@Sunshine 

yes done all that. Got and filled "service" credentials and not the account credentials. Tried ovpn files for different servers. Tried tcp as well as udp. The express vpn connects but not the nord vpn?????????

tried uploading ovpn from laptop as well as mobile. No luck. Did the same to try express vpn. That works fine. Odd????

  @Sunshine 

open vpn for Nord vpn on other devices works fine. It's only when I set up vpn client on Tp-link AXE75 following all the instructions for Nord vpn, the connection status is stuck at "connecting" without success. This is frustrating. 

 

  @ashaaa

 

I just got a reply from a similar issue in a support ticket, it turns out that the .ovpn file cant have a 

 

BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY

 

if the .ovpn file was generated with an encrypted private key the router doesnt support it.

 

./easyrsa build-client-full (user) nopass

 

Will generate an .ovpn which has no pass and is thus BEGIN PRIVATE KEY and it will fly through 🙏

I just got a reply tofay from support with a solution. BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY if the .ovpn file was generated with an encrypted private key the router doesnt support it. ./easyrsa build-client-full (user) nopass Will generate an .ovpn which has no pass and is thus BEGIN PRIVATE KEY and it will fly through 🙏... Of course that didnt resolve expressvpn as they generate encrypted.. wud need to ask them in support to provide a non encrypted private key. Finally works ☺️

  @SteiniPe 

thanks. As a complete novice to programming etc. how can I change the ovpn file? What software or program to use on a Mac. I shall appreciate if someone can provide step by step guide.  Thanks. 

  @ashaaa 

 

So, there are only two ways to do this, first thing first

 

1. If this is your own .ovpn, meaning you run your own OpenVPN server, using the normal methods to create your users you would have to execute 

 

/path/to/easyrsa build-client-full <username> nopass

 

The issue with making not a "nopass" is that it asks you to set a password, when you set a password for the .ovpn you end up with BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY whilst with a nopass, this is just BEGIN PRIVATE KEY and I only find this out because TP Link support inspected my .ovpn to tell me that their routers do not work with Encrypted Private keys.

 

2. You don't have your own server, you are using NordVPN, ExpressVPN, or any other VPN service, you can open the .ovpn you get provided in Notepad, and check the <key> section, is it ENCRYPTED or not, if it says BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY you are out of luck and the only way to resolve your case is to contact the support team for that VPN service and ask if they can generate a .ovpn file for your account which does not have ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY or a nopass, and if they can you are in luck. If they brush it off, then unfortunately that VPN service is not supported by the router.

 

I think TP Link should add this to the FAQ because i spent days trying everything between heaven and earth inside the router, inside the server, network, multiple checks.

  @Sunshine 

 

Hi Sunshine, Kevin and anyone at TP-Link I have bought a few products from tp link and overall I like their functionality, I have a few Deco's X60 and I have two routers, the one I just had issues with and another one a slightly newer brand. It's just something I wanted to mention to TP-Link Support.

 

I am system administrator, I have noticed that with TP-Link products there is always this lack of verbosity or access for administrators, I have been told to replace all my TP Link with something else like Linksys etc, but I have so far been okay with TP-Link.

 

Out of those 3-4 things I have owned or currently own there is two things I can point out

 

1. If you have Deco's just remember that TP Link has no plans to allow you to switch channels, it's on the forum in different post that Deco knows best, while Zigbee disagrees and other things it may interfere with. I have come to accept that Deco is just how Deco is. Fair enough

however...

2. I am not okay with how little verbosity the router even has, think about this, If there was a "timeout message" in the System Log of the AX routers or any of your routers, you would be escaping a lot of the ticket replies here. You have ongoing tickets because your firmware doesn't fix these things. For example in my case it was "Connecting.." and it just never stops, when in reality I would like it to try then fail with "Disconnected.." and a message, If i were to goto the System > Log Id see something like "Could not connect to IP: X - Reason: Router does not support encrypted private keys (err: code)" or anything.

 

My 2. was resolved by Noah via Support email but as a system admin, I feel like this should have been addressed attempting to connect, instead the log showed no action, I got no action, no results, no output, nothing that would guide me "okay so encrypted private key is the culprit here, will generate a nopass one". You should be taking every client issue you see here, and put it into array of output error's and present to the end user, patch all your routers with these so that administrators have a bit more view of what is going on and how to resolve it.

 

If it weren't for this thread, or me posting in it, I wouldn't really know where to go. I understand 1. but I don't understand why there isn't firmware update on all your routers, addressing this ensuring "If connection fails, lets return an error message, something to go on, and maybe a link to what error 1013 means etc".

 

Just my two cents, otherwise im okay with these routers, they work great but just lack a bit of "Let the user know", stop the constant "Lets make it easiest for users, Router knows best, no need to let the end user know" and start informing your customers who want to see way more even a toggle switch "Verbose (for debugging purposes)".

 

Have a nice day :)

PS: Im leaving these thread comments to help anyone coming here stumbling on this thread with a private VPN server, so they KNOW what Noah did for me and can then help others, and also I wanted to give a bit of feedback on this, Im appreciative of Noah's help it 100% solved me.