• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Linux Desktop requires patience

ManofGod

ManofGod

[H]F Junkie
2FA
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
13,080
Ok, I decided today to go ahead and install Ubuntu 18.04 on my secondary computer and perhaps use that exclusively well at home for a while. (I enjoy using Windows but there is always other things that can help advance my career. :) ) Anyways, the installation went easy and I wanted to setup an RDP and VPN so I can do things from Windows and remote into my work place.

Well, this is where it problems started. Ok, I figured out how to get VPN connected, configured Remmina but it could never find my remote computer. Also, when I disconnect the VPN, internet access dies unless I disable and re enable the wireless connection. (Figured these basic things would just work but, whatever, at least I am re learning something.) Cannot ping any computer on my local network and cannot ping the remote computer at all.

I found some possible fixes but none of them worked for me and actually made things worse. Any ideas? It appears this VPN connection thing has been occurring in Mint and Ubuntu for at least the last 2 years. Is there a file somewhere that I can enter the DNS entries in for the remote computer, maybe? The thing is, my local network should be accessible, nonetheless.
 
When you activate VPN, the computer becomes part of the other network, unless you have two (or more) NICs in it. The acronym hints at this behavior.
 
Algrim said:
When you activate VPN, the computer becomes part of the other network, unless you have two (or more) NICs in it. The acronym hints at this behavior.
Click to expand...

Yes but, when you disconnect from that network, you are no longer a part off it and should not lose internet access through a loss of DNS connectivity. So the real question it, how do you fix it? Thanks.
 
I don't experience either of these issues on Linux Mint 19.
Your post is kind of vague. Can you include more details? Are both networks on the same subnet/range? That could cause conflicts. The remote location you're connecting to, are you in a VLAN when connected to the VPN? Does the VPN put you on a different subnet/VPN than you're expecting?
Please be specific about the full topology, troubleshooting steps taken, configuration files, and other pertinent details that you find. This will help anyone coming to this thread help you.
 
Algrim said:
Are your VPN and/or local devices static IPs or no?
Click to expand...

The VPN connects to work and that address is an external static IP but I use the URL to connect to it. All my local devices and WAN IP are dynamic. (Just as a heads up, I have no issues on any of my Windows 10 computers like this.)
 
Which means it's not an issue on Windows on your network. For all we know, the network doesn't work correctly with Linux because of drivers/etc. As FNtastic stated, there's a lot about your setup that we don't know enough to help you troubleshoot.

Do you have two or more NICs in your computer? If more than one, when you activate VPN are you sure that the NIC you normally use is the one being attached to the VPN? You state that your troubleshooting steps didn't work. Can you post what doesn't work here so people are not looking up the same information you've already tried and not found to be successful?

EDIT: My company restricts VPN clients to company-provisioned ones, i.e. 'standard' VPN clients don't work.
 
Last edited:
We don't even know the VPN protocol used? Is any specific VPN software used? How was it installed? What steps have you taken to diagnose the issue? Are you trying to connect to a remote machine using IP address or NetBIOS name or other?

Is this a VM or a physical machine? If it is a VM try a physical machine and see if it works.

At the moment this is sounding like a 'crap on Linux and blame the user base for poor attitudes' kind of thread. However, I'm happy to be proven wrong.

First point of diagnosis:

1. Linux is not Windows.

2. Unlikely an issue specifically with Ubuntu as others report it working fine.

3. ...?
 
Last edited:
I believe Ubuntu has moved to netplan. I can't say I know enough about your setup to say exactly what you want to do but I would start by reading up on netplan.

https://netplan.io/
 
I just configured a PPTP VPN server on my home Ubuntu server and logged into it via my Ubuntu PC tethered to my mobile phone as to isolate it from the local network and connected perfectly, I was able to ping the server using it's local address and I was able to SSH into the server using it's name.

Everything is working fine for me here and I configured the VPN client on my Ubuntu PC using purely the GUI, no terminal trickery involved at all. Bear in mind however that I'm running 16.04, every time I go to upgrade to 18.04 some attempt by Canonical to reinvent the wheel stops me from going through with the upgrade.

EDIT: ManOfGod, have you got the firewall enabled in Ubuntu? I think it's enabled in 18.04 by default. Open a terminal windows and enter 'sudo ufw status' without the quotes followed by the password, does it say 'active' or 'inactive'?
 
Last edited:
ManofGod said:
Ok, I decided today to go ahead and install Ubuntu 18.04 on my secondary computer and perhaps use that exclusively well at home for a while. (I enjoy using Windows but there is always other things that can help advance my career. :) ) Anyways, the installation went easy and I wanted to setup an RDP and VPN so I can do things from Windows and remote into my work place.

Well, this is where it problems started. Ok, I figured out how to get VPN connected, configured Remmina but it could never find my remote computer. Also, when I disconnect the VPN, internet access dies unless I disable and re enable the wireless connection. (Figured these basic things would just work but, whatever, at least I am re learning something.) Cannot ping any computer on my local network and cannot ping the remote computer at all.

I found some possible fixes but none of them worked for me and actually made things worse. Any ideas? It appears this VPN connection thing has been occurring in Mint and Ubuntu for at least the last 2 years. Is there a file somewhere that I can enter the DNS entries in for the remote computer, maybe? The thing is, my local network should be accessible, nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a VPN configuration issue to me. What are you using to connect to the VPN and how did you configure it?

I use openconnect to connect to my corporate VPN all the time and then use Remmina to access the systems. It's been bulletproof since day one.
 
Vermillion said:
Sounds like a VPN configuration issue to me. What are you using to connect to the VPN and how did you configure it?

I use openconnect to connect to my corporate VPN all the time and then use Remmina to access the systems. It's been bulletproof since day one.
Click to expand...

I just use whatever is built in to Ubuntu 18.04. My home network is a very basic setup, on XR500 router, one Spectrum High speed modem, 2 computers connected via physical connection, 2 computers connected via wireless connection, one phone, 2 xbox's and that is pretty much it. The issue appears to be a known bug with Ubuntu 17 and 18 as well as Linux Mint versions of that same era. From what I am seeing, it is a DNS issue, at least according to what I found online but I have not tried putting a default DNS entry in yet. (Could do that easily later, now that I think of it.) Also, I am going to create a bootable USB stick of Linux Mint 19 and see if I can reproduce it there.

I do have Secureboot enabled on my machine and boot using the UEFI boot method. I am using the wireless NIC that comes with the Asrock X370 Taichi mainboard as well.
 
Find out what the exact name is of the chipset being used by ASrock Taichi
Then google : Chipset wifi linux problems
 
Pieter3dnow said:
Find out what the exact name is of the chipset being used by ASrock Taichi
Then google : Chipset wifi linux problems
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. However, did you end up with the same issue and how did you resolve it?
 
No but usually these chipsets used for Wifi can have some quirks in the past I have seen methods that involved running a wrapper (using windows drivers) to get it to run under Linux. Rule of thumb on Linux you are prolly not the first person to have problems :)

Taking it to the chipset used generally gets you far enough since those tend to be under a lot of different names for the same product.
 
I have had a ton of wireless usb or NIC issues with Linux over the years. Now I always make sure to google the model and revision of hardware before buying it.
 
ManofGod said:
I am using the wireless NIC that comes with the Asrock X370 Taichi mainboard as well.
Click to expand...

ASRock used a 1x1 Intel AC NIC for all of their Z370 boards; it works, and it's Intel, but is pretty slow. I would say that it's not likely to cause issues but it's certainly worth investigating.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
ASRock used a 1x1 Intel AC NIC for all of their Z370 boards; it works, and it's Intel, but is pretty slow. I would say that it's not likely to cause issues but it's certainly worth investigating.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I wonder if that is why I get slower speeds with one router over another. I have both the Netgear X4S and the XR500, which more or less have the same hardware. However, when testing both, I have consistently received about 322 Mbps (about 41MBps through Steam in Windows 10) well getting about 30 to 50Mbps speeds slower using the X4S. I have both now and am just trying to figure out which one to keep. I do not game a bunch but, I do want as close to my 400Mbps speed that I pay for across my wireless connection.

Perhaps it is the wireless chipset itself and that is just the way it is?
 
ManofGod said:
Perhaps it is the wireless chipset itself and that is just the way it is?
Click to expand...

As a 1x1 part opposed to a 2x2 or 3x3 part, it's just plain slower. It's still overkill for gaming and streaming, but it will obviously limit higher speed downloads.

In theory you could replace it with a fairly cheap mini-PCIe Intel card of higher spec and get better performance; a better antenna would also help.

The main problem is that the best cards are still Intel, and I while it's possible that newer/faster cards might use different and potentially better drivers, it's not likely to address the wacky VPN behavior that you are seeing.
 
Mazzspeed said:
We don't even know the VPN protocol used? Is any specific VPN software used? How was it installed? What steps have you taken to diagnose the issue? Are you trying to connect to a remote machine using IP address or NetBIOS name or other?
Click to expand...
I don't have a whole lot to weigh in with except that I think this part is important, and I haven't seen the details noted yet.

I use OpenConnect (work) and openVPN (home) regularly. OpenVPN setup was certainly more effort to get going, but I have to manage both ends of it. :D
 
Mazzspeed said:
We don't even know the VPN protocol used? Is any specific VPN software used? How was it installed? What steps have you taken to diagnose the issue? Are you trying to connect to a remote machine using IP address or NetBIOS name or other?

Is this a VM or a physical machine? If it is a VM try a physical machine and see if it works.

At the moment this is sounding like a 'crap on Linux and blame the user base for poor attitudes' kind of thread. However, I'm happy to be proven wrong.

First point of diagnosis:

1. Linux is not Windows.

2. Unlikely an issue specifically with Ubuntu as others report it working fine.

3. ...?
Click to expand...

More like you sound like you rather berate me than provide calm and well thought out help? No crap, Windows is not Linux, who the hell cares, the diagnosis is still a valid point. Others have reported online that they do have issues with Ubuntu doing exactly the issue I am describing. It is a very basic, connect to a VPN at the office, which I believe works through a RV340 based router into Windows Server 2012R, connects to it and then a basic Windows RDP into a computer on the remote network.

The computer on the local network cannot ping any machine by machine name, even when booting off a live distro, can connect to the VPN and well connected, can get online but as soon as it is disconnected, internet access is broken until the wireless NIC is disabled and then re enabled. Windows 10 works just fine on that same computer and therefore, it is not a physical hardware problem itself, meaning the hardware is not failing. On the other hand, the problem is occurring in Ubuntu straight up, at least the newest version.

I am going to download and run Mint 19 live to see if that works or not on my machine. Thanks for the help though.
 
Mazzspeed said:
I just configured a PPTP VPN server on my home Ubuntu server and logged into it via my Ubuntu PC tethered to my mobile phone as to isolate it from the local network and connected perfectly, I was able to ping the server using it's local address and I was able to SSH into the server using it's name.

Everything is working fine for me here and I configured the VPN client on my Ubuntu PC using purely the GUI, no terminal trickery involved at all. Bear in mind however that I'm running 16.04, every time I go to upgrade to 18.04 some attempt by Canonical to reinvent the wheel stops me from going through with the upgrade.

EDIT: ManOfGod, have you got the firewall enabled in Ubuntu? I think it's enabled in 18.04 by default. Open a terminal windows and enter 'sudo ufw status' without the quotes followed by the password, does it say 'active' or 'inactive'?
Click to expand...

Oops, I did not see this post, I will check what you showed here, thanks. :)
 
Last edited:
ManofGod said:
I am going to download and run Mint 19 live to see if that works or not on my machine. Thanks for the help though.
Click to expand...

Why run another version of Ubuntu though ?

If you really want to know if its a Linux driver thing... or an Ubuntu setup thing. Run a different distro. Grab Manjaro, or fedora or basically anything that isn't using Ubuntu as a base. Ubuntu uses a different network setup scheme with netplan then basically everyone else... and Mint is just ubuntu with a green skin.
 
ChadD said:
Why run another version of Ubuntu though ?

If you really want to know if its a Linux driver thing... or an Ubuntu setup thing. Run a different distro. Grab Manjaro, or fedora or basically anything that isn't using Ubuntu as a base. Ubuntu uses a different network setup scheme with netplan then basically everyone else... and Mint is just ubuntu with a green skin.
Click to expand...

I will probably try Manjaro then as long as it is a live distro, thanks. I can download it at home in nothing flat with a 400Mbps connection. :D :)
 
ManofGod said:
More like you sound like you rather berate me than provide calm and well thought out help? No crap, Windows is not Linux, who the hell cares, the diagnosis is still a valid point. Others have reported online that they do have issues with Ubuntu doing exactly the issue I am describing. It is a very basic, connect to a VPN at the office, which I believe works through a RV340 based router into Windows Server 2012R, connects to it and then a basic Windows RDP into a computer on the remote network.
Click to expand...

My intention is not to be condescending in any way whatsoever, I am merely stating a common issue regarding Windows users attempting to trial Linux in the hope such an scenario isn't the case in this very thread.

ChadD said:
Why run another version of Ubuntu though ?

If you really want to know if its a Linux driver thing... or an Ubuntu setup thing. Run a different distro. Grab Manjaro, or fedora or basically anything that isn't using Ubuntu as a base. Ubuntu uses a different network setup scheme with netplan then basically everyone else... and Mint is just ubuntu with a green skin.
Click to expand...

I don't really know whether this is a good idea. VPN's work under Ubuntu, I've been using Ubuntu as a VPN client for years without issue and even tried setting up a simple PPTP VPM without issue for the purpose of diagnosis in this very thread. While the issue could be distro specific, although I doubt very much that it is, it may be worth trying Mint just in case there is some crazy quirk with the GUI implementation.

EDIT: ManOfGod, I really think you need to install Ubuntu on bear metal and attempt to set this up as opposed to a live distro. Live distro's are great for getting an idea of the OS and checking for compatibility issues, but I wouldn't really advise using them for testing configurations as specific as VPN setups.
 
ManofGod said:
I will probably try Manjaro then as long as it is a live distro, thanks. I can download it at home in nothing flat with a 400Mbps connection. :D :)
Click to expand...

Ya they have a live. That way you know its not something specific to Ubuntu setups. I am pretty sure the newest mint is using the same new Ubuntu LTS with netplan. I am sure there is a way to properly setup your config with Ubuntu... there just isn't as much experience with the netplan configs in general. I think I see what the Ubuntu folks are trying to achieve with Netplan, I like the idea of readable network config files for even very complicated setups... but it is still pretty new.
 
Mazzspeed said:
My intention is not to be condescending in any way whatsoever, I am merely stating a common issue regarding Windows users attempting to trial Linux in the hope such an scenario isn't the case in this very thread.



I don't really know whether this is a good idea. VPN's work under Ubuntu, I've been using Ubuntu as a VPN client for years without issue and even tried setting up a simple PPTP VPM without issue for the purpose of diagnosis in this very thread. While the issue could be distro specific, although I doubt very much that it is, it may be worth trying Mint just in case there is some crazy quirk with the GUI implementation.

EDIT: ManOfGod, I really think you need to install Ubuntu on bear metal and attempt to set this up as opposed to a live distro. Live distro's are great for getting an idea of the OS and checking for compatibility issues, but I wouldn't really advise using them for testing configurations as specific as VPN setups.
Click to expand...

I have already done both the bare metal and live distro method with the same results. In this case, a basic PPTP VPN connection should not be affected by bare metal or live distro testing. It is easier to test with a live distro anyways, as a process of elimination.
 
Thinking about it further, this looks like a quirk between the Linux networking and your network itself. Possibly the NIC, but more likely the router, and likely to do with a combination of DHCP and DNS.

Try setting your Linux test install to use a static IP and say 8.8.8.8 for DNS. This limits autoassign variables and downgrades your gateway to just routing packets, eliminating services that might be functioning suboptimally.

[I'll add that I have no real way to test this myself as of yet- I've set up an OpenVPN tunnel to my Edgerouter 4 before and had that working well over Starbucks WiFi, to include the tasks ManofGod requires, but that's not quite the same thing]
 
Use the 'tail' command under Ubuntu to track the log file as you connect to the VPN server, this should provide information on what the issue may be. Without more in the way of specifics relating to your configuration there's really not much more anyone can advise.

Open a terminal window and copy/paste this command. To copy/paste quickly to terminal simply highlight the text, no need for any right clicking, go to the terminal window and click the center mouse button:

tail -f /var/log/syslog
 
I use open connect on my Fedora boxes to connect to my work VPN on a regular basis and don't have issues like above. I havne't used Ubuntu in years though. I prefer the RHEL family.
 
Starting from a fresh boot does local network work until you connect to the VPN?

when you connect to a VPN its probably going to add an interface, change the routing table (including the default route), and most likely add some DNS entries for the new interface. Its possible something is not getting cleaned up when you disconnect from the VPN.

I would start by getting the state of the following before you connect to the VPN, while, and after you disconnect.

look at how the interfaces are configured.
# ifconfig -a (you want to see both UP and RUNNING in this one)
or
# ip addr list

check the routing table
# netstat -rn

check what the systemd-resolve has for the DNS servers.
# systemd-resolve --status

Then its just a process of elimination, is the default gw your router when not connected to the VPN? can you ping the gw by IP? if so can you ping googles dns 8.8.8.8? If things are reachable by IP, then you start looking at DNS, if not then you need to start looking in to the connectivity, haven't used wireless in a long time on linux, but i believe: iwlist, iwconfig, wpa_cli should let you trouble shoot the wireless side of things in detail.

as for remmina, might be a bad setting in remmina, I am able to connect from my ubuntu 18.04 workstation to my win10 gaming box. I connect by IP. Also even if ufw is enabled by default, i do not believe it blocks outgoing connections by default.
 
Well, I will get you guys the information. However, for now, I tested a live boot of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on an entirely different computer, physically connected with a completely different network range than the remote network, it still caused the exact same issue. I am now going to try Linux Mint 19 and Manjaro.

Edit: Reproduced the exact same issue with Linux Mint 19. Now, onto Manjaro.

Edit: Manjaro, on the other hand, works as it should.
 
Last edited:
ManofGod said:
Well, I will get you guys the information. However, for now, I tested a live boot of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on an entirely different computer, physically connected with a completely different network range than the remote network, it still caused the exact same issue. I am now going to try Linux Mint 19 and Manjaro.

Edit: Reproduced the exact same issue with Linux Mint 19. Now, onto Manjaro.

Edit: Manjaro, on the other hand, works as it should.
Click to expand...

Glad you got it figured out. Just another reason why I stopped using Ubuntu distros for anything other than my Plex server.
 
ManofGod said:
Well, I will get you guys the information. However, for now, I tested a live boot of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on an entirely different computer, physically connected with a completely different network range than the remote network, it still caused the exact same issue. I am now going to try Linux Mint 19 and Manjaro.

Edit: Reproduced the exact same issue with Linux Mint 19. Now, onto Manjaro.

Edit: Manjaro, on the other hand, works as it should.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear you got it sorted. Am still interested in you sharing the details. It would help everyone if you included all of this information. It "works as it should" is subjective and doesn't mean much. There's a logical reason why it wasn't doing what you wanted it to do. Hell, you might have even discovered a Debian-based bug. Please share and make this thread useful to everyone.
 
FNtastic said:
Glad to hear you got it sorted. Am still interested in you sharing the details. It would help everyone if you included all of this information. It "works as it should" is subjective and doesn't mean much. There's a logical reason why it wasn't doing what you wanted it to do. Hell, you might have even discovered a Debian-based bug. Please share and make this thread useful to everyone.
Click to expand...

No, not subjective at all, just lacking in detail. :D With Manjaro, it does not kill internet access after disconnecting from the VPN. (I use Gnome with the built in GUI interface to set it up and connect.) I will provide more details later in the week when I have some time to run those commands given a few posts above, thanks.
 
ManofGod said:
No, not subjective at all, just lacking in detail. :D With Manjaro, it does not kill internet access after disconnecting from the VPN. (I use Gnome with the built in GUI interface to set it up and connect.) I will provide more details later in the week when I have some time to run those commands given a few posts above, thanks.
Click to expand...

Manjaro is the better desktop distro anyway. Enjoy. lol

I know their are plenty of die hard Ubuntu fans... I'm not one of them. I'm sure your issue is related to the Ubuntu Netplan changes. I guess if we did figure out exactly how to make Ubuntu work right we would figure it out. Mint is just Ubuntu with Cinn DE and a different skin. Debian doesn't use netplan I bet Debian and the RPM distros (RHEL/Cent-Fedora and SLES-Suse) would likewise work just fine. I have never dealt with Netplan and its yaml config files... I am sure there is a way to set it up, doing some reading it does seem fairly powerful. (I am sure the issue is fixable by defining the right setup in a yaml setup file)
 
ChadD said:
Manjaro is the better desktop distro anyway. Enjoy. lol

I know their are plenty of die hard Ubuntu fans... I'm not one of them. I'm sure your issue is related to the Ubuntu Netplan changes. I guess if we did figure out exactly how to make Ubuntu work right we would figure it out. Mint is just Ubuntu with Cinn DE and a different skin. Debian doesn't use netplan I bet Debian and the RPM distros (RHEL/Cent-Fedora and SLES-Suse) would likewise work just fine. I have never dealt with Netplan and its yaml config files... I am sure there is a way to set it up, doing some reading it does seem fairly powerful. (I am sure the issue is fixable by defining the right setup in a yaml setup file)
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need to do any of this, it should work via the GUI. The only way to be sure it's a Netplan issue is to install 16.04 and see if the problem persists.

What's odd is the fact that there's people running 18.04 in this very thread and their VPN clients are working just fine? Considering the OP tried Ubuntu on two different machines you can pretty much rule out drivers as the cause of the issue and I doubt drivers are the cause of the issue anyway, sounds more like a routing issue. Of course, there is very little information regarding the OP's method of troubleshooting, as far as I can tell the OP hasn't tried any of the troubleshooting methods mentioned by the community and we still don't really know the specifics of what the OP was actually trying to achieve?

It's all very vague, I think there's a point to this thread beyond simple assistance...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top