Cisco VPN Client 4.8.x install causes RUNONCE in registry to executebefore reboot!

[George]

I am building a series of scripts (basically batch files) to automate
certain tasks in Windows XP. There are several scripts I need to
run,and often multiple reboots are needed. So in order to continue
after each reboot, I simply use the RunOnce command (HKLM/Software/
Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce) to run the next script after
a reboot has occurred.

I do this by having a command in each script that just imports a reg
file into the registry which is the command for the RunOnce command.
Sounds simply enough.

The problem is when I install the Cisco VPN client (our company
requires us to use version 4.8.01.0300) at the end of the install
(right before the client install forces a reboot) it actually executes
the script in the RunOnce command in the registry!

Why does it do this?

This is a real problem for me, because it causes the next script
(which was supposed to run AFTER the reboot) to run now, and this
messes a lot of things up.

I even tried to put the next script into the Start Menu / Startup
folder instead, and it launches that too!

I found what I thought would be a solution, where I edited the file
OEM.INI (inside the the install folder for the VPN Client) and if you
edit the line that says "Reboot=2" and change it to "Reboot=1" it
suppresses the reboot. By doing this, it doesn't launch stuff in
RunOnce or the Startup folder, but now the stupid program about
halfway thru the install stops responding! So now I have to manually
pull up task manager, perform an END TASK and then I can reboot the
computer. This kind of defeats the purpose of an automatic script

I can replicate this problem on over 20 different computers (laptops,
desktops, different brands, models, etc...) So I know the problem
isn't a certain driver from a certain computer.

Does anybody have an idea what I can do?

Is there a way to get this app to install and not reboot (and not
crash)? If I could get that to work, then I could just initiate my
own reboot (via the shutdown.exe command), and that should work. Or
if the client wants to reboot itself, thats OK too, as long as it
stops launching what it finds in RunOnce and Startup!

 

[John John - MVP]

This is really a question that you should pose to Cisco.

John

 

[George]

This is really a question that you should pose to Cisco.

John

I posted it here because I am hoping that people with real world
experience with this product will reply.

Versus with Cisco, they are going to treat me like a suspect, and ask
me dumb questions like "why don't use our current (and supported)
versions?" Or something like "What XP Service pack do you have?" and
then no matter what I say, blame it on that.

I am trying to avoid wasting time with Cisco and ask the folks here
who have real world knowledge of this product and it's flaws and might
have an idea why this product is causing so many problems with it's
installer.

 

[John John - MVP]

I posted it here because I am hoping that people with real world
experience with this product will reply.

Versus with Cisco, they are going to treat me like a suspect, and ask
me dumb questions like "why don't use our current (and supported)
versions?" Or something like "What XP Service pack do you have?" and
then no matter what I say, blame it on that.

I am trying to avoid wasting time with Cisco and ask the folks here
who have real world knowledge of this product and it's flaws and might
have an idea why this product is causing so many problems with it's
installer.

Have you ever called Cisco support? I don't have tons of experience
with this but on the few occasions that I have called them I found their
support engineers to be very knowledgeable and most useful. If you
still want to get help for a Cisco product on Windows help groups you
should probably post to one of the server groups, Cisco products are
"enterprise" rather than "consumer" class and your chance of finding
folks with Cisco experience will be better if you address the
"enterprise" crowd on the sever groups.

John

 

[Ben Myers]

I am building a series of scripts (basically batch files) to automate
certain tasks in Windows XP. There are several scripts I need to
run,and often multiple reboots are needed. So in order to continue
after each reboot, I simply use the RunOnce command (HKLM/Software/
Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce) to run the next script after
a reboot has occurred.
I do this by having a command in each script that just imports a reg
file into the registry which is the command for the RunOnce command.
Sounds simply enough.
The problem is when I install the Cisco VPN client (our company
requires us to use version 4.8.01.0300) at the end of the install
(right before the client install forces a reboot) it actually executes
the script in the RunOnce command in the registry!

<snip>

Try using "runonceex" instead.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310593

Ben