Figured this might help others out there since this seems faster than waiting on a NordVPN update.
I encountered a situation yesterday in which suddenly I wasn’t able to connect to a NAS and other Network Drives on a Private Home Network with Windows 11. It took me 6 hours to figure out how to fix this issue (updating drivers, different NICS, ethernet cables, checking firewalls, flushing the network, uninstalling software, etc.) and I didn’t realize it was related to NordVPN’s DNS Option.
After enabling NordVPN’s automatic connection, some of my software stopped working. Still not quite sure why some of my Internet apps wouldn’t transfer, but I figured it might have been related to some update somewhere. So I went to reinstall/reset NordVPN and go through the settings. I must have deselected the DNS option (forget what it’s exactly called.) It must have altered a registry value. I finally noticed that “Network Discovery” in both Private and Public network settings was automatically disabling itself if I exited the screen and came back to it. This AFTER I had uninstalled firewalls and NordVPN.
Anyways, the solution is to fixing this properly is to change a registry setting:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache
Double click Start value on the right and change the value to 1.
Reboot.
For some bizarre reason mine had a value of 4. Anyways, the above worked for me. Now I’m afraid to install NordVPN again and was hoping there was a better workaround.
Hopefully noone else encounters this but I hope this helps save others time.
I just wish sometimes NordVPN would stop adding features that I don’t want. It seems like they’re happy to either add something or cross-market some other application that they’re rolling out or bundling. JUST PLEASE STOP. Or if you really think it’s an improvement, ejust make sure to beta test it better before crippling systems. All of us just want something that simply connects easy and fast.
Update: I’m encountering too many weird issues with the NordVPN app on Win 11. I’ve opted to use the built-in Windows 11 VPN connection with NordVPN. It actually seems much faster but the only real downside I’m finding is the lack of split-tunneling and a kill switch. Perhaps there’s a third party software which interfaces with Windows VPN setup but I don’t have the time to look.
I’ve wondered if the built-in Windows VPN even utilizes the TAP adapter drivers which show up as only 100 mbps. It somehow gets around it or is hidden but there’s no indication of OpenVPN being utilized on the surface. Since I have a gig network, I always wondered if that lower reported speed has handicapped my connections when it is on. Either way, everything seems so much more stable for now.
My steps were (not verbatim):
- Type VPN in search bar. Add VPN. Windows (built-in.) Give it a connection name (any name will work but I just called it NordVPN.)
- Server list seems to be very hard to find now. They used to announce connection info in your account but it seems to have disappeared. I chose the closest connection here and plugged it in under server name/address: https://nordvpn.com/servers/tools/
- VPN type IKEv2 (automatic might work but…)
- Log into your NordVPN account and get your username and password.
- Remember sign in checkbox.
- THERE’S ONE TRICK which needs to be done (at least for me) to get it to actually work and it involves editing your registry. Otherwise you will receive a “policy match error” message. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\Parameters → right-click on any area of white space → New → DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name the new value NegotiateDH2048_AES256
- Right click value modify and enter a value of 2.
- You might have to reboot. I forget. But I tested it and it works when it is turned on.
One last thing I’d add. NordVPN had some other method of connecting using SOCKS5 and still list it on their webste. I gather they were updating their servers and it stopped working at one point. I really can’t speak to SOCKS5 benefits but I tinkered briefly with their method and gave up. The method above works really well for me right now. Only issue is to remember to discconect it when you’re not using it because it’s so unobtrusive/seamless.
Update #2. I’m trying to find a way to enable split tunneling using the built-in Windows 11 VPN connection on a per app basis. I hunted around Git and a bunch of other sites but it appears nothing readily exists. Seems like there’s stuff for Wireguard but that’s of no help here.
The only thing I did find that probably works might be to launch a Virtual Machine via something like Hyper-V with the VPN connection enabled inside of it. It’s essentially sandboxing whatever you’re intending to do with a VPN.
Now if there was only a way or a type of batch file that would launch the VM and start up the VPN connection from the main machine, that would be so much easier. Just as an example if you wanted to watch or download something region protected (let’s just use a torrent file as an example), you could click in your main browser that’s not on the VPN and it would initiate a bat file that would start the VM, start the VPN connection, and open up the associated program of your choice for downloading.
I’m lacking the time right now to tinker so if I ever want to use a VPN, I’d probably just forgo the split-tunneling altogether and just enable/disable it.
Think I looked at that and it didn’t work for me.
I also installed the certificate in the way they mentioned to but I don’t actually think it was even needed via the Windows method which is much more straightforward.
Yeah I have done that in the past but if I recall it installs the TAP drivers/adapter and the performance wasn’t all that great. Speeds seemed on par with NordVPN (using NordVPN credentials and server.) It’s just one more thing that could go wrong. Not saying that Windows is perfect or has the best track record, but I try to keep things pretty simple these days and this is working well so far.