This is really making me scratch my head. I can connect to the VPN app on my iPhone but not PC.
Both use wireless connection. I tried exact same protocols and settings on my PC but it doesn’t work. It will connect to the server but no websites will load.
I should also clarify, I live in a country with very strict internet censorship. Almost all VPN apps are banned, but this one I use sometimes works on my iPhone for some reason??
The only difference I can think of is that iPhone is IOS and PC is windows, but I don’t see why that should make a difference. Anyways thanks for reading, any help is much appreciated.
It will connect to the server but no websites will load.
Most likely the DNS server is not set to the VPN’s server. Less likely is an MTU issue. You can find online how to use ping to check for connectivity. Then use various google domains once per ping to see if DNS works (or use nslookup etc). You can reset the DNS cache too if you run out of domains or reboot the PC.
I have set my DNS manually to: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, as I don’t know the VPN’s DNS. It used to work fine with these settings before they throttled the internet and blocked most third party VPNS. Now only very very few locations will sometimes work.
Forgot to mention, I have tried flushing DNS cache and setting it to automatic. Repaired TCP connection, the basic troubleshooting stuff but no go most of the time.
Yes third party VPN. It used to work fine with many different locations before the protests / riots. It’s one of the best ones out there. No specific errors on PC or the app, just “failed to connect” when it doesn’t work. Most of the time it will eventually connect, but like I said there’s no internet. Nothing loads, not even google.
I have set my DNS manually to: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Then depending on your threat model you’re leaking ALL DNS requests in plain-text over your real internet connection and a spying actor (ISP, government, anyone doing MITM) can see what websites you browse/apps you use. You should either relay your DNS requests to VPN when connected (ie auto should work) or use DoH/dnscrypt. Windows 10 has built-in DoH.
Well your next step in basic troubleshooting should continue with ping like I said
I’ll switch dns to auto and try the things you mentioned. But I doubt it will connect as I have tried it before, and I remember the ping worked and dns was resolving names. But will try it again. Thanks for the help so far!
If ping works and DNS does too, try to load wikipedia. For some reason when I had MTU issues, wikipedia eventually did load very slowly tho.
If this still doesn’t work then you’ll need some good troubleshooting with hands on from top to bottom and watching what happens to the traffic with Wireshark.
