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configuration of VPN for use by firefox

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  • Last reply by PrettyPolly

I have Cisco Connect VPN running but Firefox doesn't appear to be configured to use it. How is the link set-up, please? PP

I have Cisco Connect VPN running but Firefox doesn't appear to be configured to use it. How is the link set-up, please? PP

Chosen solution

There are other things that need attention.

Your System Details list shows that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file will only be present if you or other software has created this file and normally won't be present.

You can check its content with a text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

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All Replies (4)

Assuming the VPN sets up at the system level -- by inserting itself into the Windows network stack -- Firefox should use it by default.

You can check that setting here:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the search box at the top of the page, type proxy and Firefox should filter to the "Settings" button, which you can click.

The default of "Use system proxy settings" piggybacks on your Windows/IE "LAN" setting. "Auto-detect" can lead to a flaky connection. You could test "No proxy".

Now... it's possible the Cisco client software doesn't send all traffic through the VPN, but only traffic pertinent to the remote network. That kind of bandwidth sparing setting might be in the Cisco software, router, or firewall. But I would expect Firefox to work similarly to IE in that regard.

Sorry, the above assumes you start your VPN client using its own icon before trying to connect to resources that require the VPN. If you were asking how to make Firefox start up the VPN client, I don't know if that is possible.

Chosen Solution

There are other things that need attention.

Your System Details list shows that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file will only be present if you or other software has created this file and normally won't be present.

You can check its content with a text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

Thank you for all your help in moving me forward. PP