Dear fellow BOINC users,

I used the BOINC software several years ago on an older PC and now decided to run it on my Windows 8.1 (Update 1) notebook.
However I'm experiencing a problem: after installing BOINC I'm asked to choose a project, however BOINC cannot establish a connection to the chosen project (I get the error message that BOINC cannot connect to the project).
For testing purposes I launched the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client which is a VPN client I use to connect with the VPN server of my university. I then again tried to connect with a project which seemed to work without any problems. However, as the bandwith for the VPN connection is limited I only use the Cisco Client when I need the connection. The rest of the time I use my default WiFi-/VDSL-connection.
So I then deactivated the Cisco client which brought back the connection issue with the BOINC client.
I then figured that this might be a firewall problem and then deactivated the firewall which had no effect. I then checked the firewall logs and stumbled upon the fact that boinc.exe tried to connect with my university VPN server (www-cache.<uni-server>.de - for privacy reasons I substituted the servername) even when I was not using the Cisco Client. I'm pretty sure that this actually causes the BOINC connection error, but I'm not sure how to fix it as my Internet connection is working completely fine (browsing and apps like Spotify working completely stable and with full bandwith). Maybe someone has a fix for that. I would be extremely happy!

My system:
Windows 8.1 (Update 1) 64-bit
BOINC Manager Version 7.2.39 (x64)
Cisco AnyConnect Mobility Client 3.1.05152
AV/Firewall program: GDATA TotalProtection

Best regards,
The-DJ42

Before troubleshooting any further, please upgrade BOINC to 7.2.42. 7.2.39 has it's own connection problems.

I did that but it didn't change anything.
However I'm not sure, if I'm really in the right message board. Maybe an admin could move the thread into the "Questions and problems" board?

Is there any change if you restart BOINC client after you have stopped using the VPN? As in, does BOINC remember too long that it was using VPN?

Could you give a short description on how the VPN client is used? Do you just fill in password in the VPN client and then magically all network traffic from all programs go through the VPN or do you need to tell programs to actually use the VPN?

It seems as if BOINC tries to use the VPN server as some kind of default connection, because even if I try to open BOINC right after booting the system, it says that it can't establish a connection. Starting the VPN client and connecting, fixes the problem as long as the VPN is running. After I turn it off, the problem reappears. Therefore, you could say that it remembers it too long, I guess.

As I said, I need the client to connect to the VPN server of my university. The university's IP is used as an authorization in order to use some literature databases. Therefore I only switch it on when I have to do research.
As I figure, the VPN tunnels all the network traffic, as I never had to tell any program to use the VPN.

As I said above: I think the problem might be, that the VPN client changed some kind of default setting which controls default proxy or something like that. However, I checked the internet options several times and I couldn't find any setting that might be the source. But there must be a setting somewhere, that makes BOINC (and maybe other programs, I don't know of) use the VPN server instead of my ISP's server. Maybe, it would be good to know where BOINC gets its server connection information from and I could check that.

BOINC uses whichever internet connection is set as default in the operating system. If that is the VPN connection, it'll use the VPN connection. So check in Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center what your internet connections are set to, and whether the VPN connection is the first or second connection. If the first, chances are high it's the default connection.

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