Command Center

So this is quite frustrating:

Background:

In Ubuntu 9.04 I had a VPN connection configured in order to use
Witopia. It worked.

Under Ubuntu 9.04 I used these
instructions to set everything up.

I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 and now it doesn't work.

Problem:

In Network Manager, under VPN Connections, when I select my "openvpn"
connection I get this error message:

The vpn connection 'openvpn' failed because the VPN
service failed to start.

More Info:

Here is what it says in Sys Log:

(notice what I have highlighted in red)

Nov  7 21:05:21 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager:
<info>  Starting VPN service
'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn'...

Nov  7 21:05:21 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn' started
(org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn), PID 1974

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn' just appeared,
activating connections

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
plugin state changed: 1

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
plugin state changed: 3

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
connection 'openvpn' (Connect) reply received.

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop
NetworkManager: <WARN>  nm_vpn_connection_connect_cb(): VPN
connection 'openvpn' failed to connect: 'No VPN secrets!'.

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop
NetworkManager: <WARN>  connection_state_changed(): Could not
process the request because no VPN connection was active.

Nov  7 21:05:22 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  Policy
set 'Auto eth0' (eth0) as default for routing and DNS.

Nov  7 21:05:35 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <debug>
[1257624335.001600] ensure_killed(): waiting for vpn service pid 1974 to
exit

Nov  7 21:05:35 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <debug>
[1257624335.001766] ensure_killed(): vpn service pid 1974 cleaned up

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  Starting
VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn'...

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn' started
(org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn), PID 1978

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn' just appeared,
activating connections

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
plugin state changed: 3

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  VPN
connection 'openvpn' (Connect) reply received.

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <WARN>
 nm_vpn_connection_connect_cb(): VPN connection 'openvpn' failed to
connect: 'No VPN secrets!'.

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <WARN>
 connection_state_changed(): Could not process the request because no
VPN connection was active.

Nov  7 21:05:40 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <info>  Policy
set 'Auto eth0' (eth0) as default for routing and DNS.

Nov  7 21:05:53 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <debug>
[1257624353.002543] ensure_killed(): waiting for vpn service pid 1978 to
exit

Nov  7 21:05:53 ubuntu-laptop NetworkManager: <debug>
[1257624353.002711] ensure_killed(): vpn service pid 1978 cleaned up

What I have tried so far:

Reading through the Ubuntu forums, and searching Google, it seems
many people are having this problem. It also doesn't appear to be a new
problem (although I did not experience it in Ubuntu 9.04).

I tried to remove openvpn and network-manage-openvpn packages and to
add them again and to create new connection profiles.

Unfortunately without success.

Any ideas?

Update:

Apparently the following method has worked for some, can anyone
confirm?

• In the VPN settings, uncheck the option "Available
  to all users"
• Enable MPPE

Doing so will apparently solve the issue. I have not
yet tested this.

Update 2009.12.09:

The proposed fix did not work for me.

At this moment in time, I am of the assumption that
this problem is occurring mainly on machines that had a previous VPN set
up and were then updated?

Update 2009.12.25:

Two new solutions have been proposed. Before you try
them consider these points to see which option is better: Solution 1
allows network manager to use pptp encryption, this is a little less
secure than ssl. So I would recommend that you try Solution 2
first, if that doesn't work for you, undo the changes and try Solution
1.

Solution 1:

Install the package network-manager-pptp

The command would be: sudo apt-get install
network-manager-pptp

Then it should work as has been reported in the
comments section.

Solution 2:

Edit your /etc/network/interfaces file.

Change it from this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

To this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

This has also been reported to
work for some.

REFERENCES

http://www.cognitivecombine.com/2009/11/ubuntu-9-10-network-manager-openvpn-vpn-service-failed-to-start/