OpenVPN with Adguard

Jenova

@Jenova Let's take a step back, I feel I made too many assumptions here.

Without any of this DNS stuff, does the OpenVPN app work for you with the defaults? I assumed it does, but I want to double check this. If it does work, can you tell me

a) where is your server hosted? Intranet or public cloud ? Anything special I need to know about the network?

b) which OS and vpn client are you connecting from ? This is important to debug further because all the commands I am giving you are for linux desktop.

I assume Intranet. Its a VPS with HostWorld. I have no idea if there is anything you need to know about the network.

The OS on my VPS is ubuntu-20.04-x86_64 and im using Windows 11 (Insider Edition, if that makes a difference).

girish

@Jenova thanks.

With the default OpenVPN app settings, please connect from Windows. After connecting, can you please check what it says the DNS server is? https://askleo.com/find-dns-server-used-pc/ says if you run ipconfig /all , it will display the DNS servers. Can you post what that command returns?

Also, I am not a Windows expert. TBH, I haven't even used Windows in many years, but I will try my best and let's see how far we get

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova thanks.

With the default OpenVPN app settings, please connect from Windows. After connecting, can you please check what it says the DNS server is? https://askleo.com/find-dns-server-used-pc/ says if you run ipconfig /all , it will display the DNS servers. Can you post what that command returns?

Also, I am not a Windows expert. TBH, I haven't even used Windows in many years, but I will try my best and let's see how far we get

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP-6ELGD60J
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Unknown adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9 for OpenVPN Connect
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-AD-F9-6D-8C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a5dd:8a2a:5344:20e8%11(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.6(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184614829
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-28-BC-70-C5-8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8E-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : CE-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, May 17, 2022 7:51:32 AM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, May 18, 2022 7:03:45 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-96
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

girish

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.1

So, the above line tells us that it got the internal DNS server correctly. So, far so good!

Next step: Disconnect from VPN. Then, go to the OpenVPN settings and put '8.8.8.8' as the DNS server. (https://docs.cloudron.io/apps/openvpn/#custom-dns-server) . Now, connect again.

Are you able to connect to VPN or is it that you are able to connect to VPN but unable to connect to any website? If you run ipconfig /all again now like before, what is the output ? (I am expecting the DNS Severs to be 8.8.8.8).

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.1

So, the above line tells us that it got the internal DNS server correctly. So, far so good!

Next step: Disconnect from VPN. Then, go to the OpenVPN settings and put '8.8.8.8' as the DNS server. (https://docs.cloudron.io/apps/openvpn/#custom-dns-server) . Now, connect again.

Are you able to connect to VPN or is it that you are able to connect to VPN but unable to connect to any website? If you run ipconfig /all again now like before, what is the output ? (I am expecting the DNS Severs to be 8.8.8.8).

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP-6ELGD60J
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Unknown adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9 for OpenVPN Connect
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-AD-F9-6D-8C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a5dd:8a2a:5344:20e8%11(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.6(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184614829
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-28-BC-70-C5-8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8E-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : CE-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, May 17, 2022 7:51:32 AM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, May 18, 2022 7:03:45 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-96
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

It's funny cuz now i can connect. I actually uninstalled Edge and all related software to Edge and installed Brave instead and i can connect to literally everything. I'm going to try my server again and see if i can connect now.

Edit: As expected, i cant connect.

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP-6ELGD60J
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Unknown adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9 for OpenVPN Connect
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-AD-F9-6D-8C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a5dd:8a2a:5344:20e8%11(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.8.0.6(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184614829
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-28-BC-70-C5-8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 23.237.137.11
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8E-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : CE-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-95
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, May 17, 2022 7:51:32 AM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, May 18, 2022 7:03:44 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 8C-C8-4B-15-8E-96
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

girish

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8

Ah nice, it does get the configuration correctly!

Its funny cuz now i can connect.

One thing to know is that these days browsers also have all sorts of DNS caching going on. So, best to restart browser to make sure we are testing things afresh.

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8

Ah nice, it does get the configuration correctly!

Its funny cuz now i can connect.

One thing to know is that these days browsers also have all sorts of DNS caching going on. So, best to restart browser to make sure we are testing things afresh.

Edited my response.

girish

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

It's funny cuz now i can connect. I actually uninstalled Edge and all related software to Edge and installed Brave instead and i can connect to literally everything. I'm going to try my server again and see if i can connect now.
Edit: As expected, i cant connect.

Can you tell me what happened between being able to connect initially and not being able to later?

In the output where you can't connect, the DNS server is wrong 23.237.137.11 .

Also, out of curiosity, maybe you can also try to connect from your phone and see if you are able to connect. This will help identify if this is some openvpn client issue or some server side issue. I suspect something with Windows OpenVPN client.

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

It's funny cuz now i can connect. I actually uninstalled Edge and all related software to Edge and installed Brave instead and i can connect to literally everything. I'm going to try my server again and see if i can connect now.
Edit: As expected, i cant connect.

Can you tell me what happened between being able to connect initially and not being able to later?

In the output where you can't connect, the DNS server is wrong 23.237.137.11 .

Also, out of curiosity, maybe you can also try to connect from your phone and see if you are able to connect. This will help identify if this is some openvpn client issue or some server side issue. I suspect something with Windows OpenVPN client.

I added the IP address of where my AdGuard is hosted.

23.237.137.11 is the ip of which both Adguard and OpenVPN are hosted at so i assumed it would be what i would put in OpenVPN's DNS.

I will try tho and report back

Edit: It works flawlessly on my phone.

girish

@Jenova I guess that's good news and bad news

I have to leave you on your own here, since I have no clue how Windows DNS works. See http://woshub.com/dns-resolution-via-vpn-not-working-windows/ and https://serverfault.com/questions/356115/vpn-connection-causes-dns-to-use-wrong-dns-server for maybe some ideas.

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova I guess that's good news and bad news

I have to leave you on your own here, since I have no clue how Windows DNS works. See http://woshub.com/dns-resolution-via-vpn-not-working-windows/ and https://serverfault.com/questions/356115/vpn-connection-causes-dns-to-use-wrong-dns-server for maybe some ideas.

Unfortunate but I'll ask on Adguard and OpenVPN forums then. Thanks for your time.

ApplegateR

@Jenova it happen to me when I didn't add my secondary Server IP(Adguard) on primary vpn server with cloudron.

So I went to my adguard server and I had go to setting on webgui->setting->dns-> allow client so I added primary IP on there and now it working.

Jenova

@ApplegateR said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova it happen to me when I didn't add my secondary Server IP(Adguard) on primary vpn server with cloudron.

So I went to my adguard server and I had go to setting on webgui->setting->dns-> allow client so I added primary IP on there and now it working.

I don't have a secondary IP. The VPS with which OpenVPN is hosted on is also the one Adguard is hosted on. There is only one IP for that server.

Jenova

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@ApplegateR said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova it happen to me when I didn't add my secondary Server IP(Adguard) on primary vpn server with cloudron.

So I went to my adguard server and I had go to setting on webgui->setting->dns-> allow client so I added primary IP on there and now it working.

I don't have a secondary IP. The VPS with which OpenVPN is hosted on is also the one Adguard is hosted on. There is only one IP for that server.

Do you think I should buy another VPS, install Cloudron on it and install either my VPN or Adguard on it and try with that?

girish

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

Do you think I should buy another VPS, install Cloudron on it and install either my VPN or Adguard on it and try with that?

Yes, I think this will work (because from our experiments using 8.8.8.8 clearly worked).

Jenova

@girish said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

Do you think I should buy another VPS, install Cloudron on it and install either my VPN or Adguard on it and try with that?

Yes, I think this will work (because from our experiments using 8.8.8.8 clearly worked).

I'll do this. OpenVPN forums where of no help at all.

BrutalBirdie

@Jenova
I downloaded the default openvpn file from my cloudron vpn app (I did not change any settings in the app) and then added these 3 lines to the ovpn file to force my dns server...

dhcp-option DNS ~IP OF MY SERVER~
register-dns
block-outside-dns

Jenova

@BrutalBirdie said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@Jenova
I downloaded the default openvpn file from my cloudron vpn app (I did not change any settings in the app) and then added these 3 lines to the ovpn file to force my dns server...
dhcp-option DNS ~IP OF MY SERVER~
register-dns
block-outside-dns

Unfortunately that didn't help. Thank you for trying though. I already bought the new VPS too so we shall see if this works. Cloudron just got installed so I'm going to attempt to install OpenVPN first and if that doesn't work, ill install AdGuard Home

Jenova

@Jenova said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

@BrutalBirdie said in OpenVPN with Adguard:
@Jenova
I downloaded the default openvpn file from my cloudron vpn app (I did not change any settings in the app) and then added these 3 lines to the ovpn file to force my dns server...
dhcp-option DNS ~IP OF MY SERVER~
register-dns
block-outside-dns
Unfortunately that didn't help. Thank you for trying though. I already bought the new VPS too so we shall see if this works. Cloudron just got installed so I'm going to attempt to install OpenVPN first and if that doesn't work, ill install AdGuard Home

Having a secondary server with Adguard on it works. I assume some configuration on the original Adguard server broke because the OpenVPN on the secondary server still couldn't connect with my main server Adguard.

Thanks guys for all the help, this can be marked as resolved.

girish

@BrutalBirdie said in OpenVPN with Adguard:

register-dns
block-outside-dns

Good to know these! Apparently, these are Windows only directives - https://iflorian.com/openvpn-block-outside-ds/

Cloudron makes it easy to run web apps like WordPress, Nextcloud, GitLab on your server. Find out more or install now.

Cloudron Forum

OpenVPN with Adguard