Connecting to Proton Vpn using Vpn Manager addon (for Coreelec/Libreelec systems)
JaviJDecember 20, 2020
In this tutorial we are going to see a new way to connect our Libreelec / Coreelec system to a VPN with the Vpn Manager addon. Previously it had been advised to use the Vpn provider hide.me but the recent problems that people using it were having motivated me to try an alternative method and do this tutorial. In this case we will connect with the Vpn provider ‘Proton Vpn’.
The advantages that Proton Vpn provides compared to hide.me are the following:
• No monthly data limit. At hide.me we were restricted to 10 Gb per month.
• Real possibility of connection to several free servers located in 3 different countries. At hide.me we also theoretically had 3 free servers located in 3 different countries but in practice we had only been able to connect to the Montreal/Canada server.
The disadvantage is that Proton VPN does not allow its use for P2P applications and this means that torrent or acestream links will not work for us while we are connected to this Vpn.
Once this small introduction has been given, we are going to get to work. For this tutorial we will need the following ingredients: computer with an internet connection, tv box / raspberry with coreelec / libreelec, USB flash drive, paper, pen and a little patience :-). Below I am indicating and numbering the different steps to be carried out:
REGISTRATION IN PROTON VPN AND DOWNLOADING NECESSARY FILES
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We start this tutorial by accessing the Proton Vpn page (Proton VPN: VPN gratuita y segura para proteger tu privacidad | Proton VPN). We will click on the ‘Register’ button and select the free plan (‘Get free’ option).
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Selecting this option redirects us to the registration page. This page has no mystery: we will have to fill in a username, password and a valid email. Once all the data has been filled out, they will send us an email to the email provided where they will provide us with a temporary code that must be entered on the registration page to validate the account.
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Once we have accessed the account we need to collect information that we will use later in this tutorial. First of all we need the credentials that we are going to use to connect to the Vpn and that do not match the ones we entered when we created the account. To obtain them we go to the ‘Account - OpenVpn Username’ section. We write down (photograph or capture) the ‘OpenVpn User’ and the ‘OpenVpn Password’ that appear (they will be alphanumeric codes).
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The next element we need are the configuration files to connect to specific servers, for this we go to the ‘Downloads’ section. We first select our platform, which will be GNU/Linux (regardless of whether we have Libreelec or Coreelec). As a protocol we can leave UDP.
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We scroll down the page and we have the possibility of downloading several configuration files that will allow connection to free Proton Vpn servers. As you can see in the image we have the option to download configuration files for servers located in three different countries (USA, Holland and Japan). I recommend downloading at least one file from each of the locations. The downloaded files will have the .ovpn extension. (example us-free-01.protonvpn.com.udp.ovpn).
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Once the files are downloaded we will have to make a modification to them so that they are really useful to us. Although they have the .ovpn extension, they are plain text files and we can open them with any plain text editor (I have Notepad++ installed but you can even open them with Windows Notepad). Once the file is opened we will look for the following lines:
up /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf
down /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf
And we eliminate them. Later we save the file with the changes. (Remember that you have to do this for all the files that we have downloaded in the previous step).
- Finally, we take a USB pendrive and inside it we will create a ‘Vpn’ folder where we will save these files. We now have everything we need to configure the connection to our VPN.
INSTALLING THE VPN MANAGER ADDON
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The addon that we are going to use to connect to Proton Vpn is called Vpn Manager. We can find it in Kelebek in the ‘Vpns’ section under the name ‘Vpn Elec’, we select it and click on ‘Install’.
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Once installed we will find the ‘Vpn Manager’ addon within the Program Addons. It will be represented by the icon of a padlock that you can see in the previous image. It is important that once installed you restart the system to be able to use it. From experience I tell you that if you try to use it as soon as you install it, it will not work correctly.
SETTING UP THE VPN IN VPN MANAGER -
As soon as you start Kodi, it is very possible that a message will appear to configure the Vpn. If this message does not appear, go to ‘Program Addons - Vpn Manager - Settings’ and it will appear. The message is the one shown in the image below. We will choose to configure the Vpn through the ‘Wizard’ option.
VPN IN VPN MANAGER
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The next screen is an information message about the commands that Vpn Manager uses and that have already been installed with the addon. We click on ‘Ok’.
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The next screen allows us to select our Vpn provider from a list. If we search we will discover that Proton Vpn is not on the list and therefore we will have to select a ‘generic option’. This generic option is called ‘User Defined’, we select it to continue with the next step.
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Information message about the chosen option ‘User Defined’. We click on OK to continue.
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Information message indicating that any previous configuration will be deleted. Click on the ‘Yes’ option to continue.
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At this point we will connect our USB pendrive (where we had copied the Proton VPN configuration files) to our TV Box / Raspberry. The system will detect the USB flash drive without problems.
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Next, a window titled “Select all files needed…” appears that will allow us to select the configuration files. We will have 2 options ‘File’ or ‘Directory’. In our case we select the ‘Directory’ option. The following window will appear where we can browse through folders. We will go to the Vpn folder inside our USB pendrive and click OK.
(Note: the location shown in my image does not have to coincide with the path where you will have the ‘Vpn’ folder).
(Note 2: When you go to your Vpn folder, do not worry because you do not see the files inside. We are selecting a directory and not a specific file and therefore it does not make sense to show them, which does not mean that they are not there).
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The next screen indicates whether we allow the Vpn Manager addon to modify our configuration files. We select the ‘Yes’ option.
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The next screen asks us if it can rename the files to TCP / UDP to use both connection protocols. We select ‘No’ because our files are only prepared for the UDP connection.
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The addon finally imports the configuration files. The next screen shows us the result of the process. We can consult the log to see the details. To continue, click on the ‘Ok’ option.
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On the next screen we will have to indicate our username. Remember that here we have to put the ‘OpenVpn User’ code that we obtained in point 3 of the tutoria
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Once completed, the user will ask us for the password. Remember that here we have to put the ‘OpenVpn Password’ code that we obtained in point 3 of the tutorial.
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Finally, it asks us if we want the Vpn Manager addon to connect to the Vpn every time we start Kodi. In this case I select ‘No’. I do not recommend ‘abusing’ the Vpn, it can slow down your connection speed and just as there are contents that become accessible through a Vpn, there are contents that are only accessible without a Vpn. This option will be modifiable later in the addon settings (‘Monitor’ section).
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It informs us that the connection will be created and that it will ask us which connection/country we are going to use. We click on OK.
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The available connections appear, which will match in name with the files that we downloaded in point 5 of the tutorial. We will select the United States server to attempt the connection (United States – start with us, Netherlands – start with nl, Japan – start with jp).
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The key moment arrives, Vpn Manager is trying to connect. We entrust ourselves to our religion or our superstitions.
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If everything has gone well and we have followed the steps rigorously, a window will appear indicating that the connection has been successful. As you can see, it also gives us information about our new IP and location (we have just become citizens of Washington, D.C.). We click on ‘OK’.
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Finally, it tells us that we can go to the Settings tab of the addon to continue configuring things. As that has been enough for today, we click on ‘No’.
• Error solution in step 26, I could not connect to the VPN → A window will appear indicating that it could not be connected. We can investigate the error by clicking on the ‘Vpn Log’ button. It can usually fail for 2 things:
a) The downloaded .ovpn extension files have not been modified (in the log we can see that the execution of the up /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf command fails). Solution: Review the .opvn files downloaded to our computer and make the modifications indicated in point 6. Continue with point 7 and then point 10 onwards.
b) The credentials have not been entered correctly (in that case we will see the ‘AUTH_ERROR’ code in the logs). Solution: Remember that the username and password that must be entered are those obtained in point 3 of the tutorial. Make the addon settings again starting from point 10 of the tutorial and when it asks for the username and password to enter them correctly. If after several attempts we are not able to enter them, we always have the option to change them (review the image in step 3, you can use the ‘Edit credentials’ button on the Proton Vpn page to simplify them).
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Once we have the addon configured to connect to a Vpn, we can make the connection in the following way: We access the addon → ‘Program addons - Vpn Manager’. Within the addon we will go to the ‘Change or Disconnect Vpn Connection’ option. We will select any of the available connections and the addon will try to connect (using the username and password that we already provided in the previous configuration):
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In this same section of the addon (‘Change or Disconnect Vpn Connection’) we can also disconnect from a Vpn by selecting the Disconnect option:
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Finally, also indicate that in the ‘Display Vpn Status’ section we can see if we are currently connected or disconnected from a Vpn