, then updated through the in-app update mechanism.

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[Bryan Jones]

There is no Tunnelblick Volume mounted. I am on macOS 10.13.5. Here is the contents of the log after enabling debug loging:

default 18:04:20.771884 -0700 launchservicesd CHECKIN:0x0-0x45045 658 net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick

default 18:04:20.936030 -0700 Tunnelblick UNIX error exception: 17

default 18:04:20.940690 -0700 Tunnelblick UNIX error exception: 17

default 18:04:20.945037 -0700 Tunnelblick UNIX error exception: 17

default 18:04:20.983251 -0700 quicklookd [QL] Unable to update access time for request <QLPreviewRequest file:///Applications/Tunnelblick.app>

default 18:04:21.886463 -0700 Tunnelblick DB-SU: applicationWillFinishLaunching: 002 -- LAST

error 18:04:22.250548 -0700 Tunnelblick Scheduling the NSURLDownload loader is no longer supported.

default 18:04:22.318410 -0700 Tunnelblick Faulting in NSHTTPCookieStorage singleton

default 18:04:22.318445 -0700 Tunnelblick Faulting in CFHTTPCookieStorage singleton

default 18:04:22.318470 -0700 Tunnelblick Creating default cookie storage with process/bundle identifier

default 18:04:22.322206 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC Enabling TLS [1:0x60c00016b580]

default 18:04:22.322252 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Start [1:0x60c00016b580]

default 18:04:22.322437 -0700 Tunnelblick Task <1FCB20D2-92A9-48F6-82E2-1E5AC690802F>.<0> setting up Connection 1

default 18:04:22.322468 -0700 Tunnelblick [1 <private> <private>] start

default 18:04:22.439738 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 1, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.547727 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 2, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.549507 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 11, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.551608 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 12, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.552575 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 14, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.563051 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Trust Result [1:0x60c00016b580]: 0

default 18:04:22.654706 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 20, Pending(0)

default 18:04:22.655031 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Connected [1:0x60c00016b580]: Err(16)

default 18:04:22.655558 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 1

default 18:04:22.655802 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 8

default 18:04:22.655828 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TLS Handshake Complete [1:0x60c00016b580]

default 18:04:22.656881 -0700 Tunnelblick Task <1FCB20D2-92A9-48F6-82E2-1E5AC690802F>.<0> now using Connection 1

default 18:04:22.657091 -0700 Tunnelblick Task <1FCB20D2-92A9-48F6-82E2-1E5AC690802F>.<0> sent request, body N

default 18:04:22.741902 -0700 Tunnelblick Task <1FCB20D2-92A9-48F6-82E2-1E5AC690802F>.<0> received response, status 200 content K

default 18:04:22.742209 -0700 Tunnelblick Task <1FCB20D2-92A9-48F6-82E2-1E5AC690802F>.<0> response ended

default 18:04:22.758273 -0700 Tunnelblick CSSM Exception: -2147415792 CSSMERR_CSP_INVALID_KEY

default 18:04:22.769026 -0700 Tunnelblick UNIX error exception: 17

default 18:04:30.787614 -0700 Tunnelblick LSExceptions shared instance invalidated for timeout.

default 18:04:42.848284 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Event [1:0x60c00016b580]: 2

default 18:04:42.848336 -0700 Tunnelblick TIC TCP Conn Cancel [1:0x60c00016b580]

default 18:04:42.848638 -0700 Tunnelblick [1 <private> stream, pid: 658, url: https://tunnelblick.net/appcast-v2-b.rss, tls] cancelled

[1.1 027431F2-1261-4D41-812C-A645C3DAE78B <private>.49405<-><private>]

Connected Path: satisfied (Path is satisfied), interface: en0, ipv4, dns

Duration: 20.526s, DNS @0.000s took 0.025s, TCP @0.029s took 0.085s, TLS took 0.217s

bytes in/out: 6057/661, packets in/out: 7/3, rtt: 0.084s, retransmitted packets: 0, out-of-order packets: 3

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[Tunnelblick developer]

(1) There are a lot of what sound like bad errors (what is UNIX error exception: 17?)

(2) There should have been a lot more entries. The first ones should have been as in my earlier email. Any idea what happened to them? In 10.13, you might need to open Console, view System Log, clear the log display, and then launch Tunnelblick to get all the entries.

[Bryan Jones]

Figured it out. In /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/ there is a folder named “tblks”. In that folder were 18 subfolders with names like “US Midwest_14” or “UK Southhampton_10”. Each of those contained one *.tblk file. I trashed the whole “tblks” folder and also the “users” folder under /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick with the app not running. On the next launch, I was prompted for my password for Tunnelblick to “secure” the app, but I was not prompted to install configurations. 

[Tunnelblick developer]

That's something your VPN service provider had installed, part of something called "updatable configurations", and apparently it wasn't working correctly. Who is your VPN service provider? (You can email me privately at devel...@tunnelblick.net if you prefer to keep that private.)