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#1 2025-10-09 09:50:17

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

Hello everyone,

i am very new on Arch (only switched a week ago) and i am trying to set up my system with everything i need. This includes the Proton VPN client.
Since it is not officially supported on Arch i am not sure where to turn to with my current issue.

I installed the proton-vpn-gtk-app (Version 4.9.7-1) via pacman with all its dependencies. The app starts fine on its own with my Hyprland desktop.
The issue i have is specifically related to 2fa. My Account has 2fa enabled. Whenever i try to log in, it just gives me the error "invalid username".
I am 100 % certain i made no typos since i copied my credentials from my password manager and i can log in through firefox just fine.
For testing purposes i created a new account without 2fa and log in worked just fine.
I tried installing the test version from extra-testing (version 4.11.ß-1) but here the app doesn't start at all and just crashes with the following message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/protonvpn-app", line 5, in <module>
    from proton.vpn.app.gtk.__main__ import main
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/__main__.py", line 25, in <module>
    from proton.vpn.app.gtk.app import App
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/app.py", line 28, in <module>
    from proton.vpn.app.gtk.controller import Controller
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/controller.py", line 56, in <module>
    from proton.session.api import Fido2Assertion
ImportError: cannot import name 'Fido2Assertion' from 'proton.session.api' (/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/proton/session/api.py)

I tried looking for logs but cant seem to find anything useful.
Anyone encountered this issue or has any ideas?
Thank you in advance!

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#2 2025-10-09 11:03:03

Succulent of your garden
Member
From: Majestic kingdom of pot plants
Registered: 2024-02-29
Posts: 857

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

maybe  you lack the other pacakges needed ? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ProtonVPN
Did you install openvpn and wireguard ?

EDIT:

It seems that you will need to config those pacakges, since by default it only works with debian and fedora based distros, but you can run it on Arch with making the setup with openvpn and wireguard as the official documentation says:

https://protonvpn.com/download-linux
https://protonvpn.com/support/linux-vpn-setup

Also it seems there is a flatpak pacakge, but it's unverified and it's not suggested in the official documentation of proton vpn, so I would suggest to not use that.

Last edited by Succulent of your garden (2025-10-09 11:08:39)


str( @soyg ) == str( @potplant ) btw!

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#3 2025-10-09 11:08:36

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

I used the article to install the application.
If i am not misunderstanding this: Section 1 tells me to choose one of the three and i installed the third in this case.
Section 2 and 3 don't mention the gtk-app.
I installed libappindicator-gtk3 mentioned in Section 4 network-manager-applet mentioned in Section 5.
Maybe i missed something or read it wrong?

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#4 2025-10-09 11:11:57

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

Should i try to install openVPN / wireguard on top of the gtk-app or uninstall the gtk-app and go with one of the other options?
Or can i configure the gtk-app to also work on arch?

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#5 2025-10-09 11:15:26

Succulent of your garden
Member
From: Majestic kingdom of pot plants
Registered: 2024-02-29
Posts: 857

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

maybe this ? https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/an … k-manager/

https://archlinux.org/packages/?q=proton-vpn

If your are using network manager then it seems you need that. Try that if it doesn't work, then try to send logs by running the proton  gtk app in a terminal, then send the logs of the terminal output over here. The other option is to switch to openvpn and wireguard as proton vpn says, they are supported and should work in any distro.


str( @soyg ) == str( @potplant ) btw!

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#6 2025-10-09 11:32:03

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

The Packages where all already installed as dependencies aside python-proton-vpn-lib which only exists in testing. I tried installing all of them again and also tried installing all of them in the testing version: no changes.
I also mainly have set up network manager in general.

When i start and try to log in via cli i get this:

protonvpn-app
2025-10-09T11:27:07.845208+00:00 | proton.vpn.core.connection:472 | INFO | CONN:STATE_CHANGED | Disconnected (initial state)
2025-10-09T11:27:07.848813+00:00 | proton.vpn.app.gtk.app:57 | INFO | APP:PROCESS_START | self=<app.App object at 0x7f9433b37c00 (proton+vpn+app+gtk+app+App at 0x55c2059edcb0)>

(protonvpn-app:1927): libayatana-appindicator-WARNING **: 13:27:08.056: libayatana-appindicator is deprecated. Please use libayatana-appindicator-glib in newly written code.
2025-10-09T11:27:36.746038+00:00 | proton.vpn.app.gtk.widgets.login.login_form:106 | INFO | UI.LOGIN:CLICK | Clicked on login

After clicking login only the last line was added. Doesn't seem too helpful.

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#7 2025-10-09 12:47:14

Succulent of your garden
Member
From: Majestic kingdom of pot plants
Registered: 2024-02-29
Posts: 857

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

The logs shows that the gtk application is ussing a deprecated library: https://github.com/AyatanaIndicators/li … pindicator which does have a new fork: https://github.com/AyatanaIndicators/li … cator-glib

But I don't think so that's the reason for your issue. Do you really need to use that GUI ? You can setup your vpn with openVPN that  also have a GUI available in the extra repos:  https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/OpenVPN . Since Proton suggest using that i would recommend switching to that implementation, which I think it should have more chances to work.


str( @soyg ) == str( @potplant ) btw!

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#8 2025-10-09 14:04:57

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

Okay I'll try it with the OpenVPN solution.
The benefit of a native app would be easier configuration through the gui vs loading a new config file depending on what setup i want to have in OpenVPN.
I'll need to research if there is a way to automate that part maybe.

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#9 2025-10-09 14:52:41

Succulent of your garden
Member
From: Majestic kingdom of pot plants
Registered: 2024-02-29
Posts: 857

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

You can use the flatpak version  but is not official, so in some sense because it is a vpn probably I would suggest not using that https://flathub.org/en/apps/com.protonvpn.www

but also you can change the .deb package to be compatible to pacman https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/debtap

But honestly I highly suggest to just use the OpenVPN alternative, I'm mostly sure that it's going to be more simple and your system would be more easy to maintain.


str( @soyg ) == str( @potplant ) btw!

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#10 2025-10-10 11:29:41

Peter42
Member
Registered: 2025-10-09
Posts: 6

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

With the help of a more knowledgeable (than me) friend we were able to track down the issue.
Entering "export PROTON_VPN_DEBUG=true" in the terminal before starting the protonvpn-app will give more information to debug.
The issue was related to bcrypt and the max length of bytes (72 bytes).
To work around the issue, i just had to enter the first 72 characters of my password and it worked - even tho in my opinion this shouldn't....
So basically: password longer than 72 characters gives an invalid username error.
Thank you for your help tho!
I was now able to configure it, set up network manager and now it works.

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#11 2025-10-10 20:13:47

Succulent of your garden
Member
From: Majestic kingdom of pot plants
Registered: 2024-02-29
Posts: 857

Re: ProtonVPN login issue - 2fa related

Nice to now you find the solution. Are you working with the gtk app ? also: Why you have a password longer than 72 characters lol ? I mean upon 20 it's very hard to crack with current  computers. That number could be also lower but you get the point tongue


str( @soyg ) == str( @potplant ) btw!

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