Windows 11 internet entirely goes down while connected to NordVPN

I’ve used NordVPN on Windows for years without issue but recently (last few months), I’ve noticed that every few days complete internet connectivity dies. Local stuff works fine - I can ping local devices and I can ping my router/gateway but I cannot ping anything external. I disconnect the VPN, and internet works again and re-connect the VPN and internet works…for a while. Using the reconnect button won’t work. I have to disconnect and then connect.

I’ve left a continuous ping to 8.8.8.8 and see it randomly die. It doesn’t fail with a “Destination host unreachable” but rather a “General failure”.

If I leave the VPN off, this will never happen. Windows 11 is up to date, drivers are up to date, NordVPN is up to date, threat protection is disabled and kill switch is disable. Not sure what’s next to troubleshoot.

Check internet kill switch in nord settings. If it’s on, even a momentary loss of internet will activate it, and it must be deactivated to reconnect. Only disables internet, not your lan.

Nord VPN support were less than helpful trying to “troubleshoot” this issue. All they had was uninstall/reinstall.

I gave up with their support. I’ll create my own automation to restart NordVPN when internet connectivity fails.

No it’s off. Was the first thing I checked. I wish it had been that easy.

Nope. I’m testing using US based servers instead of the Canadian I default to. Haven’t had a reoccurrence (yet) in the last few days.

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I’ve always been able to connect. The issue is after a random period of time, everything fails and I have to disconnect/reconnect.