NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

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curael
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:02 pm

NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by curael » Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:10 pm

Hi guys,
I am very sorry to disturb you. I am not big on networking at all, but I have really tried to find a solution for this issue. But now I am not so sure if it can even be done anymore.

My issue is about how YouTube now pretty much just regionlocks half of their content in my area so I can't really watch music videos or anything on there anymore. So the only thing I really need is to pass YouTube through a VPN. I decided to do this on my router through a .ovpn file. It seemed rather simple. I do not have a server. I purchased NordVPN and downloaded their udp ovpn file. I then added in a no-pull and a route youtube.com and didn't put it the allow-pull-fqdn since I saw it was implemented in later versions of ovpn by default.

I am having a hard time navigating in OpenVPN resources since there's so much to go through and I can't seem to find a lot of people who try to just redirect one specific website through the VPN without touching the rest of the connection. Mind you, I use an ASUS router with stock firmware so I can't really do anything but upload the ovpn file as is. So my only option is to configure the file and put it on the router and hope it works. I've had some luck with putting the default ovpn on there but even then, after some time, youtube starts blocking my devices again. So I am not sure what else I can really do.

But in general, I never made the ovpn file work with just youtube so I am not sure what I'm actually supposed to put into the file to make the VPN disregard all other traffic and just grab YouTube.

I am sorry - but I am at a loss and I hope someone could look at my ovpn file and tell me if I'm completely off or if NordVPN just doesn't support anything else outside of whats ordinary for them, or if my ASUS router is just too low-tier consumer junk to do anything with the file.

Code: Select all

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote 193.27.12.35 1194
resolv-retry infinite
remote-random
nobind
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
persist-key
persist-tun
ping 15
ping-restart 0
ping-timer-rem
reneg-sec 0
comp-lzo no

remote-cert-tls server

auth-user-pass
verb 3
route-nopull
route youtube.com vpn_gateway
fast-io
cipher AES-256-CBC
auth SHA512
<ca>
This is all I got, and ofcourse the begin cert part at the bottom.

Is there something I could try to put in there to see if it helps?

Kind regards and thank you so much in advance,
curael

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11137
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by TinCanTech » Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:24 pm

Don't use --route-nopull use --pull-filter instead to filter out what you don't want.

Beating youtube with a VPN is more or less doomed from the start .. they have all the power.

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Pippin
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Re: NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by Pippin » Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:27 pm

Shouldn't your VPN provider help you out?
I gloomily came to the ironic conclusion that if you take a highly intelligent person and give them the best possible, elite education, then you will most likely wind up with an academic who is completely impervious to reality.
Halton Arp

curael
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:02 pm

Re: NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by curael » Mon Sep 14, 2020 5:05 pm

TinCanTech wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:24 pm
Don't use --route-nopull use --pull-filter instead to filter out what you don't want.

Beating youtube with a VPN is more or less doomed from the start .. they have all the power.
Thank you for your answer!

If I use the regular config and connect to one of their US servers, YouTube actually works fine. So I think for now, it will be okay. :)

I saw about the pull-filter but I am unsure of how I filter everything and then how I will be able to leave YouTube out of it. :s Oh man.

Code: Select all

client
dev tun
proto tcp
remote 193.27.12.35 443
resolv-retry infinite
remote-random
nobind
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
persist-key
persist-tun
ping 15
ping-restart 0
ping-timer-rem
reneg-sec 0
comp-lzo no

remote-cert-tls server

auth-user-pass
verb 3
pull
pull-filter accept "route youtube"
pull-filter ignore "route "
fast-io
cipher AES-256-CBC
auth SHA512
Would this be correct?

Thanks again!

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11137
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by TinCanTech » Mon Sep 14, 2020 5:16 pm

You want --pull filter ignore "redirect-gateway" -- This will stop all your traffic passing over the VPN.

And now you are giving your money to NordVPN and they are doing nothing for you ..

I have no idea what you would need to route for youtube, try experimenting ..

curael
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:02 pm

Re: NordVPN .ovpn file (probably simple)

Post by curael » Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:53 pm

TinCanTech wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 5:16 pm
You want --pull filter ignore "redirect-gateway" -- This will stop all your traffic passing over the VPN.

And now you are giving your money to NordVPN and they are doing nothing for you ..

I have no idea what you would need to route for youtube, try experimenting ..
Are they not giving me servers in the US I can connect to? :( Can I make a VPN myself that will go to the States? What do you suggest I do instead of getting a connection from a hosted service?

I tried using the redirect gateway and then

route youtube.com 255.255.255.0

But it didn't work at all. I guess I will have to live with just having VPN on one PC at a time since this router stuff won't work for me.

I guess I can try and write them but they didn't want to help me last time..

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