Mac: Disconnect after longer screen lock

[Alexander Rühl]

Hello,

I have the latest MacOS and a recent MacPro.

Currently, it's a bit annoying, that whenever I am a little time away from it and it locks the screen, Tunnelblick gets disconnected and I have to re-enter password and connect again.

It does not happen immediately, so a short screen lock keeps the connection.

Is there a way to prevent that disconnect?

Has it to do with any possible sleep mode it enters?

Thanks, Alex

[Tunnelblick Developer]

Try unchecking the boxes for under "Computer sleep/wake" and "Fast User Switching" on the "Connecting & Disconnecting" tab of the "Advanced" settings panel, which you can access by clicking the "Advanced" button on the "Settings" tab of the "Configurations" panel of the "VPN Details" window.

[Alexander Rühl]

Thanks for the info. I unchecked those, but had the same behaviour after being away for 15min.

I hope it does not require to save password?

[Tunnelblick Developer]

Please post the diagnostic info obtained by following the instructions at Read Before You Post. However, skip step 11. Instead, click the "Cancel" button and continue with step 12.

[Alexander Rühl]

Is there anything I can look for? Or essential parts I can copy without pasting the whole file?

I extracted the diagnostic, but as it's a company computer, I am not allowed to disclose everything.

[Tunnelblick Developer]

Look in the "Tunnelblick Log" section for entries from the time you lock the screen to the time you get back on the computer.

[Alexander Rühl]

Ok, this morning I startet VPN at around 6:30 and was then away for half an hour and at around 7:00 when I activated my Mac again, it prompted me for password.

In the log I see at start:

2026-04-15 06:32:54.409762 *Tunnelblick: macOS 26.4.1 (25E253); Tunnelblick 8.0.1 (build 6301); prior version 8.0 (build 6300)
2026-04-15 06:32:55.021772 *Tunnelblick: Attempting connection with XXXXXX-VPN using shadow copy; Set nameserver = 0x00000301; monitoring connection

...

2026-04-15 06:32:55.474214 OpenVPN 2.6.14 x86_64-apple-darwin [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [MH/RECVDA] [AEAD]

...

2026-04-15 06:32:55.647379 *Tunnelblick: openvpnstart log:

                           *Tunnelblick: Some entries have been removed because the log is too long

Then around 15min later I see 350 times the same log message:

2026-04-15 06:48:19.206672 AEAD Decrypt error: bad packet ID (may be a replay): [ #624294 ] -- see the man page entry for --no-replay and --replay-window for more info or silence this warning with --mute-replay-warnings
2026-04-15 06:48:19.265082 AEAD Decrypt error: bad packet ID (may be a replay): [ #624646 ] -- see the man page entry for --no-replay and --replay-window for more info or silence this warning with --mute-replay-warnings
2026-04-15 06:48:19.265156 AEAD Decrypt error: bad packet ID (may be a replay): [ #624647 ] -- see the man page entry for --no-replay and --replay-window for more info or silence this warning with --mute-replay-warnings

...

And then I see the restart:

2026-04-15 07:03:01.642076 [XXXXXX-VPN-USER] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
2026-04-15 07:03:01.786295 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
2026-04-15 07:03:01.788498 MANAGEMENT: >STATE:1776229381,RECONNECTING,ping-restart,,,,,

...

[Alexander Rühl]

I saw an additional problem:
When I re-enter my password, there seems to be a problem with some connections.
I generally have internet connection and can use internal and external sites, but some have problems and timeouts, e.g. with Outlook or Kiro CLI.

[Alexander Rühl]

Any new insights here?

[Alexander Rühl]

Recently, it often even doesn't connect at all in that situation after providing password, I have to disconnect and reconnect!