This morning Windows prompted me to reboot to apply updates. After I did that, the Cisco VPN client started reporting “Failed to initialize connection subsystem.” When I looked up, I found this article – Microsoft’s SSL 3.0 Poodle-busting patch KB 3023607 breaks popular Cisco VPN client
I followed the compatibility route suggested as a workaround in that post, and it fixed the problem for me:
- I closed the Cisco AnyConnect Window and the taskbar icon
- Right-clicked vpnui.exe in the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client folder. (I have it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco\Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client\.)
- Clicked the Troubleshoot Compatibility option
- Chose Try Recommended Settings.
- The wizard suggested Windows 7 compatibility.
- Clicked Test Program. This will opened the program. I entered the credentials and connected.
- Closed the dialog.