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[how-to] ProtonVPN on Sailfish OS

asked 2017-06-20 13:34:40 +0200

updated 2019-11-30 22:09:49 +0200

Maus gravatar image

How to use ProtonVPN on Sailfish OS

EDIT: Added info on how to avoid IPv6 and DNS leaks since VPN is now out of beta since 2.2.0 and stable enough for daily use

  1. Log into your ProtonVPN account.
  2. Go to "Downloads" and select "DD-WRT router" as platform, protocol may be UDP or TCP.
  3. Select a server you want to connect to.
  4. Download the OVPN file and import it in Settings -> VPN -> OpenVPN -> Import file
  5. Go to "Account" in ProtonVPN for your credentials and copy them into the input boxes on your phone.
  6. Click "Connect" on your phone
  7. Disable IPv6 using the following commands: devel-su sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1 and devel-su sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1
  8. Add following lines:
  • net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
  • net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
  • net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1

    to the IPv6 settings file: devel-su vim /etc/sysctl.d/ipv6-settings.conf

  • Check using ipleak.net that you don't leak your IP any more.

Original question: Hi,

I'm trying to configure ProtonVPN on my Sailfish OS phone but I'm having a little issue here. When I load the OVPN file in Settings and try to connect I get: "Problem with connection"

So I tried it from the command line: "openvpn ch-01.protonvpn.com.udp1194.ovpn" which gave me the following error:

Options error: --up script fails with '/etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf': No such file or directory
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Comments

I can only guess what you use your VPN for, but Kids, don't do this at home, because disabling IPv6 will, um, disable IPv6. On the VPN servers I build I allow dual-stack connection (either v4 or v6) and dual-stack tunnelling (v4 and v6). So please only do this if you really know what you do.

Maus ( 2018-06-13 00:02:42 +0200 )edit

What is the disadvantage of not enabling IPv6 today, 10/2018?

vandersmash ( 2018-10-13 16:40:26 +0200 )edit

Disabling IPv6 might cause troubles for servers with only an IPv6 address.

Dylan Van Assche ( 2018-10-15 09:11:40 +0200 )edit

5 Answers

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5

answered 2017-06-20 16:22:27 +0200

Maus gravatar image

Your configuration file contains a line defining a script that is to be run after establishing a VPN connection. The script referenced in the configuration file is /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf. A script like this is installed in Debian-like distributions when installing the openvpn package. It is responsible for activating the VPN server supplied DNS lookup servers on your device. As Sailfish/Mer does not provide such a script, you have two options:

  1. Removing/commenting the relevant line in your configuration file and relying on your already active name resolution
  2. Writing a script for Sailfish/Mer that accomplishes this task (i.e., making the system use a certain upstream DNS server)

Option 1 will be OK as long as you are a) fine with using the standard DNS servers and these servers b) deliver the same information as the servers that would be in use with a fully working VPN setup. A VPN is commonly used to provide access to hidden networks, and so even the names in these networks may be hidden. YMMV.

Option 2 will involve reading into how the connection manager "connman" does those things. There's a connman-vpndaemon running on your phone. API documentation for connman and its vpn sub-services seems to be here: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/network/connman/connman.git/tree/doc

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Comments

ProtonVPN seems to offer different types of configurations for different clients, like MacOS, Android, Linux, OpenWRT. You may have more luck with a configuration file for e.g. OpenWRT than with one for “Linux”.

Maus ( 2017-06-21 14:20:54 +0200 )edit

The OpenWRT version connects successfully and works great! I will update this question with a small how-to for other people.

Dylan Van Assche ( 2017-06-22 10:42:22 +0200 )edit
0

answered 2018-08-15 08:20:09 +0200

TMavica gravatar image

it is necessary to disable ipv6? because I just use the ovpn, it connect fine, just most server is slow

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1

It connects fine but if you go to the ipleak website you see that your IPv6 IP is exposed.

Dylan Van Assche ( 2018-08-15 09:19:45 +0200 )edit
1

it said not reachable

TMavica ( 2018-08-15 10:40:46 +0200 )edit
0

answered 2019-08-07 09:00:07 +0200

arno784 gravatar image

Thanks for your how-to, but which boxes do I need to put my credentials in. I cannot find any suitable one :-/

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1

On my device, I use Ask when needed under Authentication credentials. When you connect, you will get a dialog to enter your OpenVPN username and password. If you want, you can let them remember them for next time.

Dylan Van Assche ( 2019-08-07 09:06:26 +0200 )edit

that's what I thought, but I don't get this dialog (Sailfish OS 3.1)

arno784 ( 2019-08-07 10:04:27 +0200 )edit

ok, there was something funny... after a reboot, I get the dialog. all good!

arno784 ( 2019-08-07 10:15:22 +0200 )edit

Restarting the home screen via Sailfish Utilities caused the credentials dialog to show up on VPN connection. Still pretty tricky copy-pasting the two credentials without being able to switch back to the browser...

NobodyInPerson ( 2019-10-17 22:23:03 +0200 )edit

Disable IPv6 using the following commands: devel-su sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1 and devel-su sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1

Why is this line duplicated?

hed ( 2019-11-24 11:41:09 +0200 )edit
0

answered 2019-11-30 20:02:59 +0200

TMavica gravatar image

updated 2019-11-30 20:04:31 +0200

Using OpeVPN, the battery consumption is very high...also anyone interest in develop a native client of ProtonVPN? By the way, there is a command line tool of it ProtonVPN command line tool

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2

The client on Sailfish OS is as native as it gets. I doubt you will get better efficiency.

Maus ( 2019-11-30 22:07:55 +0200 )edit

This is all too complicated and tricky for me and I suppose for many more not so tech savvy people. Although I would like to have a vpn on my Sailfish device, the protocols and guidelines as shown above are quite prohibitive. Why is it not possible to install a vpn with an app?

Kea ( 2020-01-24 12:10:39 +0200 )edit
0

answered 2020-02-03 23:47:12 +0200

algori gravatar image

Is this instruction for the free version as well? And for Jolla phone? I was not able to get further on the download page. None of the options were downloadable.

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This is a question, not an answer! Anyway, the "free" version only differs in available options, and is limited to three countries. So there should not be any difference from a client's point of view.

Disclaimer: I am no Proton customer.

Maus ( 2020-02-05 13:02:45 +0200 )edit
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Asked: 2017-06-20 13:34:40 +0200

Seen: 4,479 times

Last updated: Feb 03 '20