VPN problems

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GKarasik

• June 29, 2025 21:05
• Edited

Hi,

On my Firewalla Gold Plus: I was in France for an extended period and happily connecting to my home network via the WireGuard VPN client on my laptop. My procedure was to use the Firewalla app on my iPhone to start the WireGuard VPN server, then start the client on my laptop, then click Activate, then wait for an "Activation successful" alert. Once I got that alert, I could ping and access all the resources on my home network. Then one day, even after getting an "Activation successful" alert, that last part stopped working. Although everything said I was connected, I could no longer access anything on my network.( By the way, I have the exact same problem with the OpenVPN setup; everything says I'm successfully connected, but I have no access to network resources.) Now that I'm home, I'm trying to troubleshoot the problem, but I don't see anything wrong. I don't know where to begin to figure this out. Please can anybody suggest a trouble-shooting regimen?

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  Firewalla

  • June 29, 2025 21:28

  Tap VPN Server, either OpenVPN or WireGuard and look at the "setup" field. Is it complete? or waiting for something?

  Also, in case ISP changes your IP address, this may take 4 hours to reflect in the ddns service as well. 

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  GKarasik

  • June 29, 2025 21:57
  • Edited

  Thank you. Until one day it wasn't, all was working well for almost two months. But it never hurts to double-check, so I did. Both setups are complete. Also, my IP address hasn't changed, and when I tell them to, both clients activate. BTW, the OS firewall is turned off, and regardless of the anti-virus's status, the results are the same.

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  Firewalla

  • June 29, 2025 21:57

  Try to connect from your laptop to your firewalla (home) via OpenVPN. After you connect, try to ping something popular like 1.1.1.1 and also a device on your network. 

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  GKarasik

  • June 29, 2025 22:08

  Thank you. Tried that from France. Like WireGuard saying "Activated," OpenVPN would say "Connected," but there was no ping from either. (Ping is allowed.)

  At the moment I can test only from inside my network, so ping tests are inconclusive. I will be away from home tomorrow night and for several days and can do further testing then.

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  Firewalla

  • June 30, 2025 17:04
  • Edited

  Have you checked your PC/MAC and make sure it doesn't have any firewalls running? does your phone work with VPN? Make sure the facility (ISP) you are using is not blocking VPN. (some hospitals, libraries does this)

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  GKarasik

  • June 30, 2025 17:37

  Thank you. Yes I have checked (and rechecked) for firewalls and anti-virus running. No firewalls, and anti-virus status doesn't matter. With WireGuard Seever or OpenVPN Server on and the phone connected, I can't ping local network resources from the phone.

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  GKarasik

  • June 30, 2025 23:42

  I am in Durham, NC, and all is working as it should. I'm wondering if the EU has instituted some kind of block on VPN activities that was causing my problem. I much appreciate the efforts to help.

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  Firewalla Team

  • July 01, 2025 09:41

  I didn't hear any restriction in EU. When you were in France, did you often test in one network? If the client network is using the same subnet as your home or there is a conflict, the remote device probably sent traffic in local when you accessed home resources.

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