ProtonVPN on Arch Linux (CachyOS) ?

How to install ProtonVPN in Arch Linux (CachyOS) ?

Should I follow https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ProtonVPN ?

from flathub https://flathub.org/apps/com.protonvpn.www ?

This flatpak has Unverified tag, but according to this, this flatpak is safe.

Which one should I follow ?

Asking this because I'm because I'm a bit lazy to configure OpenVPN and all that stuff. (pls don't kill me :)

Also do you think using VPN from flatpak is a good idea?

31 comments

I can attest that this AUR package, which is the one indicated in the wiki, works fine on EndeavourOS, but I had to add the gnome key wallet (IIRC) to handle the VPN keys. I think that was fixed.
I have no experience with CachyOS.
- So i don't have do step 1.1 and 1.2 ? Directly install aur package mentioned in 1.3?
  Referring this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ProtonVPN
  
  Reading rorschac's comment I assume both OpenSSL and wireguard are already installed on CachyOS, or anyway pulled by the aur package.
  If you want to make sure you can install them explicitly before protonvpn:
  
  paru openvpn wireguard-tools
  or using yay or the vanilla pacman -Syu --needed openvpn wireguard-tools (it will sync and update the system too) or how it is suggested for CachyOS to install packages. I repeat I've no direct experience with that one.
  If you are scared to mess things up you can always spin up a VM with CachyOS and try to install it inside that. If it all works you can then do the same on your main OS.
  As a general advice, only run in your shell commands that you are sure about.
You could also just grab a wire guard configuration and use it too. They provide them along side the openvpn configs
- This is what I do. I can control it through nm-applet and have Proton, PIA, and my work VPN all set up as profiles.
  
  But if I downloaded all configs from proton, wouldn't it be a looong list in nm-applet?
- Thank you. It's just that I prefer more of a GUI way. (Doesn't mean I hate terminal or anything)
  
  It’s all good, hope you find a solution that works best for you 😊
I personally use the proton-vpn-gtk-app from AUR ( the 1.3 section from wiki ). And in cachyOS, i only had to do

paru -S proton-vpn-gtk-app
- +1 in favor of using proton-vpn-gtk-app. That's what I use.
  I use yay with regular Arch, but any AUR helper on CachyOS should be the same thing.
  
  Thank you.
  but any AUR helper on CachyOS should be the same thing.
  Why would you say that?
- So i don't have do step 1.1 and 1.2 ? Directly install aur package mentioned in 1.3?
  Referring this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ProtonVPN
I spent hours trying to set up the GUI and couldn't get it to work. Tried the AUR, Flatpack etc and no luck. In the end I just set up the command line version of open VPN with an Alias.
- I’ve been running proton in arch for a while now - both aur and flatpak, as well as the new flatpak mentioned.
  I found in some obscure reddit post the solution to what I think is a lot of people’s issues.
  I need to install network-manager-applet every time. As soon as I do, proton vpn works just fine. This is on gnome.
- 😿
I used OpenVPN via the kde plasma settings app.
- You mean you downloaded all the OpenVPN profiles by Proton and imported it to settings?
  
  Yeah, compared to the desktop apps it sucks. But it’ll get the job done.

31 comments