I had this issue a while back while working from home using my company laptop. Our company utilizes the Juniper VPN client software and up until recently it had been working just fine! One day while working remote my VPN connection kept closing with the error:
“The Network Connect session terminated. Do you want to reconnect? (nc.windows.app.23711).”
I did some Googling and I came across this support manual from Juniper which discusses the error codes/messages returned by the VPN client software and what could be causing the issue. Error code 23711 Juniper describes the problem as:
“The Network Connect client disconnected from the secure gateway because the
client’s routing table was altered.”
I thought to myself, “What the hell could be changing my routing table?” At first I suspected it might have been a VPN tunneling issue with my Apple Airport Extreme but that known issue has been fixed since early 2007. The issue obviously was being caused by something on my company laptop.
I tried different media (wired vs. wireless) and also updated and rolled back different network drivers to no avail. Another long Google search put me upon this blog entry at kevinluck.com where he states:
After a bit of googling I found out that there were complaints about the early betas of CS3 and the Bonjour service that they installed affecting networking. And this is what was causing my problem. If you press Ctrl-Alt-Del and look at your processes then you will find a “mDNSResponder.exe” service running after installing Flash CS3. Ending this process allows you to connect through Network Connect.
Presto! Stopping that Process and eventually uninstalling the Bonjour application from my computer fixed my VPN disconnection problem! A big THANK YOU to kevinluck.com for being a great resource and I hope that this blog entry helps others trouble shoot the same issue I had with our Juniper VPN client!
Lord knows I was ready to pull my hair out 
#1 by lak on April 24, 2008 - 8:59 PM
Thanks a bunch for this article. I have been pulling my hair for the last 2 weeks. I had Bonjour installed in my PC as I am using a apple wireless card to connect to my wireless printer. Disconnecting the service you mentioned above solved my problem.
#2 by sdperson on May 1, 2008 - 1:03 AM
wow – thanks for this, i was getting totally frustrated then i found this post. found the mDNSResponder.exe which I assume came along with iTunes, killed it – and now i’m connected to my work network!
#3 by Brian on May 9, 2008 - 10:29 AM
Is there a different service name for the Vista OS? I do not have the “mDNSResponder.exe” service running but I am having the exact same problem. I’m trying to use Juniper VPN and I keep getting disconnected. I do have itunes and airport express. Thanks!
#4 by Mark on May 13, 2008 - 6:29 AM
Wonderful post! I have been fighting this for a couple of days now and by simply ending the mDNSResonder.exe process, I am able to VPN. I recently installed Adobe InDesign from their CS3 package and I also have different Apple applications. Is there a simple way to see which program is initiating this specific process?
Thanks!
#5 by eric on May 15, 2008 - 3:10 PM
I believe it’s added to your registry to startup when your computer starts.
Take a look in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
In there you should probably see a registry key which tells windows to start the “mDNSResponder.exe” to automatically start when Windows boots up.
Or you could just uninstall Bonjour (if it was installed as its own program, as it was on my PC).
Cheers!
#6 by saurav on June 16, 2008 - 10:31 AM
I faced exactly the same problem and tried the same solution….It worked…:-)
Thanks a lot for putting up this information
Saurav M
#7 by Sherry on July 9, 2008 - 4:52 AM
Is there a different service name for the Vista OS? I do not have the “mDNSResponder.exe” service running but I am having the exact same problem. I’m trying to use Juniper VPN and I keep getting disconnected. I do have itunes and airport express. Thanks!
#8 by eric on July 9, 2008 - 7:43 AM
iTunes and Airport Express are both known to install the Bonjour client.
Check your “Add/Remove Programs” for the Bonjour client and Uninstall if it’s listed.
#9 by Venkat on July 14, 2008 - 10:16 AM
Awesome.Now i’m able to connect to my office network.
#10 by Ralph N on July 16, 2008 - 8:55 AM
I’m having this problem, but it wasn’t because of Bonjour. I found the culprit, but I have no real solution.
This same error happens on my laptop, ONLY over the wireless connection, AFTER upgrading to vista SP1.
I had to reformat again, and take it slow to see what part of my install was causing it. I confirmed it was vista SP1 after installing and uninstalling it. The service pack must have made some extra changes to the way it treats the routing tables which makes juniper unhappy.
This is the second time i’ve given Vista a chance, and the second time i’m going back to XP. I’ll try again in maybe 6 months…
#11 by Emanuele Grosso on September 26, 2008 - 2:53 AM
Great Tip !
works fine
ciao
#12 by Warren Otoshi on October 1, 2008 - 8:18 AM
I was struggling with this issue for nearly a week before coming across this.
Once I killed the service the connection sticks.
Thank you for posting this!
#13 by Underheight on October 7, 2008 - 6:49 AM
Very nice!
On my XP Pro PC, I just did Start… Run… services.msc and stopped the service.
Network Connect worked again instantly.
I also disabled the service then uninstalled in Add/Remove Programs just to be safe.
#14 by Jorge on October 16, 2008 - 12:14 PM
Thanks for the great tip. I actually installed iTunes a few days ago and I was able to localize the problem to that installation. However, without knowing specifically about the mDNSResonder.exe process, it would have taken me weeks.
Word!
#15 by Oren on October 25, 2008 - 10:51 AM
THANK YOU – YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER.
Boy that article just saved me 10 hours
#16 by AJD on November 3, 2008 - 6:33 PM
Awesome! Not even my IT could figure it out. I start and stop bonjour service in services.msc as I use apple tv and juniper on this computer. works like a charm. Thanks!!
#17 by Venkat Subra on November 6, 2008 - 12:36 AM
Great help Man!! It was really helpful to connect to the network.. awesome!! keep doing the good work..Saved my much of time..thanks
#18 by eric on November 6, 2008 - 9:38 AM
YOU’RE WELCOME!
This problem plagued me for the longest time as well. I’ve actually had the same issue now with Vista SP1 (not running iTunes) and Windows 2008 Server and the Juniper VPN client.
I believe it has to do with the Wireless Services Client but I’m not 100% sure yet.
#19 by Dan on November 8, 2008 - 7:47 AM
Thank you! This is another fine example of what makes the internet so great. I was wondering what could be changing my routing table?
You’re a life saver.
#20 by Abhinav on November 12, 2008 - 11:18 PM
excllent solution………..
i was facing this problem since long time …..
thanx a lot
#21 by Jerry R on November 14, 2008 - 11:23 AM
To echo others, THANK YOU!!! I had the same issue, but niDNSResponder.exe was causing it. I suspect it was installed when I installed National Instruments’ LabView 8.6. I didn’t find it in the registry… I’ll post more when I find a cure.
#22 by Nate on November 19, 2008 - 3:40 PM
That worked fantastically. Thanks a bunch.
#23 by xuliang on November 21, 2008 - 6:48 AM
thank you so much , sir
i meet the same problem you meet
and it solved !!!
#24 by Duncan Mundell on November 24, 2008 - 1:39 AM
I can confirm, Vista SP1 Wireless displays this issue regardless of whether you have Adobe products (or bonjour) installed. I have not found a solution, bar connecting a wired network which doesn’t show the same symptoms.
#25 by Fairoz Khan on November 25, 2008 - 5:37 AM
Hi Thanks very much.its start working
#26 by Henry on November 28, 2008 - 5:16 AM
I meet the same problem and it solved in this way!!!
thank you so much , sir
#27 by Jerry R on December 9, 2008 - 10:38 AM
National Instruments says that disabling the “nimDNSResponder” and “niLxiDiscovery” services is the best solution to the problem. They have issued a Corrective Action Request for future versions of LabView. The part of LabView that uses nimDNSResponder and the associated niLxiDiscovery are used to find LXI-enabled instruments connected to your PC.
#28 by Katy on December 15, 2008 - 1:56 PM
Hi
Thanks a lot.
The service came when installing Itunes, and i started really worriyng.
Now it works right
cheers
#29 by Arnold on December 29, 2008 - 4:48 PM
Simple. You have to stop service: ##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762##
and everything will be OK
#30 by Durga Prasad on February 19, 2009 - 6:31 AM
You are the MAN. Every one said it and I am saying again, you are a true life saver. Yes, Internet is so worty and this example proved it again. This bullshit problem troubled me for few minutes, before I found your article. So, I spent about a max of 10 mins, instead of few days. I am sure, even my IT folks couldn’t have found the problem. A big heartful salute to you. Thanks thanks thanks.
#31 by MasterEvilAce on February 19, 2009 - 1:52 PM
Has anyone gotten the juniper network connect to work on Windows 7 (64bit if it’s any relevance…)
I can connect, i get an IP… and then it disconnects me.. only thing i’ve noticed is that my RECEIVE bytes dont’ go up, and the encryption/etc are all defaults ..
I’ve successfully connected using Windows 7 maybe 3 or 4 times, but it takes a couple hours of disconnecting/reconnecting for it to work.
The bonjour service is not running and not even installed.
Anyone got any ideas?
#32 by Conrad on April 1, 2009 - 1:24 AM
Hi,
This is indeed an issue on Vista SP1 Wireless, and sometimes Wired connectinos too regardless of Bonjour being installed.
If you want a fix, you need to go into the TCP/IP properties of the network interface you are using, and choose “Advanced…” Under interface metric, untick “Automatic Metric” and enter “1″ in the box.
Seems to be an issue with the Vista TCP/IP stack but doesn’t affect *all* installations.
Cheers,
Con
#33 by Mike on June 23, 2009 - 6:16 PM
I had this issue with Vista SP1 Wireless without Bonjour installed. Conrad’s tip of modifying the TCP/IP properties did the trick for me. Thanks for the help!
#34 by Doug on October 28, 2009 - 4:10 AM
Wanted to add my thanks for the great fix. Had just installed Photoshop CS3, so I was suspicious, and my IT dept knew about Bonjour (told us to uninstall prior to intalling Juniper), but I hadn’t called them yet. Now I don’t have to–thanks! (P.S. I didn’t have Bonjour but killing mDNSResponder.exe was the fix)
#35 by Shashibhushan Gokhale on February 2, 2010 - 5:44 PM
Hi,
When I used to connect from home to my company network through my personal laptop running Vista SP1, the connection used to drop every now and then. I called our company IT Service desk and they gave steps like
1. Connect to different switch – VPN url (our company runs multiple switches spread across geographies).
2. Uninstall bonjour service which comes with Apple applications (I was not running this service as I do not run any Apple application),
3. Uninstall Java installed on my laptop
4. Clear browser cache, etc.
However none of it fixed the problem. I was about to bring my laptop to office to hand it over to IT service desk for them to fix it, when I tried to do some googling. I found the post by Conrad above. I applied the above step to all network adapters on my laptop (LAN connection – wired, wireless and Juniper) and it solved my problem. Hence, thought of sharing it with you, so that other users facing this problem can fix it.
Thanks,
Shashi
#36 by Frederico P on February 27, 2010 - 5:38 AM
In my case was Nokia Maps Updater.
Uninstalled it and everythings ok.
#37 by Alan Copeland on May 7, 2010 - 8:44 AM
Can you update this to say that it is not an issue for Vista and Win 7, just for XP?