Global Protect from Palo Alto Networks (PAN) is a widely used VPN client. However, it is quite annoying that the program will automatically start even when we just occasionally use the VPN to connect to remote computers. Here are a few clues to disable the autostart of Global Protect on Windows and Mac, respectively.
Windows 11 Computers
It seems PAN plays the game quite well. It is not easy to use the normal methods to disable the auto start. Here is one approach that has been proved working.
-
Change the startup type of
PanGPS (Palo Alto Networks Global Protect App for Windows)service from automatic to manual , so that it would not start automatically. This is done fromServicesin Windows Control Panel. -
Rename the
PanGPA.exetoPanGPA_Manual.exein the Global Protect directory (normallyC:\Program Files\Palo Alto Networks\Global Protectso that PAN cannot locate the file. Create a shortcut of the newly named file and put the shortcut on desktop or somewhere that is easy to access.
After this, the program will not start when Windows open. To start the Global Protect:
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Run the shortcut to the renamed
PanGPA.exe -
Go to
Services, start thePanGPSservice.
MacOS Computers
According to this post on Palo Alto Networks forum:
We should modify two critical values in /Library/LaunchAgents/com/paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa.plist
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RunAtLoad: [true/false]
-
KeepAlive: [true/false]
This works quite well. Whenever you need to run Global Protect for VPN, just launch it from the LaunchPad.