Edge Client Configuration Data Corrupted

This could be due to corruption of C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\F5 Networks\VPN\client.f5c”

And it happens probably due to non proper shut down of the PC or the process.

We have a similar issue with some users seeing that message (build 7110,2014,807,1842). I checked the client.f5c file that kunjan mentioned above and compared it with a workstation that was working. The affected workstation was missing a bunch of XML data and the attribute was different. So I replaced the client.f5c file on the affected workstation with the file from the working computer and modified the attribute to reflect the correct username. The client seemed to work at first but upon reboot, the problem came back.

I logged into the affected workstation with another user account and the client works normally so it's isolated to a particular user profile. We tried reinstalling the client but it made no change. The client.f5c file still looks good but the message keeps appearing. It's not stopping the client from functioning, but it's annoying for the user.

Any other ideas or config files to check? I couldn't find any other config files in the C:\Users\username\AppData directory pertaining to F5. I saw a bunch on the C:\Program Files(x86) directory but since it's not affecting all users, I don't think it would be a system file.

I have been getting complaints about this as well from the users so I am just starting to investigate it now. I have used the "reset" option and it seemed to have cleared it up for a week or so but then it comes back.

I used the default customization settings on the F5 except for adding our remote host server URL in there so the users did not have to add it themselves. I downloaded the BIGIPEdgeClient.exe file from our F5 when prompted and then copied it over to my test machine and installed it with the default options. Our server was already there so all I had to do was click the Connect button. It worked fine the first few times, then I got the error message at one point. I might have left it on overnight, but I have done that several times since and I haven't gotten the error before or during or after reconnecting, so that doesn't seem directly related.

I definitely want to find an answer to this as we are preparing to roll out the Edge Client to a lot of machines in the domain due to the browser plug-ins losing support.

Mike, sounds like we're on the same boat. I've opened a case with F5 support and we've tried various things but have yet to reach a resolution. Let me ask you this, do you guys use redirected profiles for your AD accounts? Can you have an affected user login with their account to another machine that has the F5 client installed and see if they have the issue there?

We use redirected profiles and the issue appears to be user-specific and not machine-specific. I've tested with accounts that don't use redirected profiles and they work just fine on the same machines that other users have issues with. We've tried modifying, replacing, and removing the config file at C:\Users(username)\AppData\Roaming\F5 Networks\VPN\client.f5c with no change.

Interestingly enough, I downloaded the BIGIPEdgeClient.exe from another F5 (we have production and lab ones) and it seemed to resolve the issue for one user, yet another user continued to have issues. F5 support gave me another client to test that came from one of their F5's but it made no difference.

Hi sinamotamedi, we are not using redirected profiles. Local profiles only. We are using version 11.4.1 HF8 currently. I was thinking about upgrading but couldn't until now since we didn't have an HA partner. I just got that set up, but I can't upgrade just yet since I have to replace the internal HA LTM pair first, but I would like to get up to 11.5.x to hopefully resolve some lingering 11.4.1 issues.

I wonder if I could do that just enough to get the newer edge client and if it would work okay with the older F5 version? Maybe update the standby and roll it back when finished. Hmmm.

We're running on 11.6.0 (upgraded from 11.3 few months ago) and experience the same issue. I'm getting ready to go to HF5 next week but not totally convinced it will fix the problem. So you're using AD domain accounts with local profiles? So I assume if you login to another computer with an affected user account, you are not able to replicate the issue?

I haven't gotten into any real troubleshooting process yet since it only came up from a user yesterday and I had only seen it once before about a week ago, but I will definitely include that as a step to try. We only have a few people with the edge client now, just a small pilot group in IT mostly.

If the problem is still in 11.6 then I don't guess upgrading will help me there. I am tempted to set the config.f5c file to read only, there is no reason for them to change anything in and I really don't even want them looking at it. I am not sure why it would get corrupted, but maybe this will block that from happening.

Yeah that's not a bad thing to try. What's odd, however, is that I replaced that config.f5c file with a copy from a user that wasn't having issues and then I modified the username attribute in the config file to reflect the correct username and the corrupted message still appeared.

Sounds like we're in the same exact situation. We have about 4-5 IT folks testing it and unfortunately, two of them have the problem. We're about a week from going live and were hoping to use the client as a way around the incompatibilities with Chrome and potentially other browsers down the road.

i dealt with this issue for a few hours. Support articles had me deleting devices and having them reinstall, looking at netstat for conflicting port assignments.

Easy answer?

It's a corrupt config file

If you're on a AD managed laptop where the user profile in C:\Users is generated based on a set of rules:

Navigate to "C:\Users(username with the issue)\AppData\Roaming"

Delete ".\F5 Networks\VPN\client.f5c”

Restart.

Issue disappears.