Please make sure the following requirements are met:
- Linux Mint 19.3 (instructions might also work for older/newer versions, but can differ in details)
- Updated software packages
- Installed OpenVPN software
- Installed network manager
- A CyberGhost account
Info: Here's how to create a CyberGhost account online
Info: Here's how to manage your CyberGhost account- A CyberGhost subscription
Info: How to purchase or upgrade a subscription
Info for prepaid subscribers: How to enter an activation key
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that, although the technical process is as thoroughly documented as possible, you need to have at least some technical understanding. There's always a chance for an overseen mistake and/or things have changed and the article is not updated yet.
Step 1
1. Visit your CyberGhost VPN online account and login with your CyberGhost Username and Password.
2. Click on section 'VPN' from the left-side menu, scroll down the page and click 'Configure Device'.
3. Each server has a configuration file that you will need to create in order to connect to the VPN server. You can download all the configuration files after creating them.
Choose OpenVPN and your preferred Country and Server Group, as described below.
Also, type in a Device name to assign to your device, then configure the parameters for the new device.
- Country: Since native protocol connections may only be used with exactly one server you now have to choose the country you want to surf from; the server to be used in this country will be chosen by CyberGhost automatically.
- Server group: Choose the server group and the OpenVPN protocol (UDP or TCP) you want to use:
UDP allows higher speed than the TCP version but can result in broken downloads in some cases. This is the default setting.
TCP allows more stable connections than the UDP version but is a bit slower. Choose this version, if you have recurrent connection issues such as sudden disconnections.
Once the desired parameters are chosen, save them with « Save Configuration »
To view the OpenVPN credentials that are generated for you on the configuration dashboard, press 'View Configuration'.
Once the new page is opened, your connection credentials are generated for you but make note of the following information:
- Server group: This is the address of the country (server) you want to be connected with, e.g. '12345-1-ca.cg-dialup.net'. Note This address changes with every country you have chosen in the step before. The actual single server to be used will be chosen automatically by CyberGhost.
- User name: A solely for this protocol generated user name. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account user name, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
- Password (you need to check the "Show Password" option in order to see it): A solely for protocol usage generated password. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account Password, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
- Pre-Shared Key
Click on 'Download Configuration' (if the automatic download has not started) and download the config file to your Mac. It's recommended that you create a special folder for the config, somewhere accessible like your Desktop, and Extract / Copy the contents of the .zip file there.
Now, the saved config is a ZIP file, which contains the following single files:
- ca.crt: This is the certificate of the certification authority
- client.crt: This is the user certification file
- client.key: This is your private key file
- openvpn.ovpn: This is your OpenVPN configuration file
If you need to change the country you connect to, you must re-configure the location to use in your account management and download the new zipped config file.
Step 2
For this tutorial, we'll be using Linux Mint 19.03 (Tricia)
Install OpenVPN (if applicable) and the network manager on Linux Mint.
For that click on Menu > All Applications > Software Manager' and type in the search field (in the upper right corner) 'OpenVPN'. Install the following programs with a double click:
openvpn
network-manager-openvpn gnome
network-manager-openvpn
Alternatively or to make sure that already installed components are up to date, open a terminal and enter the following commands:
sudo apt-get install openvpn
sudo apt-get install openvpn bridge-utils
sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn
sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn-gnome
Note: Depending on your distribution it might happen that the network manager lacks the option to go for an OpenVPN connection. If that's the case please open a terminal and enter the following commands:
sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp
sudo apt-get install network-manager-vpnc
Log out and in again or restart your computer or open a terminal and type in the following command :
sudo service network-manager restart
Step 3
Open your personal folder in your file manager and create a new folder called 'CyberGhost'. Extract the content of the downloaded configuration ZIP file and copy all single files into the new folder.
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If you want to surf from different countries, rename the unzipped OpenVPN configuration file from 'openvpn.ovpn' to e.g. 'CG_RO_NoSpy.ovpn' (or respective location/server group combination you have chosen while setting up the configuration file in your account management). Choose then a different location and a different server group (if available) and download the next zipped configuration file. Unzip it, rename the containing 'OpenVPN.ovpn' as well und copy it also inside the new folder. The also downloaded remaining certificate and key files in the ZIP do not need to be copied again, for you already have them from the first download. For two different countries, you need for example do the following steps:
The sub-folder 'config' now consists of the following files (regarding the example above):
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Turn off IPv6
Before enabling the VPN profile on your Linux Mint, CyberGhost VPN strongly recommends you to disable IPv6 to prevent IPv6 traffic from leaking out of the VPN tunnel :
To turn off IPv6, go to Network Settings > Wired / Wireless Interface Settings > IPv6 > Switch to OFF > Click Apply
Create a new VPN profile
To add a new VPN profile, click in the lower right corner on the network icon and start the network manager via 'Network Settings'. Click on '+' symbol (Add VPN).
Choose 'Import from a file...'
Open your 'CyberGhost' folder, and choose to import the .ovpn configuration file (see step 3)
and click on 'Open'.
Focus on the tab 'Add VPN' and take care of the following options:
- Connection name: Type in a name for this connection, ideally composed out of the country to surf from and maybe the server group to be used, e. g. 'CG_France'
- Gateway: The server address is already filled in by the loaded configuration file
- Type: Choose 'Password with certificates (TLS)' - already filled in by the loaded configuration file
- User name: The user name created in step 1. DO NOT use your CyberGhost username!
- Password: The password created in step 1. DO NOT use your CyberGhost password!
- User certificate: Enter here the path to the user certification file ('client.crt') - usually already filled in by the loaded configuration file
- CA certificate: Enter here the path to the CA certification file ('ca.crt') - usually already filled in by the loaded configuration file
- Private Key: Enter here the path to the key file ('client.key') - usually already filled in by the loaded configuration file
Click on 'Add' and enter the password of your keyring (only necessary, if it hasn't been unlocked when logging in).
The VPN profile is now available in the network-manager. Click to activate it and if you receive the message "The VPN connection has been successfully established", your VPN tunnel is up.
Step 3 alternatively (manual configuration)
Click on '+' symbol (Add VPN), but this time don't import a configuration file. Instead, click on 'OpenVPN'
- Connection name: Type in a name for this connection, ideally composed out of the country to surf from and maybe the server group to be used, e. g. 'CyberGhost VPN US'
- Gateway: The server address you noted from your account management, e. g. '12345-5-us.cg-dialup.net'
- Type: Choose 'Password with certificates (TLS)'
- User name: The user name created in step 1. DO NOT use your regular CyberGhost user name!
- Password: The password created in step 1. DO NOT use your regular CyberGhost password!
- User certificate: Enter here the path to the user certification file ('client.crt'). For that click on the symbol right-handed and search for the respective file in your CyberGhost folder.
- CA certificate: Enter here the path to the CA certification file ('ca.crt'). For that click on the symbol right-handed and search for the respective file in your CyberGhost folder.
- Private Key: Enter here the path to the key file ('client.key'). For that click on the symbol right-handed and search for the respective file in your CyberGhost folder.
Now click on 'Advanced' on the right bottom of the window and check all of these options (and deactivate the rest), then click OK
- Tab 'General':
- Use custom gateway port: 443
- Use a TCP connection: Only activated, if you have chosen an OpenVPN TCP connection while configuring your native VPN in your account management.
- Set 'Set virtual device type : 'TUN' and name 'tun'
- Specify ping interval : 5
- Specify exit or restart ping : 'ping-exit' > 60
- Tab 'Security'
- Cipher: AES-256-CBC (also for TCP)
- HMAC Authentification: SHA256
Click on 'OK' and 'Save' and enter the password of your keyring (only necessary, if it hasn't been unlocked when logging in).
Step 4
Back in the network manager you now should have an entry with your new OpenVPN connection.
Choose the entry via your menu, wait a moment ... and you're in:
Note: As we all know there are seldom two Linux distribution built the same way; therefore the Linux Mint 19.3 instructions might be of no help for you. If that's the case, please consult the help documentation of your distribution. Furthermore, the following links might also help you out:
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