WiscVPN - Troubleshooting the Palo Alto GlobalProtect Client (MacOS)

How to identify Palo Alto GlobalProtect Driver issues on MAC Clients

Issue: The GlobalProtect client never connects and just 'spins'

Solution

  • Click the Apple icon in the upper left hand corner, then click 'System Preferences', then 'Security'.
  • Look for a message at the bottom of the window stating "System software from developer was blocked from loading."
  • To allow the software to load again, click the Allow button.

If that doesn't work, try the following: Remove the GlobalProtect Enforcer Kernel Extension

Additional Troubleshooting

This issue could be related to a security setting for the Mac Keychain. Properly restart the computer by clicking restart, and making sure the "Reopen windows when logging back in" is unchecked as shown here:

Restart picture

Once the computer restarts and GlobalProtect restarts upon booting back up, there will eventually be a prompt that pops up. It will ask for permission for GlobalProtect to use confidential information from the Keychain. For example:

Keychain_prompt

The password should be the computer's Admin password, or their Apple ID password. Once the password has been entered, click "Always allow". Afterward, GlobalProtect should be able to move past the "Connecting" phase and will prompt for username and password as usual.

However, if the previous troubleshooting did not work, the issue could persist because Apple added an extra layer of complexity in 10.13. The linked article has all the explanations. OS X blocks signed extensions from loading. It doesn’t load unsigned extensions at all. This is the error message from the logs:

08/22/2018 10:13:17.062325[Error 183]: Failed to load KEXT pangpd_10.9.kext, error sys_libkern:sub_libkern_kext (0x37:0x2:0xd)
    

This approval UI is only present in the Security & Privacy preferences pane for 30 minutes after the alert. Until the user approves the KEXT, future load attempts will cause the approval UI to reappear but will not trigger another user alert. See this Apple page.

Once disabled try to enable the kernel extension for GP under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and then by clicking the Allow button. The user then needs to restart after clicking Allow to start the service.

  • If the issue persist afterwards, another workaround can be tried. For this, the MAC would need to be booted into recovery mode and then from Terminal issue the command spctl kext-consent add PXPZ95SK77.
  1. Boot into Recovery Mode. Instructions can be found here.

    • Click on Utilities in the menu bar.
    • Click on Terminal.
  2. run spctl kext-consent add PXPZ95SK77 in the terminal note: PXPZ95SK77 is the unique identifier for Palo Alto Networks

  3. Reboot the MAC system.

  4. Reinstall GlobalProtect.

For troubleshooting with other versions of MacOS, please refer to the following articles from official PaloAlto GlobalProtect documentation : Remove Enforcer Kernel Extension and Enable Valid Client Certificate usage

If none of the troubleshooting steps in this document help, please call the HelpDesk and an HD agent will personally assist you.



Keywordsmac apple os macos osx macosx issue bug loading connection spins fix error globalprotect paloalto palo alto wisc vpn "connecting" "still working" hanging stuck spinning "not working" global protect issues troubleshoot troubleshooting “connection failed”   Doc ID84819
OwnerHelp Desk KB TeamGroupDoIT Help Desk
Created2018-08-10 14:05:14Updated2023-10-26 15:27:44
SitesDoIT Help Desk, Network Services
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