Windows 8 Cisco VPN error - Reason 442: Failed to enable Virtual Adapter

I did a clean install of Windows 8 on my laptop and was reinstalling software. I was importing and attempting to connect to a client that used a Cisco setup but was hitting the error: "Reason 442: Failed to enable Virtual Adapter." seen in Figure 1.

SOLUTION: Needed a registry change for Cisco because of an issue with the program on Windows 8. Solution at below in post:

Figure 1 - Reason 442 error

Things went down in the following fashion:

• I wasn't already on the network via hard wire. Of course not
• The VPN Network adapter was enabled. Didn't work
• Make sure the VPN client was on the latest and greatest release. Sure is
• Clicked on diagnostic for troubleshooting. Got the information in Figure 2
• Ran 'ipconfig \release' and 'ipconfig \renew' in command prompt. Nothing...
• Made changes to the registry per the below post. WORKED!
• http://blogs.itramblings.com/post/2012/01/15/Cisco-VPN-Client-and-Windows-8-Developer-Build.aspx 

Here are the steps to making the registry change to fix this Reason 442 error.

1. Navigate to the registry
1.  Hit Windows Key+R (This opens the Run prompt)
2. Type 'regedit' in the field and click 'OK' (or just hit the enter key
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\CVIRTA
3. Locate the DisplayName key (Figure 3 below)
4. Change the value to the following
1. x86 (32-bit) - "@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter” to "Cisco Systems VPN Adapter”
2. x64 (64-bit) - "@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows” to "Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows”

If that doesn't work, you can change the settings back but it won't do anything for you.

Its that simple!

 

Figure 2 - Troubleshooting diagnostic results. It's a red herring..

Figure 3 - Registry key location for the DisplayName key

Figure 4 - Change the key name to 'Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows'