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When user clicks to connect to a VPN in Windows 10, and clicks away from the username/password prompt, the prompt never comes back

Richard chase 16 Reputation points
2021-10-22T19:53:03.36+00:00

Ok so, I have a client that has about 30 computers and they all connect to their server via VPN. I've been able to reproduce this issue on multiple computers. When the user clicks from the network icon and hits connect to their VPN, the username and password prompt shows up. If they put in their details, it works. However if they accidentally click anything else outside of that window, the prompt dissappears and will never come back, making it impossible to connect to the VPN. It will forever say "action needed" and even if you bring it up again and hit connect, it just stays that way forever. The only way to connect to the VPn is to reboot the PC and try again.

Windows 10 Network
Windows 10 Network
Windows 10: A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.Network: A group of devices that communicate either wirelessly or via a physical connection.
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  1. Philip Uren 11 Reputation points
    2022-09-18T23:33:53.703+00:00

    To resolve this problem, go to Network and Internet Settings, then go to VPN, then for the VPN you were trying to connect, click on Connect; it will ask you for your password.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Naitz 10 Reputation points
    2023-04-17T08:22:20.8666667+00:00

    Hi @Richard chase , don't know if you are still searching for a solution to get rid of the "action needed" trap ;-). BTW you can kill the process "CredentialUIBroker.exe" from task manager or from command prompt running [taskkill /F /IM "CredentialUIBroker.exe"] or and retry connecting. Regards
    Naitz

    2 people found this answer helpful.
  3. Gary Reynolds 9,391 Reputation points
    2021-10-22T21:23:58.837+00:00

    Hi @Richard chase

    It sounds like the credentials dialog is being hidden behind the current window, here are a few things to try.

    Try pressing Alt-Tab to cycle through the windows to see if you can get focus on the credential window

    Open the VPN client again and then press Alt-F4 to try closing the window and then open it again to see if you get the credential dialog back

    Open the VPN client and press Alt-Space to open the system menus and see if you can move the window so it's visible.

    Gary.

  4. TW 1 Reputation point
    2022-09-14T09:07:14.383+00:00

    Hi @Richard chase ,
    I have the same issue on my laptop (Win10 Enterprise). I've had to recreate the VPN connection. I'll see if the issue comes back, but what I found was, that when I initially set the connection up, I saved a username and password. Then realizing I needed to run several accounts with the same VPN, I had two choices — Create a new connection for each account or use the same connection without saving the username and password. So, I cleared the username and password. This worked fine for a few connections. But then this issue came up. So, in troubleshooting I found this question and @Gary Reynolds comment. Unfortunately that didn't work...

    When I went to advanced options > edit on the connection, I found that the last used account was listed in username and a password masking was shown rather than blank, as I would expect when I hadn't put in a username and password. I'm pretty certain this is a bug that Microsoft will need to resolve.

    If you or anyone else has found a permanent resolution or a root cause, please share your findings.

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  5. LANMANTA 0 Reputation points
    2023-03-14T14:49:10.51+00:00

    That issue still exists (just like Richard described) even on Windows 11 box.

    I have confirmed (and validated as a MS Engineer) this is a windows coding problem and not a end user misconfiguration. I concur, this is an issue Microsoft needs to fix, of which I may add, should have been identified and fixed long ago. This isn't a new issue and to replicate across two operating systems, is unacceptable.

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