Out of the sudden problems with Tunnelblick (3.8.8c+d)

[Jens Köhler]

Hi there, 

out of the sudden I have huge problems with Tunnelblick connecting to my VPN provider. I think(!) the issues are related to Tunnelblick, not the the OpenVPN connection.

Yesterday I shutdown my MacBook (Ventura 13.4.1 (c)) working all day long with Tunnelblick, today I can't connect to VPN anymore:

Unfortunately the enforced translation prevents me from posting the english loglines, so I translated them with Deepl and hope its close enough to the original:

1) "Tunnelblick could not find the configuration file or the configuration file could not be cleaned. Details can be found in the console log."

2) "Tunnelblick could not find a 'do' or 'tap' option in the OpenVPN configuration file"

Sometimes Tunnelblick says something like "changed configuration detected - do you want to save it or restore to the last known working configuration"? I picked the latter, which failed.

What did I try:

1) Quit & Restart Tunnelblick

2) Restart my Mac (not restoring running applications)

3) Removing the profile and re-adding it

4) Uninstall Tunnelblick (3.8.8c), install 3.8.8d - re-add configuration

Nothing. Same problems as before. The console log is too much to handle even when filtering to problems and errors (problem here is: I don't know what's "normal").

So my questions are:

1) Are there any leftovers I could/should check after uninstalling Tunnelblick?

2) Anything I should look for in the Console log?

Thank you!

[Christopher Bowden-Hawkins]

I have the same issue and tried openvpn and get an unknown/unsupported options error 

[Tunnelblick developer]

Please try Tunnelblick 3.8.8b, from the Deprecated Downloads page.

[Christopher Bowden-Hawkins]

Thanks this worked for me 

[Jens Köhler]

Thanks! This worked. Even upgrading to 3.8.8c worked.

(Only thing I deleted by my own was /Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd (only contained 2 zero-byte Logfiles (stderr and stdout).)

What's really strange is - it's working again and for unknown reasons. After not working before with the very same version (3.8.8c) and configuration.

What's also interesting - Tunnelblick still knew about the previously installed version: "2023-08-09 14:58:07.793155 *Tunnelblick: macOS 13.4.1 (22F770820d); Tunnelblick 3.8.8c (build 5778); prior version 3.8.8d (build 5779)"

[Ed Salkeld]

I've also encountered this. Much as described above: had been working absolutely fine on 3.8.8c, started up this morning and received a lot of spurious config errors. None of the options I tried made any difference:
- rolling back config

- securing config

- removing and replacing config 

- installing 3.8.8d

Found this thread and uninstalled, replacing with the deprecated 3.8.8b. Worked straight away.

[Ed Salkeld]

Further update: 

Unlike Jens above, upgrading to 3.8.8c again broke immediately for me.

Uninstalling completely and starting with 3.8.8d clean also does not work. Adding my config file takes ages and then gives errors about being unable to secure the config file (permissions issue maybe?)

Error

An error (status -1) ocurred while trying to check the security of the <NAME> configuration.
Please quit and relaunch Tunnelblick. If the problem persists, please reinstall Tunnelblick.

I think this means I'm essentially stuck on 3.8.8b now, which given it's flagged as having known vulnerabilities is not ideal.

[Sean Jagat]

We have had 4 users run into this issue.

It will start with:

The <ovpn> VPN configuration has been modified since it was last secured.  Do you wish to secure the modified configuration or revert to the last secured configuration?
(Secure the Configuration / Revert to the Last Secured Copy)
Both options fail.

An error (status -1) occured while trying to check the security of the <ovpn> configuation

Please quit and relaunch Tunnelblick.  If the problem persists, please reinstall Tunnelblick.

Tunnelblick could not find the configuration file or the configuration file could not be sanitized.  See the Console Log for details.

This is happening with users on macOS 13.5 Tunnelblick version 3.8.8c+

2 users we were able to resolve the issue by deleting:
/Applications/Tunnelblick.app
/Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick
~/Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick

Restarting, and re-installing Tunnelblick, repairing the install and reinstalling the configuration.
1 user they were able to continue after installing Tunnelblick 3.8.8b.

[Markus Sauerbrey]

I had the same issue for some time now (probably since updating to 3.8.8d).

The console log said:

> Catastrophic error: Could not create ~/Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd/stdout.txt

After some trial and error it worked with a new installation "for all users" instead of "for current user only". So the configurations were stored at /Library/Application Support/Shared/.

But today, all of a sudden, it wouldn't connect with reference to the same notifications. And the console log again said this:

> Catastrophic error: Could not create /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd/stdout.txt

It seems that the app needs to write a new stdout.txt regularly (on each new connection?). The time stamp of the file was from last friday, when I last used Tunnelblick-VPN-Connection. I have no idea what changed from friday to today.

But uninstalling 3.8.8d and installing and using 3.8.8b has helped for now. Thanks for the advice!

[Michael Cleveland II]

Actually I experienced this pop-up and I just was like NOPE. Back to 3.8.8b till this get's ironed out. 

[Viacheslav Bachynskyi]

Hi,

I faced the same issue. I checked everything I could, the rights to files and directories, the correctness of the configuration files, and so on. I installed the newest version on another Mac and compared the Application Support directories on both Macs. On the second, the newest version worked without problems, but it did not have a tunnelblickd directory. I uninstalled Tunnelblick on my first Mac, deleted the tunnelblickd directory, installed the latest version of Tunnelblick and it worked without problems.

I assume that this directory appeared after installing the plugin for the Chrome browser. The plugin is called Windscribe.

четвер, 24 серпня 2023 р. о 17:08:07 UTC+3 Michael Cleveland II пише:

[Michael Cleveland II]

Is there a page on Tunnelblick that shows where you can download 3.8.8c version?

[Tunnelblick developer]

3.8.8d fixes a problem installing Tunnelblick 3.8.8c, so there is little point in trying 3.8.8c.

3.8.8b is available on the Deprecated Downloads page.

If you really insist, you can download Tunnelblick 3.8.8c and other versions from from our GitHub site.

[Tunnelblick developer]

@Viacheslav Bachynskyi -

• Are you saying that /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd existed and was a directory?
  
• And you think it was installed by a Chrome browser plugin named Windscribe?

It was not created by Tunnelblick (unless there's a bug).

The only "tunnelblickd" that should exist is Tunnelblick.app/Contents/Resources/tunnelblickd. It is a program, not. a directory. It is Tunnelblick's "daemon". It runs in the background and performs some tasks which require elevated privileges. It creates logs (text files) at /var/log/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd.log and /var/log/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd.previous.log.

[Tunnelblick developer]

@Viacheslav Bachynskyi -

I was wrong. The folder at /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd was created by Tunnelblick. I'll investigate further but offhand I don't see how deleting it would make any difference.

[Viacheslav Bachynskyi]

Yes, /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd existed and was a directory.

I have no idea which program created this directory but in my second Mac I don't have such directory.

AFAIK Windscribe uses Tunnelblick. 
I had the same error in the console log:

Catastrophic error: Could not create /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd/stdout.txt

It seems that the Tunnelblick for some reason trying to write something to stdout.txt if tunnelblickd directory exists. But it does not trying to create it if it does not exists.

вівторок, 29 серпня 2023 р. о 07:13:19 UTC+3 Tunnelblick developer пише:

[Bas Horselenberg]

I have encoutered the same issue. I noticed the following in the logs: 

```
================================================================================

Configuration preferences:

-notOKToCheckThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection = 0
-lastConnectionSucceeded = 1

================================================================================

Wildcard preferences:

-notOKToCheckThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection = 0

================================================================================

Program preferences:

skipWarningThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection = 1
``` 
(running macOS Ventura 13.5.1 and Tunnelblick version: 3.8.8d (build 5779))
The names seems similar, but not the same. Could this be the issue?

I have changed to OpenVPN for now, however I do hope this will help further this issue.

[Tunnelblick developer]

The xonfiguration preference:

     -notOKToCheckThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection = 0
will take precedence over the wildcard preference

     -notOKToCheckThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection = 0

but of course they are both 0, so the IP address will be checked.

The "skipWarningThatIPAddressDidNotChangeAfterConnection" preference means something else. If it is set to one, if the IP address check fails, the failure will be logged but no window will pop up warning about it. This is set to 1 because at some point the pop-up window's "Do not warn about this again" was checked. To reset it so the window and other similar windows will appear, click the "Reset Disabled Warnings" button the the "Preferences" panel of Tunnelblick's "VPN Details" window.

[Aditya Karmarkar]

occurs with newer beta version too.

[Cookie Monster]

Same issue here

[Paul Belloc]

same issue, had to go back to 3.8.8b to get my connection to work

[Jens Köhler]

I had the issue again even with 3.8.8b or .c - it just happenes after some time, but I still dont know what's the root cause of this. Thank god I now know what to do to fix this, so it's still there but way less problematic then before. 

1. uninstall tunnelblick

2. remove "/Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd" (not really sure if required, but it's minimal additional effort)

3. install tunnelblick 

4. import profile(s)

I even upgraded to 3.8.8d now.

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[Cookie Monster]

3.8.8d version, appears to run fine on OSX 10.14.6 (Macmini 2012) - It stopped running on OsX 13.5.2 (Macmini 2018) 2 days ago.

Could not get it to work again. Not with mentioned tricks, nor uninstalling and re-installing nor a clean profile setup from scratch.

Curious enough it has been running for the past 6 weeks without any issue on Ventura.

(seen the dates of the first comments)

Gone back to 3.8.8b now on ventura / that works fine, but as there are security issues I hope this will be fixed soon.

[Tunnelblick developer]

I can't reproduce the problem(s) and would like the Diagnostic Info from everyone who

• Is using macOS Ventura
• AND
  
• Tried Tunnelblick 3.8.8d and had a problem.
  

Please send the Diagnostic Info (using 3.8.8b, or whatever version of Tunnelblick works for you) to devel...@tunnelblick.net – you can get info about how to do that at

     https://tunnelblick.net/cBeforeYouPost.html

Please send it even if you are not able to get a working VPN connection.

I'd prefer you send the info as an email attachment, but pasting into the body of the email would be OK.

If you can also start the email with a brief summary of the problem you were having, and if you fixed it, how (deleted a folder, etc.) that would make it easier for me.

[Cookie Monster]

Update, got 3.8.8d working again on Ventura (13.5.2)

Got the 3.8.8d version to work again on MacOs Ventura via updating through 3.8.8b.
After the last post of not beeing able to reproduce the fault, thought to give it one more try (and/or send diagnostic info).

The way I got the issue solved:
- uninstall the Tunnelblick software 

- remove all remaining parts in the system (prefs/application support/caches/login items) using App Cleaner & Uninstaller

- install the Tunnelblick 3.8.8b version and getting it to work setting up a fresh clean config.

- upgrade to the 3.8.8d version.

It seems to run fine now, only lost the option to start Tunnelblick when the computer starts (is now greyed out).

although this was fine @ the previous setup. Solved it with a workaround starting Tunnelblick as login item.

[Nur Lan]

I also started getting the same repeating errors. Uninstalling and reinstalling did not work.

I can confirm that Jens Köhler's solution - also removing "/Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd" - works.

On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 1:37:24 PM UTC+2 Jens Köhler wrote:

[Claudio Pompili]

On macOS 12.7 Monterey and older Tunnelblick worked fine. I updated to Tunnelblck 3.8.8d and lasest configuration files but got errors above.

I completely uninstalled Tunnelblick/config files numerous times and reinstalled, rebooted macOS etc but still got errors.

Read this post and DL 3.8.8b about to install

[Matt Horwood]

Afternoon All,

we have just fixed a user with this issue, turns out the `/Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd` directory was the issue. `sudo rm -rf /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd`

Mayden | The Old Dairy, Melcombe Road | Bath | BA2 3LR

Tel: 01249 701100 | www.mayden.co.uk

This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the named recipient, you must not use, disclose, reproduce, copy or distribute the contents of this communication; instead, please contact the sender and delete this email from your system.

Company information | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer

[Jim Skibbie]

This also worked for me. Tunnelblick 3.8.8b was working. I could not get 3.8.8d to work, nor 3.8.8e. I would get a spinning beachball and these dialog boxes:

"Tunnelblick could not find the configuration file or the configuration file could not be

sanitized. See the Console Log for details."

"Tunnelblick could not find a 'tun' or 'tap' option in the Open VPN configuration file"

I uninstalled 3.8.8b, removed the folder /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd, reinstalled 3.8.8e and everything works again.

[Tunnelblick developer]

This is fixed in Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta11, which was released a few minutes ago.

[C. Cassel]

I had the same issue here and I just did this and worked again:

(Only thing I deleted by my own was /Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd (only contained 2 zero-byte Logfiles (stderr and stdout).)

Thanks Jens,

[Richard Leger]

Are you sure it is fixed in 4.x beta branch?

 
From my experience just reported in https://github.com/Tunnelblick/Tunnelblick/issues/759 uninstalling Tunnelblick and installing  Tunnelblick_4.0.0beta12_build_5920.dmg did not fixed the issue experienced from end-user.

Only donwgrading to  https://tunnelblick.net/iprelease/Tunnelblick_3.8.8b_build_5777.dmg did.

Just wanted to share info here for others. 

Though I did not tried yet to deleted /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd as suggested here. Though relevant as a quickfix and debug method, for general use, I would expect Tunnelblick to fix the issue by itself via uninstall/re-install a the least... or futher update/upgrade and prevent it to happen in the future update/upgrade process in measure of possible.

Just thought to share experience for info.

[Tunnelblick developer]

Only some of the problems that cause this are fixed in 4.0.0beta11.

[Tunnelblick developer]

We have released Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13, which should fix this issue.

If you are still getting "The installation or repair took too long or failed. Try again?" or "Tunnelblick could not find the configuration file…" when using 4.0.0beta13, please:

• Describe what you were doing (for example, installing a new configuration with a .tblk (or a .ovpn), replacing an old configuration, installing Tunnelblick, etc.). Please use as much detail as possible.
  

• Post that plus the info copied into the Clipboard by the "Copy Diagnostics to Clipboard" button immediately after the problem occurs. If you prefer, you could email to devel...@tunnelblick.netinstead.

[Tunnelblick developer]

Everyone: If Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13 fixes the problem for you, please post a reply saying that. Thanks.

[Luke Power]

So I encountered this issue today with Tunnelblick 3.8.8.e, and reinstalling 4.0.0beta13 worked for me

In full:

• uninstalled tunnelblick
• deleted the tunnelblickd files usingsudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd
• reinstall the beta version of tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13
• re-added the configuration file into tunnelblick
  
  I'm on MacOS 13.5.1

[Tunnelblick developer]

Thank you very much, Luke, for reporting your success with Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13.

It wasn't necessary to do the uninstalling and deletion; simply installing by double-clicking would have preserved your configuration and settings and repaired any problems with files or folders.

[Tunnelblick developer]

Tunnelblick 3.8.8f fixes this problem (or these problems).

[Valentijn Sessink]

Just saw this on an M1 Mac; 3.8.8f kept complaining, but 4.0.0beta13 worked right away. This is without trying to "sudo rm" stuff on the hard drive (as I was phone supporting a non technical user). Also we did not try to remove Tunnelblick, we just installed the beta version. Note that the user had tried to remove Tunnelblick inexpertly so we first reinstalled 3.8.8f - which immediately started to complain again about not being able to check the security of the configuration; then we installed 4.0.0beta13 and the problem vanished.

Op donderdag 30 november 2023 om 02:58:45 UTC+1 schreef Tunnelblick developer:

[Tunnelblick developer]

Thank you very much, Valentijn, for reporting that. Did you install 4.0.0beta13 – or did you update to it via Tunnelblick's built-in update function?

(That is, did you have the user double-click the Tunnelblick icon on a disk image, or have the user put a check in "Check for updates to beta versions" checkbox and then click "Check Now" button on Tunnelblick's "Preferences" panel?)

Also, if possible, please have the user compress the folder at at /Library/Application Support/tunnelblickd and email the compressed file to devel...@tunnelblick.net (assuming it still exists). (I realize that may not be possible with a non-technical user!)

[Martin Milinovsky]

Hi,

we have a case here who installed 3.8.8g on macOS - Sonoma 14.1.2 and experiences the very same problems

1) "Tunnelblick could not find the configuration file or the configuration file could not be sanitized. Details can be found in the console log."

2) "Tunnelblick could not find a 'do' or 'tap' option in the OpenVPN configuration file"

Also sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd did not help.

[Tunnelblick developer]

Have the user try Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13.

[Martin Milinovsky]

Thank you, Tunnelblick 4.0.0beta13 did the trick. Any expectations when there will be a production version available?

[Tunnelblick developer]

No, we need more feedback about the beta (your's helps!).

[Daniel Chetlin]

I had been experiencing this issue for months and was stuck on 3.8.8b; tried 3.8.8g today and still had the problem. Found this thread and installed the beta, and that has resolved it. Thank you!

[durga linux]

This worked,Thanks

[Rashid Owais]

It is all about deleting this directory /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd and restart the application again.

[Jens Köhler]

After a long time, I had this problem again (at build 3.8.8g right now). And yes:

It is all about deleting this directory /Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/tunnelblickd and restart the application again.

This was the fix (again). So there is still (again?) an issue with this directory. It was pretty much empty, besides the two (empty) logfiles.

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[Daniel Stevens]

In my case (MacOs Sonoma 14.2.1) I had to remove this directory sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/tunnelblickd In other words, the same empty directory but located in another path.

[Peter Thompson]

Thanks Daniel, +1 for me

[Raul Palma]

Thanks Daniel, also worked for me