Fixing the ‘Cisco AnyConnect Already Installed’ Error on macOS

A Step-by-Step Visual Guide to Resolving the Installation Issue

This error occurs when the Cisco AnyConnect application is accidentally or partially deleted, causing future reinstallation attempts to fail.

Normal Installation process

Step 1: We start with the zip file

Step 2: Then we unzip and find the .dmgfile inside

Step 3: We open the .dmg file and start the installation process. I am showing the installation steps below till we face the error.

And we finally see the ERROR!!

Resolution

Open the terminal and paste the following command. If you want to know more about the command, scroll to the end.

sudo pkgutil --forget com.cisco.pkg.anyconnect.vpn

You should see the following in the terminal as output

Next Steps: redo the package installation again

Follow the previous steps used for the installation of the package. After Step 3, instead of an error, you should see the following set of windows

And that's a wrap!

Now you can log in and continue your endeavors using a VPN

More about the command

sudo pkgutil --forget com.cisco.pkg.anyconnect.vpnshell

The command is used on macOS to unregister a package installed on the system. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what it does:

1. sudo: This elevates the command to run with superuser (administrator) privileges. It’s required for operations that modify system files or settings.

2. pkgutil: A macOS command-line utility for managing installed packages. It can query, check, or manipulate the receipt database, which macOS uses to track installed packages.

3. — forget: This option tells pkgutil to forget about the specified package identifier. Forgetting a package does not remove its files from the system but deletes its record from the system’s receipt database.

4. com.cisco.pkg.anyconnect.vpn: This is the package identifier for the Cisco AnyConnect VPN software. Package identifiers are unique strings that represent specific software packages installed on macOS.

What happens when you run this command?

• The receipt for the Cisco AnyConnect VPN package has been removed from MacOS’s receipt database.
• macOS will no longer consider this package as installed.

Thanks for reading. Hope it helped. Cheers.

References

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