How to hide the VPN module in Cisco Secure Client - Windows

Purpose

The AnyConnect VPN module is a required component of the Cisco Secure Client, even if you are not utilizing AnyConnect for VPN access.  You may want to hide the module from the Cisco Secure Client User Interface.

The following procedure will guide you through hiding the AnyConnect VPN module.

How to hide the VPN module

To hide the AnyConnect VPN module, open Windows Explorer and navigate to:

 C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco Secure Client\VPN\Profile

• by default, the ProgramData folder is hidden, so you may have to manually type in the path in the address bar.

Copy the following XML code below into a blank text document and save the file as “VPNDisable_ServiceProfile.xml” within the “ C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco Secure Client\VPN\Profile” folder.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!--

    Cisco AnyConnect VPN Profile -

    This profile is a sample intended to allow for the disabling of VPN service

    for those installations that do not require VPN support.

-->

<AnyConnectProfile xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/ AnyConnectProfile.xsd">

  <ClientInitialization>

    <ServiceDisable>true</ServiceDisable>

  </ClientInitialization>

</AnyConnectProfile>

Once the “VPNDisable_ServiceProfile.xml” file is saved within the “Profile” folder, open the Windows “Services” application and restart the “Cisco Secure Client – AnyConnect VPN Agent” service:

Launch the Cisco Secure Client application again, then navigate to the task tray Cisco Secure Client icon and select it. 

You should now see that the AnyConnect VPN module is hidden: