Using Surfshark VPN on Silverblue 41

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1

Hi,

I am new to Fedora Silverblue and trying to install Surfshark. I was able to install it as a flatpak through Gnome Software. I am also able to launch it and connect to multiple locations.

However, after I am connected to the VPN, I am unable to connect to any websites as if there was no internet access. As soon as I disconnect, I am able to connect. I tried with several locations and see the same issue.

Is it because I have installed the VPN package as a flatpak? Are VPNs recommended to be layered? I also have distrobox with a Fedora and Ubuntu container. Is it possible to use distrobox to get Surfshark on the host Silverblue working? Any steps/commands related to that would be helpful.

Thanks

2

Welcome, J J!

When you are connected to the VPN, are you able to ping any IP addresses or resolve any hostnames from the command line? Would be interested to know if it’s a host resolution issue or if it’s something lower down in the stack (routing, etc.)

3

depends on use case if i use nordVPN and when i used it i layered it it was only way to use it, but it wont work anymore on Fedora atomics so i just use protonVPN now as flatpak and it works really good all features works including killswitch and net shields

i suggest checkking the VPN app settings are you conneted actually and is there something killswitch feature and when connected check logs for more info to see what is blocking connection

4

Thank you for replying.

When connected to the vpn ping does not return anything. When disconnected, ping sends and receives packets.

5

so that means something is blocking the connection

6

I could not find anything in the app setting that seem to suggest any interference.

The kill switch functionality was not available. Other than that I could see the VPN protocol which was set to automatic selection. Is there any protocol that is known to be stable for Silverblue? I can try using that to see if it helps.

7

Is there something I could check using Flatseal?

8

i dont know surfshark flatpak, but i know protonVPN flatpak just works

you can check logs journalctl and search for connection/networkmanager

9

Is there an incident or observation that makes you think that Silverblue is the source of the problem? I mean, are you currently able to connect to the servers of the VPN service you purchased without any problems, either through Surfshark clients on other operating systems (Windows, Debian, Android, iOS…) or through manual configurations (OpenVPN, WireGuard)?

I think it would be wiser and more likely to get results to contact the customer support of the service provider before asking for help here.

10

I am able to use the VPN service on iOS and Mac without any issues.

I am wondering if the VPN is not working on Silverblue because the VPN package wants to modify some immutable files. So I wanted to check if this is a known thing with getting VPNs to work on Silverblue.

11

if it wants to modify read only files then it needs to be layered on base or you need to choose other VPN provider that has working flatpak

12

Have you installed and tested the flatpak client after installing a traditional (non-immutable) distribution in a virtual machine?

There is information about VPN in Silverblue documentation.

13

Surfshark OpenVPN worked fine for me on F40 Workstation/GNOME through NetworkManager. I downloaded a OVPN profile from their website, imported it through NetworkManager GUI, entered my user/pass, hit Connect, and was good to go.

15

Hey there!

I dont know why you want to use their service but keep in mind

  • VPNs are not a privacy technology by their original idea
  • there are tons of ads for bad providers that do not improve but instead decrease your privacy
  • many providers do not have good Linux integration, no repos etc
  • many providers may have insecure clients
  • while VPNs (wireguard, openvpn and more) are natively supported in NetworkManager, they lack abilities like split-tunnelig, killswitch etc.
  • this means that VPN apps often have huge privileges over your system and you need to trust them fully

The only provider I would trust is mullvad.net

Proton and others are not as good but also work. Windscribe has probably tons of vulnerabilities in their software.

I would not install Surfshark or whatever else ad-driven “watch Netflix anywhere” VPN software on my device.

Instead, either use a better provider, or just use their wireguard config file, if you dont need the additional features.

Btw, VPN apps on Android have waaaay less permissions. The VPN stuff is done by the system, the apps simply do the routing.

16

Thanks. I will try this out

17

Thank you for replying. I appreciate you discussing the concerns of using a VPN.

I do not have a VPN always connected. I mainly got it for security purposes when travelling and connecting when using public and hotel WiFis. I have tried the free ProtonVPN on Mac and iOS. But at times faced slowness and issues with some sites not loading. I am facing a similar issue of not being able to connect to the internet when using the Proton VPN flatpak on Silverblue. I have used Mullvad in the past, again not on Linux. My experience with it has been good. But I recall it didn’t have a country that I was travelling to. So, I got Surfshark as a backup.

For my purpose of security when travelling is there any other solution you would recommend if not using a VPN. I understand some people create their own VPNs to their home network. But I am not sure I understand it well enough to create a secure enough setup

18

I tried using the ProtonVPN flatpak using a free proton account. I faced the same issue of the vpn connecting but not having internet.

Did the ProtonVPN flatpak work for you right out of the box or did you have to do anything additional?

19

I tried this. It looked like it was connected. But What Is My IP Address - Surfshark did not show a Surfshark IP. So I don’t think it worked for me

20

So far, I have tried ProtonVPN flatpak with a free Proton account, Surfshark flatpak, downloading Surfshark OVPN TCP/UDP profile and adding it to the NetworkManager VPN, connecting to the SurfsharkOVPN UDP through the commandline using ‘openvpn’.

None of the above have worked. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Is it really possible to use a VPN with Silverblue? Would it be recommended to switch to Fedora Workstation instead? I installed Silverblue because I wanted to keep tweaking with my system while still keeping it reliable and recoverable.

21

I have used mullvad, proton VPN and nordVPN on Silverblue/kinoite so those works

Even tailscail with mulvad extension works