Paid Version Of Proton VPN - Tip

[Frog]

For those of you wanting to run a paid version of Proton VPN and do not have Gnome Desktop installed you are going to find it a challenge to do so as they only recognize a Gnome Desktop ....

I have been running the free version on Mint OS for almost a year with few problems with Cinnamon DE .... I dual boot with Zorin 17.3 also running Cinnamon DE .... but lately I have been having a problem with Proton keeping the same ISP address and have to load a new one every day ....

I went to their website for some help but couldn't find anything there or on their support forum .... emailing then produced zero replies ..... so I tried downloading a paid version of the VPN using the terminal many times .... but it kept saying that it couldn't find that file on Gnome Desktop ....

I was about to give up when I just by chance found out that there is a website that shows you how to install a Proton VPN version using FlatPak ..... now I don't use FlatPak but as I had already paid for a year with Proton VPN I did it anyway .... and it does work ....

Not sure if it will update automatically and I do have to open it using the main menu each morning .... even though my Settings is set to open on start up ..... but it does work .... living in a country where many websites refuse to open because of piracy issues here a VPN is almost a necessity ....

If anyone knows of a way to make Proton VPN on FlatPak open in the Startup Applications please let me know ????? ....

[Forpli]

You can try to install gnome-tweaks

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

and then open tweaks and select startup applications there and click on +, then add the Proton VPN.

[Nourpon]

I'm not sure it will work with Cinnamon DE... but I may be wrong...
You can try to copy the Proton VPN desktop file you can find it here

/var/lib/flatpak/app/

you will have to search the Proton VPN .desktop file...
to
~/.config/autostart/

[Forpli]

Oh, you're right, I forgot that it is cinnamon desktop.

An alternative:
You can right click on the start menu, select edit menu and search for Proton VPN. Then click on properties and copy the command.

Go to startup applications and create a new entry there
Name: Proton VPN
Command: Enter the command you copied

[Frog]

Thanks for your input I can find the /var file but opening it doesn't give me a /lib file ....

[Frog]

I must have done something wrong cause now I can't open the VPN at all even from the Menu ..... here are the steps I took .....

Like I said I can't open the Proton VPN even from the Start Menu .... gonna delete the FlatPak and reinstall ....

I did find out that the reason I could inable the free VPN is because I had a .deb file to work with but not for the paid version ....

[Nourpon]

Sorry but from here I can't help you more, I don't use Cinnamon DE so maybe someone else could help you...

[0Picass0]

I can't offer a solution to your issues with Proton VPN, but if you're not tied in (you should have 30 days to get your money back), I would highly recommend Surfshark.

Surfshark was a pain to install when I first started using Linux but now it is a breeze. Updates are automatic too: "close the application now. it will autoupdate".

• Server Network : 4,500 servers + across 100 countries , all running on RAM-only infrastructure to ensure data is not stored on disk.
• Security & Privacy : Enforces a strict no-logs policy independently verified by Deloitte, using AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption with protocols like WireGuard , OpenVPN (TCP & UDP) , and IKEv2
• Additional Tools : Include Surfshark Antivirus, Rotating IP, NoBorders , Incogni (data removal service), Alternative ID (email generator), CleanWeb (ad/tracker blocker), and MultiHop (double VPN).

I've been using it, across multiple devices, for years, and it's got better and better, especially on Linux, which was not great at the start.

[Frog]

Thanks for your advice but for now I'll just stick with Proton VPN they claim to be working on a version that will work with Mint Cinnamon and for now I'll just leave it off the Start Applications until I need to use it which really is not every day .....

Thanks to everyone that posted above ..... I'll just close this for now as I have to many other posts left hanging ..... LOL