In Mac OS X 10.11, Opening a VPN connection window with the command line gives me an error

Question

On Mac OS X <= 10.10, I could run the following command to open a VPN connection window:

function go-vpn {
/usr/bin/env osascript <<-EOF
tell applicatio         


        

Answer 1

The Problem: The issue was I got this error.

Can’t get «class svce» "MY VPN" of «class locc» of «class netp» of application "System Events".

System Events got an error: Can’t get service "My VPN" of current location of network preferences. (-1728)

The Reason: I am using IKEv2 services. It seems the Apple Script (which I found all over the internet) fails to work with this. You can find details in the link below.

The solution: Timac wrote a script to solve this problem. I simply downloaded the precompiled app here. https://blog.timac.org/2018/0719-vpnstatus/

If you are interested in the source code that makes it work, you can find it on GitHub here: https://github.com/Timac/VPNStatus

You can also dig deeper into the problem if you are that sort of person on that link. It gives details.

If you are simply looking for a solution to Auto Connect your VPN, the VPNstatus app worked for me.

Answer 2

use shell script instead:

scutil --nc start "$service"    #connect
scutil --nc stop "$service"     #disconnect

Answer 3

VPN="YOUR_VPN_NAME"
IS_CONNECTED=$(test -z `scutil --nc status "$VPN" | grep Connected` && echo 0 || echo 1);

if [ $IS_CONNECTED = 1 ]; then
  scutil --nc stop "$VPN"
else
  scutil --nc start "$VPN"
fi

Answer 4

Further to Oliver's answer, in macOS 10.12.6, the output of scutil --nc status has changed so that the match 'Connected' also matches for 'ConnectedCount'. Not sure in which version of macOS this changed.

I've made a slight change to the test to just look at the first line of output, which is really what needs to be checked.

VPN="YOUR_VPN_NAME"
IS_CONNECTED=$(test -z `scutil --nc status "$VPN" | head -n 1 | grep Connected` && echo 0 || echo 1);
if [ $IS_CONNECTED = 1 ]; then
  scutil --nc stop "$VPN"
else
  scutil --nc start "$VPN"
fi

This works for me on macOs 10.12.6. Hope it helps others.

Answer 5

I'm using scutil instead, and it works flawlessly on OS X 10.11

set vpn_name to "'VPN Connection Name'"
set user_name to "my_user_name"
set otp_token to "XYZXYZABCABC"

tell application "System Events"
    set rc to do shell script "scutil --nc status " & vpn_name
    if rc starts with "Connected" then
        do shell script "scutil --nc stop " & vpn_name
    else
        set PWScript to "security find-generic-password -D \"802.1X Password\" -w -a " & user_name
        set passwd to do shell script PWScript
        -- installed through "brew install oath-toolkit"
        set OTPScript to "/usr/local/bin/oathtool --totp --base32 " & otp_token
        set otp to do shell script OTPScript
        do shell script "scutil --nc start " & vpn_name & " --user " & user_name
        delay 2
        keystroke passwd
        keystroke otp
        keystroke return
    end if
end tell