In this tutorial, you will learn how to setup IPVanish on Raspberry Pi. IPVanish is a popular privacy-oriented VPN service.
Along with Surfshark, NordVPN, and ExpressVPN, IPVanish is one of the most well-known VPN services and is regarded as one of the finest.
It is renowned for both its security and seclusion. Some of the most recent VPN and encryption technologies are supported by IPVanish.
They also strictly adhere to the zero-log principle. This means that nothing that might be used to identify you will ever be stored by IPVanish.
Using a service like IPVanish on Raspberry Pi helps to guarantee that you can remain private on the internet.
From software development to customer support, the entirety of IPVanish's stack is managed by them. This ensures that no external vendor will be able to gain access to your information in any way.
IPVanish has also committed to not throttling your connection across any of its 1,500+ VPN servers.
What You Need to Setup IPVanish on Raspberry Pi
To connect to IPVanish on Raspberry Pi, you will need the following equipment:
Recommended
- Raspberry Pi
- Micro SD Card or an SD card if you’re using an old version of the Pi.
- Ethernet Cable or Wi-Fi
- Power Supply
- IPVanish Subscription
Optional
Make sure you have signed up for an IPVanish account before proceeding with this guide. To connect to their network, you'll need a login, a password, and a valid subscription.
Installing OpenVPN for IPVanish
We will use the OpenVPN software to connect to IPVanish.
OpenVPN, along with WireGuard, is a popular VPN client known for its robust security.
1- We need to make sure our operating system is current before we can start setting up our Raspberry Pi to connect to IPVanish.
Since the system is running Raspberry Pi OS, we may update it by executing the following two commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade2- We may now install the OpenVPN client after updating the system.
This client will allow us to connect our Raspberry Pi to IPVanish's VPN.
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Additionally, we'll install the unzip package. This package will allow us to download all of IPVanish's config files to our device.
Running the command below will allow you to install the required packages:
sudo apt install openvpn unzipSetting up IPVanish on Raspberry Pi
We can now get the configuration files we need since our Raspberry Pi has the required OpenVPN client installed.
1- Using the cd command, we can move to the OpenVPN directory on our Raspberry Pi for our first task.
The required files will soon be downloaded and extracted to this location.
cd /etc/openvpn2- IPVanish has offered an easy way to get all of the required files to make the process simpler.
Running the following command on our Raspberry Pi allows us to obtain the IPVAnish OpenVPN files straight from the network's website:
sudo wget https://configs.ipvanish.com/simpleconf/configs.zip3- We now need to extract the IPVanish configuration files that have been stored on our Raspberry Pi.
By running the following command, we can extract the OpenVPN files.
sudo unzip configs.zip4- We may now delete the archive once we have extracted the configuration files from our Raspberry Pi.
To delete the file from our device, we can use the rm command.
sudo rm configs.zip5- Now that we've extracted all of the files, we can view them using the ls command.
We can list all of the files in the current directory by using the ls command.
lsYou may choose which IPVanish server you want your Raspberry Pi to connect to using the command's list of files.
For example, if we wanted to connect to a server in Australia, we could select the file shown below.
ipvanish-AU-Melbourne-mel-a01.ovpnMake a note of the filename you choose, since you will need it to connect to the server.
6- We may now connect to the IPVanish VPN since we have the necessary OVPN files.
To connect to the VPN, use the following command to instruct OpenVPN to run our file:
Make sure to replace IPVANISH_OVPN_FILE with the name of the file, you obtained in the previous step.
sudo openvpn IPVANISH_OVPN_FILEFor example, we may run the following command to connect to our Melbourne-based IPVanish server from our Raspberry Pi:
sudo openvpn ipvanish-AU-Melbourne-mel-a01.ovpn7- When you connect to the IPVanish VPN, you'll be prompted to provide your username and password.
To connect to the IPVanish network, OpenVPN requires these credentials.
8- By now, You should now be able to connect to the IPVanish on Raspberry Pi successfully.
9- There are two ways you may break your connection with IPVanish.
You may kill the currently running application by hitting “CTRL+C” if you still have the terminal session open.
By using the following command, you may also kill all currently running OpenVPN processes:
sudo killall openvpnConnecting to IPVanish at Startup
We'll be showing you how to make your Raspberry Pi connect to IPVanish when it powers up in this section.
You will need an IPVanish account to connect to their VPN before proceeding.
1- We need to build an auth file for our Pi to connect to the IPVanish VPN from the start.
The username and password for your account are both stored in this authentication file. The .ovpn file will be modified so that it uses the credentials stored in this file.
To start producing an auth.txt file, run the command below using the nano text editor:
sudo nano /etc/openvpn/auth.txt2- You are required to provide the username and password for your IPVanish account in this file.
It is recommended that the username and password be separated into two lines.
- Your username needs to be on the first line.
- Your account's password should appear on the second line.
USERNAME PASSWORD3- After entering the auth information, save the file by hitting “CTRL+X“, followed by “Y“, and then the “ENTER” key.
4- You will need a OVPN file available for this step. In the previous stage, you should have acquired the name of one.
Using the ls command, you can list the accessible files again.
We'll need to duplicate this file since we'll need to tweak the filename slightly so that it ends with .conf.
For example, if we took the prior file, ipvanish-AU-Melbourne-mel-a01.ovpn, we would rename it ipvanish-melb.conf.
sudo cp /etc/openvpn/ipvanish-AU-Melbourne-mel-a01.ovpn /etc/openvpn/ipvanish-melb.conf5- You may now modify the file using Nano by running the command shown below after changing the file extension to .conf:
In the previous step, you set the filename, so be sure to replace it with that.
sudo nano /etc/openvpn/ipvanish-melb.conf6- You need to find and modify the following line inside this config file:
Using “CTRL+W” in Nano can help you find this line easier.
auth-user-passFor this text to reference the auth file we developed, you need to replace it with the following text:
auth-user-pass auth.txt7- By pressing “CTRL+X“, “Y“, and “ENTER” once that line has been updated, you may save the file.
8- For OpenVPN to connect to our IPVanish VPN, we now need to modify its default settings.
Using the command below, you may start altering the config file.
sudo nano /etc/default/openvpn9- We need to modify the following line in this file:
#AUTOSTART="all"The following text should be used instead of that line: This text instructs tells to load the file with the name ipvanish-melb (without the extension).
AUTOSTART="ipvanish-melb"Make sure to replace ipvanish-melb it with the file name you previously used. Make sure the .conf part of the file name is not included.
10- After making changes to the file, save them by pressing “CTRL+X“, “Y“, and “ENTER“.
11- Using the command shown below, we may activate the OpenVPN service in our next step.
By enabling the service, it will begin when the Raspberry Pi boots and immediately connect to IPVanish.
sudo systemctl enable openvpn12- By restarting our Raspberry Pi, we can now ensure that everything is working.
Running the following command will restart the device:
sudo rebootYour Raspberry Pi should now automatically try to connect to the IPVanish VPN when it has finished restarting.
13- By running the following command, you can verify that your Raspberry Pi's public IP address is now different:
curl ifconfig.meThis command works by using curl to get the public IP address config from the website ifconfig.me.
Preventing DNS Leaks with IPVanish
The DNS servers on a device like the Raspberry Pi might leak your IP address, which is an issue that can happen while using any VPN.
In this part, we'll show you a fix for the issue that ISP DNS servers are infamous for.
1- The DNS servers that our Raspberry Pi is using will be changed to fix this issue.
To do this, we need to modify the dhcpcd configuration file by using the command file:
sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf2- We need to find the following line inside this file:
The domain name servers that the host should use for DNS lookups are specified on this line.
To search for text in the file, use “CTRL+W“.
#static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1Substitute the following line for this one: Using Cloudflare's DNS service (1.1.1.1), this line will tell the host to look up DNS queries.
static domain_name_servers=1.1.1.13- After making the necessary DNS changes, save the file by pressing “CTRL+X“, “Y“, and “ENTER“.
4- Restarting the Raspberry Pi is the simplest way to make sure that all applications are using the new DNS server.
Run the following command to reboot the device:
sudo reboot5- When your Raspberry Pi has finished rebooting, you may verify whether your IP address is being leaked using a service like ipleak.net.
This rm works by doing many checks to determine whether it can find an alternative IP address using various protocols.
Your Raspberry Pi should now be successfully connected to the IPVanish VPN service.
