[SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

andav · 2022-11-27 18:36:57

i want to start using vpn.
i choose fastestvpn.com and they have a guide for archlinux here:
FastestVPN archlinux
i walked through the guide and i think i succeeded to connect (i got in the end: Initialization sequence completed).
but my IP didn't change.
it stays the same as before (before = before i connected to a VPN server).

when i connect to one of their servers, i do it as root and the command is (for example):

openvpn uk2-tcp.ovpn

this connect me to a UK server using tcp.
again, it seems that i connected but the problem is that when i surf the web, i surf on my ISP connection and NOT using the VPN server i connected to.

Last edited by andav (2022-11-27 21:42:05)

sammiev · 2022-11-27 19:53:07

If you are using Firefox select settings within Firefox - then General - Network Settings and uncheck 'Enable DNS over HTTPS'
Restart Firefox and check your IP again.

tucuxi · 2022-11-27 20:44:33

curl ifconfig.me

before and after establishing a connection to the VPN server

andav · 2022-11-27 21:07:27

sammiev wrote:

If you are using Firefox select settings within Firefox - then General - Network Settings and uncheck 'Enable DNS over HTTPS'
Restart Firefox and check your IP again.

i'm not using firefox.
im using google chrome.

tucuxi wrote:

curl ifconfig.me
before and after establishing a connection to the VPN server

before i get:
147.235.210.XXX
after connecting to VPN in another terminal i get:
195.191.219.XXX

another thing is that i think i'm behind NAT of the ISP.
in my router my gateway address is 100.74.XXX.XXX

Last edited by andav (2022-11-27 21:14:13)

Xyne · 2022-11-27 21:23:57

andav wrote:

tucuxi wrote:
curl ifconfig.me
before and after establishing a connection to the VPN server
before i get:
147.235.210.XXX
after connecting to VPN in another terminal i get:
195.191.219.XXX

The VPN appears to be working. Which IP does your browser show when you navigate to http://ifconfig.me/ ?

andav · 2022-11-27 21:26:32

wait i think im wrong (maybe).
the problem was that i always check what is my ip with:
https://whatismyipaddress.com/
there it always tell me what is my isp and he recognize my (right) location so i thought that there is a problem (i thought that using the VPN, it shouldn't recognize my ISP and real location).
but if i press on the IP it recognized, i get that this IP is in fact in the country where the server i connected to is located.
so maybe everything is OK and i was wrong?

Last edited by andav (2022-11-27 21:33:47)

andav · 2022-11-27 21:35:09

Xyne wrote:

andav wrote:
tucuxi wrote:
curl ifconfig.me
before and after establishing a connection to the VPN server
before i get:
147.235.210.XXX
after connecting to VPN in another terminal i get:
195.191.219.XXX
The VPN appears to be working. Which IP does your browser show when you navigate to http://ifconfig.me/ ?

it shows 195.191.219.XXX

andav · 2022-11-27 21:41:42

thank you all,
i think everything is OK and i was wrong from the beginning :-)

Last edited by andav (2022-11-27 21:43:38)

Xyne · 2022-11-27 22:11:31

andav wrote:

wait i think im wrong (maybe).
the problem was that i always check what is my ip with:
https://whatismyipaddress.com/
there it always tell me what is my isp and he recognize my (right) location so i thought that there is a problem (i thought that using the VPN, it shouldn't recognize my ISP and real location).
but if i press on the IP it recognized, i get that this IP is in fact in the country where the server i connected to is located.
so maybe everything is OK and i was wrong?

Websites will track you with cookies and browser fingerprinting. If you want to increase your anonymity, you should first close your browser completely and then open a new private session after you connect the VPN. If you connect the VPN while you have a session open, every website to which you are connected will recognize that it's still you and connect the VPN IP to your profile.

Depending on how much effort you want to make, here are some other suggestions:

You can manually set your browser's user agent string to something indistinct and common while using the VPN to reduce fingerprinting. It depends on the browser, but you can usually do it with a command-line option or environment variable which makes it easy to use a script or alias. For lists of current common user-agent strings, see https://useragentstring.com/pages/useragentstring.php and https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/ … s/explore/
Instead of setting the VPN to reroute all traffic through it, you can bind it to a network namespace and then selectively launch programs in that namespace. This can avoid leaking your IP address to websites when the VPN goes up or down.

These points are only valid if you are trying to remain anonymous to website. If you are only trying to protect your traffic from your ISP then the VPN should do the job. The only thing that you need to check is that DNS lookups go through the VPN and not your ISP's DNS server.

andav · 2022-11-28 00:53:45

Xyne wrote:

andav wrote:
wait i think im wrong (maybe).
the problem was that i always check what is my ip with:
https://whatismyipaddress.com/
there it always tell me what is my isp and he recognize my (right) location so i thought that there is a problem (i thought that using the VPN, it shouldn't recognize my ISP and real location).
but if i press on the IP it recognized, i get that this IP is in fact in the country where the server i connected to is located.
so maybe everything is OK and i was wrong?
Websites will track you with cookies and browser fingerprinting. If you want to increase your anonymity, you should first close your browser completely and then open a new private session after you connect the VPN. If you connect the VPN while you have a session open, every website to which you are connected will recognize that it's still you and connect the VPN IP to your profile.
Depending on how much effort you want to make, here are some other suggestions:
You can manually set your browser's user agent string to something indistinct and common while using the VPN to reduce fingerprinting. It depends on the browser, but you can usually do it with a command-line option or environment variable which makes it easy to use a script or alias. For lists of current common user-agent strings, see https://useragentstring.com/pages/useragentstring.php and https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/ … s/explore/
Instead of setting the VPN to reroute all traffic through it, you can bind it to a network namespace and then selectively launch programs in that namespace. This can avoid leaking your IP address to websites when the VPN goes up or down.
These points are only valid if you are trying to remain anonymous to website. If you are only trying to protect your traffic from your ISP then the VPN should do the job. The only thing that you need to check is that DNS lookups go through the VPN and not your ISP's DNS server.

thank you very much for the inforamtion.
you said:
"...check if DNS lookups go through the VPN and not your ISP's DNS server"
how can i check if the DNS lookups go through my VPN or not?

Last edited by andav (2022-11-28 00:54:11)

Xyne · 2022-11-28 06:00:04

andav wrote:

you said:
"...check if DNS lookups go through the VPN and not your ISP's DNS server"
how can i check if the DNS lookups go through my VPN or not?

You can check for leaks with online services such as https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

andav · 2022-11-28 10:57:33

Xyne wrote:

andav wrote:
you said:
"...check if DNS lookups go through the VPN and not your ISP's DNS server"
how can i check if the DNS lookups go through my VPN or not?
You can check for leaks with online services such as https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

great. thank you very much!

Arch Linux

#1 2022-11-27 18:36:57

[SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#2 2022-11-27 19:53:07

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#3 2022-11-27 20:44:33

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#4 2022-11-27 21:07:27

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#5 2022-11-27 21:23:57

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#6 2022-11-27 21:26:32

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#7 2022-11-27 21:35:09

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#8 2022-11-27 21:41:42

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#9 2022-11-27 22:11:31

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#10 2022-11-28 00:53:45

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#11 2022-11-28 06:00:04

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

#12 2022-11-28 10:57:33

Re: [SOLVED] web surfing not going through VPN.

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