Windows8 compatiblity with Global Protect 6.0.4-26

[osaman]

Global Protect version 6.0.4-26 is not compatible with Windows 8, when we updated it the Global Protect button was not working neither the Global Protect connecting but when we downgraded the GP version it started working. What is the issue with that can any one elaborate it?

[BPry]

@osaman,

GlobalProtect doesn't officially support Windows 8 anymore. While that doesn't mean that it won't work, it does mean that its not validated against and as far as the agent working you're kind of running on borrowed time. Assuming that you can update these machines to Windows 8.1 (or you are talking about Windows 8.1) then support stopped in 5.2. Windows 8.1 isn't support on 6.0 and you should keep these clients on 5.2. 

[osaman]

@BPry 

Global Protect automatically updated to 6.0.4-26 one of our systems has Windows 8.1 and after that, we observed that the Global Protect connecting button stops working due to which GP is unable to connect, when I downgraded the version to 5.2 it starts working.

[BPry · Accepted solution]

@osaman,

If you have your app config set to allow users to upgrade the app that is expected behavior. GlobalProtect doesn't disallow installation of the 6.0 or 6.1 clients on a Windows 8.1 client, so the upgrade will be allowed to install. On these older clients it may break things. 

Assuming that you want your supported clients to still get upgrades directly from your portal like most customers have things configured, you'll need to create a separate agent configuration that targets these outdated machines and set the app config to disallow upgrades.

The most direct way of accomplishing this is simply targeting the user or device as it's the easiest way to set this up. However, through 'Custom Checks' on the config selection criteria as long as you have a GlobalProtect subscription you can make this more dynamic. You'd want to add a custom registry check(s) via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion and find a corresponding value. If I recall correctly, prior to Windows 10 you should be able to read 'CurrentVersion' and it should read 6.3 for Windows 8.1 and 6.2 for Windows 8.