Arch Linux

spasoff

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2023-09-12

Posts: 10

[SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

Hello, guys.

I have been using PIA VPN on Archlinux with the WireGuard's protocol for the past 2-3 years without a problem until yesterday when I connected to a server and there was no internet. I attempted to connect to a second server with the same result. Then I restarted the computer and tried a third server but again, no internet even tho it said that the client was connected to a server. When I switched to OpenVPN protocol it worked flawlessly and even though I haven't made any significant changes from the last time it was working, I decided that it may have something to do with a UFW and a rule that I have added (I know it doesn't make sense but I'm still learning Linux) so I decided to fire up a QEMU/KVM, install a fresh copy of arch with KDE and see if I can reproduce the bug and yes, even on a freshly installed Arch on a VM the PIA client using WireGuard still doesn't work.

I looked at the journal logs but there are no errors.

The only related bug that I could find on the internet is from the Garuda forum, two days ago: https://forum.garudalinux.org/t/wiregua … date/30848 but from my understanding, this is a Gnome issue and I'm on KDE so I would ask for some help.

Regards.

Last edited by spasoff (2023-09-12 19:36:43)

spasoff

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2023-09-12

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

I just checked the linked post again and there is a solution there:

The update removed the PIA file /etc/iproute2/rt_tables
Boot from a restore point, copy the file above somewhere safe.
Update again, restore the copied file.
PIA fixed.

I have only /etc/iproute2/rt_tables.pacsave in this folder and no restore point. Are rt_talbes and rt_tables.pacsave the same file?

UPDATE:
I copied /etc/iproute2/rt_tables.pacsave to /etc/iproute2/rt_tables and now I have two files, rt_tables.pacsave and rt_tables with the same content in the /etc/iproute2 folder and everything seems to work.
Can somebody confirm that what I did was correct so I can mark this post as solved?
Thanks in advance!

Last edited by spasoff (2023-09-12 16:23:19)

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 12,394

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

That file doesn't come from the PIA package.

$ pacman -F rt_tables
core/iproute2 6.5.0-1 [installed]
    usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables
$

I can't find  a changelog for iproute2 6.5.0-1 , but the diff at https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … 7ef31bec4d shows files in /etc/iproute2 folder are no longer backupped on upgrades.

A wild guess is that iproute2 changed something and PIA needs to be adjusted to cope with that change.

Compare the contents of /etc/iproute2/rt_tables.pacsave  and /usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables .

---

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Try clean chroot manager by graysky

spasoff

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2023-09-12

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

Thanks for the answer!
The content of rt_tables and rt_tables.pacsave is the same since I just copied the pacsave file and removed the .pacsave extension since it was created by pacman when the old file was deleted.
My question was more in the line if there is another, better way to fix it but I guess that works for now.
I will wait until PIA updates their installing script and reinstall.

saturn_knight

Member

Registered: 2010-10-16

Posts: 9

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

The new version of iproute2 allows default configuration files to be stored in /usr/lib/iproute2/, so only files that need to be changed will appear in /etc/iproute2/. This means that the PIA installer should check for the existence of an rt_tables file. If it doesn't exist, copy the default file from /usr/lib/iproute2/ to the /etc/iproute2/ folder before inserting values.

spasoff

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2023-09-12

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

The new version of iproute2 allows default configuration files to be stored in /usr/lib/iproute2/, so only files that need to be changed will appear in /etc/iproute2/. This means that the PIA installer should check for the existence of an rt_tables file. If it doesn't exist, copy the default file from /usr/lib/iproute2/ to the /etc/iproute2/ folder before inserting values.

You are the man, thanks a lot!

le-poseur

Member

Registered: 2023-09-20

Posts: 1

Re: [SOLVED] PIA VPN client stopped working with WireGuard

Can confirm this fix works on 2 computers using both Arch & Manjaro with PIA v3.3.1 and the latest round of updates.

Just to state the steps to save someone some reading, in case PIA doesn't hop right on this:
1. Shut down any running instance of PIA.
2. Go to /etc/iproute2
3. # cp rt_tables.pacsave rt_tables
4. # cp ./rt_tables /usr/lib/iproute2/rt_tables
5. Restart PIA
Whichever file it really needs, I don't know. Read the above if you want details.