Help required to run Windscribe in Asuswrt-Merlin 386.3 on a RT-AX88U

[Bitrudeuk]

Hi everyone,

I've spent most of today reading changelogs and forum posts, to try and get my head round the extras that Merlin firmware offers and yet still can't get my Windscribe VPN to work in the new Merlin firmware. I've been running up-to-date Asus firmware until today, with Windscribe running perfectly on my RT-AX88U.

I've done a fresh install of Merlin's 386.3 and then a hard reset and got the basics working, but cannot for the life of me get the VPN to work??

The reason I went for Merlin's firmware was to set up a split tunnel to keep my Ring doorbell and camera out of the VPN, as I can't connect to it with the VPN on the router The doorbell and camera is on a guest network with no LAN access and worked fine pre-VPN

My ultimate aim is to have a network set up between my house in the UK, where my NAS and Ring equipment is and my other house in the Netherlands via the VPN, but let's get it working on the UK side first.

I initially installed a Let's Encrypt SSL cert, using DDNS, but was concerned that I couldn't get the VPN to work and didn't like the router exposed to the outside world until the VPN did, so I have gone back to a local SSL cert, so I am entering the router config via https://router.asus.com:"port number"

I've seen a few "idiots guides" tutorials on how to set up a VPN on the previous firmware, but no one has created one yet for the latest one... So am hoping for some basics here please, as I am still yet to get my head round any coding or SSH access/commands.

I'm probably trying to have a set up that is way above my level of understanding of how to configure it, but I am hoping that I will get their eventually, with a lot of hard work and a few hints and tips along the way!

Thanks in advance and i'm sure you will no doubt need some more information to help me rectify my issue!!

Cheers

David

 

[Brenneke]

What is happening specifically with your VPN not working - you have Windscribe set up in a client on router and it is not connecting, or is it connecting with no access to internet?

 

[Bitrudeuk]

Internet is working fine, the VPN just won't connect. It just says - "Error - check configuration!" I've checked the configuration a million times and tinkered with the Crypto and Advanced settings, but still no connection of VPN.

I'm sure it's something simple and staring me in the face?

I should be able to at least get a connection before setting up any VPN Director rules right?? I've read the wiki - https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/wiki/VPN-Director

Then, once I am connected I want to set up a rule to send the "Ring" bell and camera on the WAN and all other traffic to the VPN?

 

[RMerlin]

Internet is working fine, the VPN just won't connect. It just says - "Error - check configuration!" I've checked the configuration a million times and tinkered with the Crypto and Advanced settings, but still no connection of VPN.

Look at the system log, it will tell you what is failing.

 

[Brenneke]

One simple thing it could be is using your regular Windscribe login credentials when setting up the client. Did you use the special login credentials provided by them for this?

 

[Bitrudeuk]

Look at the system log, it will tell you what is failing.

Thanks Merlin, one thing that was showing up when it was just running normally was the following - kernel: protocol 0800 is buggy, dev eth7

But I saw your post about this when searching for it, so have moved both my guest networks to the second network and it has stopped. Thank you

As for the VPN boot up, I was getting the following TLS error in the log;

TLS Error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds (check your network connectivity)
TLS Error: TLS handshake failed

I wiped the details via the "Default" button and re-uploaded my credentials and it's now connected, so no idea if it was the kernel error or just a glitch with the VPN settings uploading from the OpenVPN file or a combination of both? Regardless, it's now fixed thank you.

Now, on to the next problem, split tunnelling! Time to read the VPN Director wiki again

Cheers again

David

 

[Bitrudeuk]

One simple thing it could be is using your regular Windscribe login credentials when setting up the client. Did you use the special login credentials provided by them for this?

Nope, I took the correct credentials from their setup section, so it wasn't that! But I can imagine that's an easy one to get wrong!

 

[mr8]

Had the same problem on 386.3.

But also had the same problem on another router running 386.2_4

It seems like the timing is just a coincidence with the windscribe changes.

I was able to get windscribe back up by updating the Certificate Authority from the config: https://windscribe.com/getconfig/openvpn

It also looks like they're also in the process of phasing out compression, so probably a good idea to update that at the same time.

 

[Bitrudeuk]

I was able to get windscribe back up by updating the Certificate Authority from the config: https://windscribe.com/getconfig/openvpn

It also looks like they're also in the process of phasing out compression, so probably a good idea to update that at the same time.

Yes, I noticed that the other day, I had already grabbed a new config for the NAS and Router thankfully, so I knew it wasn't that, that was the problem.

I feel like my issue was practically rectified by the old IT way of doing things, "switch it off and back on again"

 

[miniterror]

Any of you Windscribe guys get high speeds?
Mine always seem to hover between 60-80Mbit.
Tried multiple locations/ports/protocols

 

[Bitrudeuk]

Any of you Windscribe guys get high speeds?
Mine always seem to hover between 60-80Mbit.
Tried multiple locations/ports/protocols

What speed are you expecting?
I get 60 odd down and 13 up and i'm on a 60/20 connection, so i'm more than happy with that!
The test will come when I am back in the Netherlands and on a 250/80 connection...

 

[miniterror]

What speed are you expecting?
I get 60 odd down and 13 up and i'm on a 60/20 connection, so i'm more than happy with that!
The test will come when I am back in the Netherlands and on a 250/80 connection...

Im from the NL too, i have 300/30 connection.
Im aware of overhead caused by encrypting/decrypting but 60 to 80 down is a bit low compared to 300 down from the ISP.
I was more expecting something like 200 down over the VPN

 

[jak8]

Any of you Windscribe guys get high speeds?
Mine always seem to hover between 60-80Mbit.
Tried multiple locations/ports/protocols

I have used Windscribe for years on router, NAS and PC's with no speed problem. Generally use European, Netherland, France with no noticeable difference. Using it currently to stream Australian TV with no stutter so I can't imagine the speed is a problem there although I have not measured it. I am on a AC68 with older firmware about 364 if I recall. Just on the cusp of upgrading when I noticed lots of messages on problems which caused me to hesitate upgrading firmware and consider upgrading to an AX92U or AX88U.
Over 5 years with Windscribe with no problem until last 3 weeks when I did have an issue on proof of identity which was an eye opener with respect to their support service who demanded copy of a 4 year old reciept!