OPenVPN Connect on Android 4.4.2

deeztek

Hello,

I'm having a problem staying connected to my openvpn server. I connect successfully but after about 6 seconds the openvpn client pauses waiting for the network and the reconnects. It does this every 5 seconds. I notice that when it says pausing waiting for network my phone cellular data is disconnected. So it's basically an endless loop of connecting, my cellular network goes dead, the cellular network reconnects and the openvpn client reconnects again.

Any ideas how to solve this issue would be appreciated. And just in case you are wondering, this happens when I have full 4G bars on my phone so it's not the cellular network.

polojl

oh! happens to me as well! I have a motorola razrhd

deeztek

polojl wroteoh! happens to me as well! I have a motorola razrhd

Good to know I'm not the only one.

polojl

hi .. did you know of any solution?

Davel23

Having the same issue here, phone is a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S5 on Verizon Wireless.

deeztek

I would be curious to know if this is a Verizon thing. I have a Samsung note 3 on Verizon. Is everyone that has posted a reply on Verizon Wireless? Can you please post a reply to this post letting me know if you are on VZW?

BTW, over wifi it seems to stay connected for me.

Thanks a lot

abqwildcat

I'm also having this problem. L2tp and pptp don't provide any problems in the native android apps, but they're not openvpn, which I'd prefer to use. Also running verizon, just upgraded to 4.4.2 on samsung note 2, and instantly this problem began. Connects, stays until I need something about 6 seconds later, then disconnects... waits 30 seconds, reconnects. Makes using openvpn useless.

deeztek

so we have 3 people with this problem on verizon wireless. I'm beginning to see a pattern. I wonder if some bs VZW is loading on the phones. i think it's time for a clean ROM.

markmc00

I'm having the same exact problem as described above, but I'm on Sprint. I've been frustrated since the kitkat update. Up until now, I haven't even seen anyone talking about it.

Fahrenheit

deeztek wroteso we have 3 people with this problem on verizon wireless. I'm beginning to see a pattern. I wonder if some bs VZW is loading on the phones. i think it's time for a clean ROM.

I'm having this problem with Android and Verizon 4G. When connecting, I get an error that says "error rendering cert" in the logs, and it never connects. I'm using a Galaxy Nexus with rooted AOKP ROM (Kit Kat 4.4.2) so I don't think the problem is in the ROM. The other Android client (OpenVPN for Android) successfully connects. However it has issues with disconnects.

I found that if I disable HMAC (tls-auth) on the OpenVPN server, and remove the TLS cert from the .ovpn profile, the connection WORKS over 4G. I can load Chrome, surf the Internet, etc. and it doesn't disconnect. However, I don't like this workaround because I prefer the extra security. This leads me to believe there's a problem with HMAC in this version.

Like everyone else, the connection works if wifi is enabled.

semiosis

Similar to the last commenter, I can only connect using tls-auth if I'm on wifi. If I am on cellular data (4G) then tls-auth doesn't let me connect at all. Unlike the other commenters I can't even connect for a few seconds with tls-auth over cellular.

I never had this problem with 4.2 Jelly Bean, but it's a big problem for me now that I'm using 4.4 KitKat.

I posted to stack overflow about this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24666803/openvpn-tls-auth-hmac-firewall-broken-on-android-4-4-kitkat

Old phone that worked fine was a Galaxy Note 2 with 4.2 Jelly Bean. New phone that has issues is a Galaxy S5 with 4.4 KitKat. Both are on T-Mobile, both are stock OS using the OpenVPN Connect app from Google Play.

Any help/thoughts/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

semiosis

I opened a bug about this: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/ticket/428

Fahrenheit

semiosis wroteI opened a bug about this: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/ticket/428

Nice, thank you! Hopefully it gets some traction.

crackers8199

i commented out everything TLS related in my ovpn config, and i'm still getting random drops every few seconds. how exactly did you disable TLS to make this work? i'd like to at least be able to use my vpn while this is getting resolved...

crackers8199

BTW, mine is not dropping immediately on connection...it's at a seemingly random interval of less than 5 minutes or so. i think that's the longest i've seen it stay connected...the maddening thing is that the vpn works perfectly during the time it stays connected, it's just pretty much unusable since it drops the connection so often. makes it near impossible to get anything done...

this is with a moto x dev edition on verizon. also, if it helps, i did try the other android app for openvpn that i saw in the play store..same thing ahppened, however i didn't see the LTE icon drop like i do when using openvpn connect. the connection does seem to drop, but the icon doesn't disappear as it does with ovpn connect. another data point (if it helps), if i turn wifi hotspot on and use my computer to connect, it works fine...

Fahrenheit

crackers8199 wrotei commented out everything TLS related in my ovpn config, and i'm still getting random drops every few seconds. how exactly did you disable TLS to make this work? i'd like to at least be able to use my vpn while this is getting resolved...

I had to disable TLS on the server, then remove the TLS cert from the .ovpn connection profile. My OpenVPN server is run on Linux, so I had to edit /etc/openvpn/server.conf and comment out the line starting with tls-auth (put a # in front of it):

# tls-auth /path/to/your/ta.key

Save the config, then restart the OpenVPN Service (or reboot the computer):

sudo service openvpn restart

I'm not familiar with Windows OpenVPN servers, so you'd have to search to see where the server config is stored.

Then I opened up my connection profile and removed the TLS certificate. You can either delete the <tls-auth> section, or put # in front of all the lines:

#<tls-auth>
#
# 2048 bit
#
#-----BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1-----
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#982379872349872349802379879
#-----END OpenVPN Static key V1-----
#</tls-auth>

Import that connection profile into the client, then connect.

crackers8199

in that case there's a bigger issue at play here, because i don't have any of that in my config (as i suspected then i'm guessing i have TLS disabled already?) and i still can't stay connected via the android app...

Fahrenheit

crackers8199 wrotein that case there's a bigger issue at play here, because i don't have any of that in my config (as i suspected then i'm guessing i have TLS disabled already?) and i still can't stay connected via the android app...

Definitely could be...

If you connect your phone to a wifi network, then connect OpenVPN, does it stay connected or still drop? On wifi, my OpenVPN connection stays connected, and only drops on LTE.

crackers8199

yep, that's exactly what i'm seeing. drops pretty much every time on LTE (one time i did get it to stay connected for about 20-25 minutes, but then after that it went back to dropping every 30 seconds or so), but is rock solid on wifi.

interestingly enough, there's another twist (for what it's worth) - if i turn on the wifi hotspot from my phone, connect my laptop to it and then connect to the vpn via the computer, it's rock solid...so it doesn't seem that verizon is blocking the network or openvpn altogether.

i'm curious, can you paste your server/client config? i'm wondering if there's another option you might have that i don't have that's causing yours to stay connected and mine to drop, even though i have tls disabled...

venadomzt

Ever since updating to Kitkat I cannot connect with OPENVPN unless Im on an WIFI connection.. even if the WiFi connection is another cellphone hotspot from the same cell company.. it also happens when trying to connect to security cameras with the eagle eyes software...
I suspect there is a need for an update on the software..something is missing...
If any of you have the solution, it will be greatly appreciated...thnx

using:
Moto X
android 4.4.3
Mexico, TELCEL