Update: also check out the ShrewSoft VPN Client. The versie 2.1.5-rc4 runs perfectly on my Windows 7 64-bit machine and is able to import Cisco VPN profiles.
All releases of the Cisco ASA 5500 series support the native L2TP/IPsec client on Microsoft Windows 7. The Cisco ASA 5500 series support the native L2TP/IPsec client on Windows 8 x86 32-bit or x86 64-bit. ASA versions 8.4.5 and 9.0.1 and higher support the Microsoft Surface RT running Windows 8.
The RTM version of Windows 7 Premium and Ultimate (are there more version that allow this feature?) comes with Microsoft Windows XP mode. This enable you to install and run application that are not compatible with your current running Windows version.
A funny thing about this new feature is that all applications that you install in that virtual machine are automatically available in your Windows 7 start menu.
Install Cisco VPN Client
The first prerequisit is the Windows XP Mode being installed on your system. See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx for a detailed description on how to install Virtual PC and how to obtain the Windows XP Mode image.
- In the virtual environment copy the VPN Client installer locally on the virtual machine
- Click on Tools in the Virtual PC main window and disable the integration (this will disconnect all external drives, so that is the reason you have to copy everything locally first)
- Now you can install the VPN client in the virtual environment (the above step is very important, because the VPN client will not install when in Remote Desktop modus).
- During the installatie of theVPN client, re-enable the integration again from the Tools menu.
When the installation has been completed your can simply kill the virtual machine. In your start menu you will see a couple if new entries added to the Windows Virtual PC section:
You can now start the VPN client by clicking on the VPN Client icon. In the background the Virtual PC is started again and the VPN Client appears locally on your desktop.
Have fun.
I'm upgrading from Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. Cisco VPN Client (32-bit version release 4.0.4) will not run on a 64-bit OS, but I'm wondering if someone can tell me whether it's possible to run Cisco VPN Client (32-bit version release 4.0.4) on Windows 7 64-Bit. From what I understand Windows 7 has an XP Emulator. Is it possible to run this software on this emulator?I understand that Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client is the latest from Cisco, and it will run on a 64-bit system, but my office does not currently fully support this. I really need to be able to connect to the office using Cisco VPN Client 4.0.4. As a temporary work-around, I'm running Windows XP as a virtual machine within my Vista 64-bit OS. I'm hoping that when I upgrade to Windows 7 I will not need to run a VM anymore.