Support Center / How to install a VPN on Elementary OS

How to install a VPN on Elementary OS

Our app officially supports Elementary OS 6.0 Odin.  Users of our old community Linux app are advised to uninstall it before installing the new app. Instructions for doing this can be found in the notes section at the end of this article.

Proton VPN running on Elementary OS

1. This DEB package sets up  the Proton VPN repository on your system

This package contains the repository configuration and keys that are required to install the Proton VPN app.

Download the Proton VPN DEB package

2. Install the Proton VPN repository

Open Terminal and run:

sudo apt-get install {/path/to/}protonvpn-stable-release_1.0.3_all.deb

Replace {/path/to/} with the path to where you download the file. For example:

sudo apt-get install ~/Downloads/protonvpn-stable-release_1.0.3_all.deb

Please don’t try  to check the GPG signature of this release package (dpkg-sig –verify). Our internal release process is split into several part and the release package is signed with a GPG key, and the repo is signed with another GPG key. So the keys don’t match.

If you want to check the repo package integrity, you can check its checksum with the following command:

echo "c409c819eed60985273e94e575fd5dfd8dd34baef3764fc7356b0f23e25a372c  protonvpn-stable-release_1.0.3_all.deb" | sha256sum --check -

3. Update the apt-get package list

Once the package list is updated, your package manger can use the repository you just installed.

Enter:

sudo apt-get update

4. Install the Proton VPN Linux app

And finally, enter:

sudo apt-get install protonvpn

You can now use the Proton VPN app to bypass censorship and secure your internet connection. 

Learn how to use the Proton VPN Linux app

Notes

1. How to uninstall the Proton VPN app

Open Terminal and enter:

sudo apt-get autoremove protonvpn

Remove any leftover files with:

rm -rf ~/.cache/protonvpn

And

rm -rf ~/.config/protonvpn

2 How to disable the kill switch if you have uninstalled the official app

If you uninstall the app without first disabling the kill switch in the app, you won’t be able to access the internet. So please disable it before uninstalling the app. If you don’t do this, you can disable the kill switch and regain internet access as follows:

a) Open Terminal and identify Proton VPN connections with:

nmcli connection show --active

This will show a list of all your system’s active connections.

b) Look for any connections with the pvpn- This usually includes pvpn-killswitch and pvpn-ipv6leak-protection, and may include pvpn-routed-killswitch. Delete all these connections using the following command:

nmcli connection delete [connection name]

For example:

nmcli connection delete pvpn-killswitch

c) Repeat step a) (and step b, if necessary) to ensure all connections are deleted.

4. Required dependencies

You must have one of these keyring dependencies installed on your system for our app to work.

  • KWallet  or
  • Gnome-keyring

Elementary OS comes with gnome-keyring pre-installed, so no additional action is needed on your part unless you have manually removed it for some reason. Please don’t install both keyrings, as this can cause problems. 

5. Try out the early release version of this app

Do you want the most up-to-date version of this app with the latest features not available to the general public? And are willing to help us find and squash bugs in return? Then why not try out the access version of the Proton VPN Linux app? 

Simply download and install the following repo instead of the one linked to in step 1 of the guide above:

Download the early access version of the Proton VPN DEB package

Instructions for the setup and use are otherwise identical to those for the release version of our app. To check the integrity of the package, use the following command:

echo "caba770e3544a4f33b7d5718dedd8bc1d06cfcd2b2f8c4f33b5a42d15a78e74a  protonvpn-beta-release_1.0.3_all.deb" | sha256sum --check -

Please be aware that the early access version of our app is not suitable if you have a strong threat model, and is only recommended for experienced Linux users. 

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