Configuring Nord VPN using openvpn

openvpn.md

Installations and downloads

Update the system and install openvpn and unzip

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install openvpn
sudo apt install unzip

Now reboot the raspberry (this fix TUN/TAP error).

sudo reboot

Move inside openvpn directory.

cd /etc/openvpn

From now on all commands require sudo because /etc require root permission. (e.g. use sudo nano file_to_edit.txt instead of nano file_to_edit.txt) Download opvn configurations from NordVpn and unzip them

sudo wget https://downloads.nordcdn.com/configs/archives/servers/ovpn.zip
sudo unzip ovpn.zip
sudo rm ovpn.zip

Choose the right configuration

• https://nordvpn.com/servers/tools/ suggest the best sever based on your location
• Which protocol? TL;RD UDP is faster and TCP in more reliable. In the following I choose /etc/openvpn/ovpn_udp/it195.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn. If you choose a different one, do the corresponding substitutions.

Automatic authentication

Go to https://my.nordaccount.com/dashboard/nordvpn/ . Copy Service credentials (manual setup) inside /etc/openvpn/auth.txt (first line the username, second line the password) e.g.

jhasd893nd98njKS89h3n909
d89j283hxjmx892dk0234I99

Inside /etc/openvpn/ovpn_udp/it195.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn change line auth-user-pass to auth-user-pass /etc/openvpn/auth.txt This way openvpn to establish the connection to NordVpn server will use the credentials inside /etc/openvpn/auth.txt

Test that everything is working

Print out your current IP with vpn disable

curl text.wtfismyip.com

Open a new terminal window and enable the vpn with

sudo openvpn /etc/openvpn/ovpn_udp/it195.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn

and then inside the previous terminal window rerun curl text.wtfismyip.com. If everything is set up correctly the two IPs must be not equal. Stop openvpn with Ctrl+C

Enable VPN on boot

Copy /etc/openvpn/ovpn_udp/it195.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn to /etc/openvpn/it195.conf

sudo cp /etc/openvpn/ovpn_udp/it195.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn /etc/openvpn/it195.conf

Inside /etc/default/openvpn change line #AUTOSTART="all" to AUTOSTART="it195" (no space around equal sign). With this change, openvpn at system boot will enable the VPN using the configuration at /etc/openvpn/it195.conf Reboot the system

sudo reboot

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These note are heavily based on:

• https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2020/06/raspberry-pi-vpn-setup-guide/
• https://www.codingnagger.com/2021/03/06/how-to-easily-install-nordvpn-using-openvpn-on-linux/

I wrote them to recall to myself in the future how to setup vpn with openvpn and enable it on boot.