How to remember password in FortiClient VPN?

Solution 1:

  1. Open FortiClient console.
  2. Press button Backup in System section.
  3. Save your configuration in vpn.conf file (No password).
  4. Open vpn.conf in text editor.
  5. Find string: <show_remember_password>0</show_remember_password>
  6. Modify to: <show_remember_password>1</show_remember_password>
  7. Save changes.
  8. Press button Restore in System section FortiClient console.
  9. Select your changed vpv.conf file. Now you can see Save Password checkbox and you can save your password.

Solution 2:

I had the same issue in OSX (Sierra) using Forticlient 5.4.1.I ended up editing the following file: [May be in a different location for you depending how app was installed - look at long answer below if it doesn't exist]

sudo vim /Library/Application\ Support/Fortinet/FortiClient/conf/vpn.plist

To change the following two zeroes to ones:

...
<dict>
        <key>YOUR_VPN_CONNECTION_NAME_HERE</key>
        <dict>
                <key>AllowAutoConnect</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
                <key>AllowKeepRunning</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
                <key>AllowSavePassword</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
...

Save and then simply open again and the checkboxes to save will be available now, unlike before.

You could also use the same thing to save some vpn settings for auto rollout of machines by script (instead of manual setup for each user)

For those interested, the way I found it was simple:

  1. Open Forticlient Console

  2. In terminal run "sudo opensnoop | grep Forti"

  3. In forticlient console quickly add a new vpn

  4. (CNTl-C) terminal and then search through output

  5. File above was most obvious sounding one and quick look showed a good outlook.

  6. Edit as above and it works.

Solution 3:

According to the official documentation, "How to activate Save Password, Auto Connect, and Always Up in FortiClient", the availability of this option (and some others) is decided by the server administrator, using the config setting set save-password enable.

You can currently override this by tampering with the show_* options in the registry; specifically, HLKM\Software\Wow6432Node\Fortinet\Forticlient\sslvpn\<name>\show_remember_password = 1
Then if 'save password' is checked during login, the client will encrypt the password into the DATA1 and DATA2 values, and even though the server may hide the checkboxes again, the saved password will stay. To clear it, edit the connection's settings and switch auth back to 'Prompt on login'.

EDIT: As posted by Igor half a year later, a much more structured solution is to export the config file, alter it and then load it back in. There are various useful settings you might want to tweak. You can also re-use the config file when deploying to multiple hosts or re-installing.

Solution 4:

For windows and Forticlient VPN (Not only named Forticlient) 6 or above version:

  1. Open the FortiClient.
  2. Press the config symbol.
  3. Press the button Backup.
  4. Save your configuration in vpn.conf file.
  5. Open your vpn.conf in text editor.
  6. Find the string: show_remember_password (it must be 0)
  7. Modify to: 1
  8. Find the string again show_remember_password under user_configuration.
  9. Modify to: data="1"
  10. Save changes.
  11. Find button Restore under config again.
  12. Firstly, click lock icon(this button enable to restore operation) and then click restore.
  13. Select your changed vpn.conf file. Now you can see Save Password checkbox and you can save your password.
  14. This checkbox may be disappear after first using. Don't worry, if your password changes, do it again these steps.

Solution 5:

FortiClient 6.4: In Windows regedit, go to

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Fortinet\FortiClient\Sslvpn\Tunnels\<vpn name>

and set the value of show_remember_password to 1.