Open VPN with NordVPN config files will not connect
So, I'm needing some help. I'm using the router as a secondary router. As I want a seperate Router from the ISP Router to run VPN...the secondary router (AX1500) is all working and connected to the internet no problem but when I try to connect NordVPN via OpenVPN, it just hangs in 'connecting' status and never connects to the VPN...I'm in the UK and my ISP is Plusnet. I peviously was using another router with ExpressVPN but recently change to NordVPN which the old secondary router didn't support Open VPN so purchased this new router but having issues, it would be fab is someone can help me. I've used so several config files and servers and it just will not connect to any of them :(...
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Hello @UnionJackJay ,
Welcome to our commmunity.
If you're experiencing problems with the VPN Server/Client feature, we recommend reviewing the following troubleshooting articles for assistance:
For VPN Server issue on TP-Link Router: VPN Server Is Not Working Properly on TP-Link Wi-Fi Routers
For VPN Client issue on TP-Link Router: VPN Client on Wi-Fi Router Is Not Working
Please contact us again with the results of the above troubleshooting steps. You may also provide us with more details so that we can help you more efficiently.
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@UnionJackJay My router doesn't have the option to connect to a VPN. How did you do it?
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@Joseph-TP I've tried literally everything and it still seems impossible to reliably connect NordVPN OpenVPN profiles on my AX1500 v3 router. These are the steps I've taken:
-I've installed the latest firmware, 1.2.1 Build 20250724 rel.69183(5553)
-I've tried different servers, countries, UDP/TCP, and nothing works
-I am using the correct service credentials, not my NordVPN login details
-I've tried connecting to the OpenVPN profiles on my Windows PC; no issues.
-I've tried free servers from ProtonVPN and they work fine
-I've tried separating the certificate credentials and removing them from the ovpn file, removing the tls-auth data, removing unnecessary lines from the OpenVPN file, but nothing works
-I've tried copying the exact ovpn file from ProtonVPN but adapt the servers to NordVPN, but it doesn't work; both if I use the ca and tls-auth from Proton or if I replace those with NordVPN's ca and tls-auth
The ONLY thing that did briefly work was when I let ChatGPT rewrite my ovpn file to remove unnecessary lines that might cause issues and changed this:
remote <NordVPN IP> 1194
to this:
remote <NordVPN IP> 51820
remote <NordVPN IP> 4569
remote <NordVPN IP> 80
remote <NordVPN IP> 5060
remote <NordVPN IP> 1194
(similar to ProtonVPN's config file)
This worked the first time. However, after disconnecting and trying another server, I never managed to reconnect it! It just hangs at "Connecting".
I've temporarily found a solution by using this GitHub tool to generate Wireguard config files for NordVPN servers: https://github.com/n-thumann/wg-nord?tab=readme-ov-file
It is now working fine with Wireguard on my TP-Link. However, I would still prefer to use OpenVPN. So it would be great if these issues could be looked into.
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I was talking about VPN Client actually. I haven't tried the server function.
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So far the only solution which I've found is to use this tool on GitHub to generate WireGuard configuration files for NordVPN servers: https://github.com/n-thumann/wg-nord
Use the command line tool to generate the config file for your desired server and input it in the TP-Link VPN Client setup for WireGuard. Make sure to add /32 after the address or TP-Link won't accept your input. Like so: Address = 1.1.1.1/32
The WireGuard NordVPN connection on my TP-Link has been running for maybe 10 days now without any issues.
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Hello @TP-J12 ,
The tech team has been made aware of your case; they will likely reach out to you via email to continue troubleshooting. Please check your email inbox and confirm.
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@UnionJackJay Thanks a lot for the post. I have some questions if someone can help me..Thanks
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