OpenVPN support not working

[crazyAce94]

When enabling OpenVPN support from TunnelDeck, trying to connect to a vpn in desktop mode gives the error "NetworkManager is missing support for 'openvpn' connections." Trying to connect from gaming mode seems like it turns on, until you exit and reopen the TunnelDeck plugin showing that it is still disabled.

[ElDingo424]

I am also having this issue. Attempted to reinstall OpenVPN and reinstate vpn connections. Turning on VPN connection in desktop or Gaming mode fails.

[lasagneking]

Same problem here, is this plug-in no longer supported?

[4abetterworld]

it seems there's issue with openvpn https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3466100515586309793/?ctp=2

[ConvexTlc97]

it seems there's issue with openvpn https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3466100515586309793/?ctp=2

Does not work, Get can't right to USR read only set error following the steps listed in the link.

[MNarath1]

it seems there's issue with openvpn https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3466100515586309793/?ctp=2

Does not work, Get can't right to USR read only set error following the steps listed in the link.

the issue lies less with ovpn and more on how decky loader keeps its persistancy and something there seems to have broken (article i found that gave me that idea https://blogs.igalia.com/berto/tag/steamos/) basically decky uses systemd-sysext to keep itself persistant on the deck between updates but this extension will also keep /usr locked in read only even if you disable the read only filesystem for steamos (supposedly there should be a way for decky to still allow installations in those partitions but i guess something went wrong there dunno) to fix said issue you have to first unmerge /usr using sudo systemd-sysext unmerge i guess you can revert this later with sudo systemd-sysext merge ? however after unmerging it you can normally disable read only and then install the package as discribed in the steamcommunity post above (trough you will need to restart the deck afterwards. EDIT: I belive after the restart it reverted what i did with sudo systemd-sysext unmerge anyways so it should be fine to leave it like that but i am not completly sure

[MNarath1]

it seems there's issue with openvpn https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3466100515586309793/?ctp=2

Does not work, Get can't right to USR read only set error following the steps listed in the link.

the issue lies less with ovpn and more on how decky loader keeps its persistancy and something there seems to have broken (article i found that gave me that idea https://blogs.igalia.com/berto/tag/steamos/) basically decky uses systemd-sysext to keep itself persistant on the deck between updates but this extension will also keep /usr locked in read only even if you disable the read only filesystem for steamos (supposedly there should be a way for decky to still allow installations in those partitions but i guess something went wrong there dunno) to fix said issue you have to first unmerge /usr using sudo systemd-sysext unmerge i guess you can revert this later with sudo systemd-sysext merge ? however after unmerging it you can normally disable read only and then install the package as discribed in the steamcommunity post above (trough you will need to restart the deck afterwards. EDIT: I belive after the restart it reverted what i did with sudo systemd-sysext unmerge anyways so it should be fine to leave it like that but i am not completly sure

actually now thinking about it maybe we just would have needed to restart the deck after installing tunneldeck and toggeling the ovpn option ........ since the openvpn package just survived a update from stable to beta and back to stable so it seems like this was completly uneccersary dunno

[justalex95]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/wsvyfw/how_i_set_up_a_vpn_connection/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

the link above has the instructions to install open VPN from the console. to summarize...

• If you already have tunneldeck installed, all options have to be in their default positions - IPv6 not disabled and open VPN not enabled - for the commands to work
• in Desktop mode, open up a konsole window and enter these commands:

sudo steamos-readonly disable

sudo pacman-key --init

sudo pacman-key --populate

sudo pacman -S networkmanager-openvpn

sudo steamos-readonly enable

this will enable the VPN to work - tried and tested with PIA VPN. in my case IPv6 had to be disabled to connect and the non encrypted option chosen when creating the VPN in network manager.

another interesting thing is that IPv6 doesnt work very well with the steam deck at all. disabling IPv6 through tunneldeck perks the steam deck UI right up, videos load in a second, the UI in genral is alot snappier and xbox game pass actually has decent latency.

this is only if you dont install openVPN - there is a small negative impact on frame variance after installing openVPN but most people probably wont notice. so far the wifi seems alot more reliable and useable especially for reducing latency in streaming just by disabling IPv6 without even installing openVPN through the konsole.

IPv6 needs to be disabled - blue position - each time you start up the deck as it seems it doesnt automatically apply after restart or from shutdown (dont quote me on that but I think thats the case, I re-disable it each restart just to make sure)

SIDE NOTE: I have read that home streaming doesnt work if IPv6 is disabled. the post was from 2018 so I dont know if this is the case but xbox cloud gaming works without a hitch using IPv4

thanks again to the creators of tunneldeck, cracking plugin

[MNarath1]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/wsvyfw/how_i_set_up_a_vpn_connection/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

the link above has the instructions to install open VPN from the console. to summarize...

* If you already have tunneldeck installed, all options have to be in their default positions - IPv6 not disabled and open VPN not enabled - for the commands to work

* in Desktop mode, open up a konsole window and enter these commands:

sudo steamos-readonly disable

sudo pacman-key --init

sudo pacman-key --populate

sudo pacman -S networkmanager-openvpn

sudo steamos-readonly enable

this will enable the VPN to work - tried and tested with PIA VPN. in my case IPv6 had to be disabled to connect and the non encrypted option chosen when creating the VPN in network manager.

another interesting thing is that IPv6 doesnt work very well with the steam deck at all. disabling IPv6 through tunneldeck perks the steam deck UI right up, videos load in a second, the UI in genral is alot snappier and xbox game pass actually has decent latency.

this is only if you dont install openVPN - there is a small negative impact on frame variance after installing openVPN but most people probably wont notice. so far the wifi seems alot more reliable and useable especially for reducing latency in streaming just by disabling IPv6 without even installing openVPN through the konsole.

IPv6 needs to be disabled - blue position - each time you start up the deck as it seems it doesnt automatically apply after restart or from shutdown (dont quote me on that but I think thats the case, I re-disable it each restart just to make sure)

SIDE NOTE: I have read that home streaming doesnt work if IPv6 is disabled. the post was from 2018 so I dont know if this is the case but xbox cloud gaming works without a hitch using IPv4

thanks again to the creators of tunneldeck, cracking plugin

I guess if you turn off openvpn intigration in the settings it won't merge /usr into overlayf for sysext so you won't need to unmerge it above.

[justalex95]

I guess if you turn off openvpn intigration in the settings it won't merge /usr into overlayf for sysext so you won't need to unmerge it above.

Just realized, the steam link in the previous posts has roughly the same info, apologies. I'm pretty linux illiterate , only know how to copy and paste commands into console and find obscure directories but there was one thing, the enable VPN option became greyed out after entering the commands above but I could use the VPN's toggles that I set up to turn the VPN on and off, I dont know if that solves the issue or if thats what you're referring to.

it definitely worked from the tunneldeck UI, the VPN's would be listed and the wifi icon would change from the standard icon to the VPN circle when I toggled them. the only thing that stopped it working of course was when I toggled two at the same time :)

does that mean the VPN is 'active' even when there's no server selected and when the standard wifi symbol is showing?

I'm a bit in over my head when it comes to the depths of the decks/Linux filesystem and inner workings

[juanluna96]

Just realized, the steam link in the previous posts has roughly the same info, apologies. I'm pretty linux illiterate , only know how to copy and paste commands into console and find obscure directories but there was one thing, the enable VPN option became greyed out after entering the commands above but I could use the VPN's toggles that I set up to turn the VPN on and off, I dont know if that solves the issue or if thats what you're referring to.

it definitely worked from the tunneldeck UI, the VPN's would be listed and the wifi icon would change from the standard icon to the VPN circle when I toggled them. the only thing that stopped it working of course was when I toggled two at the same time :)

does that mean the VPN is 'active' even when there's no server selected and when the standard wifi symbol is showing?

I'm a bit in over my head when it comes to the depths of the decks/Linux filesystem and inner workings

Hi, how are you? I already fix the problem with that so i'm going to explain how i made it:

1. Put the version stable of Steam OS
2. If you already have tunneldeck installed, all options have to be in their default positions - IPv6 not disabled and open VPN not enabled - for the commands to work (Both Unchecked)
3. Open Konsole in desktop mode and put this commands:

sudo steamos-readonly disable sudo pacman-key --init sudo pacman-key --populate sudo pacman -Syu sudo pacman -S networkmanager-openvpn sudo steamos-readonly enable

4. Change to gaming mode and enable the VPN in TunnelDeck and wait for the Wifi Logo to change to a World Map Logo

[Pobega]

Just to chime in here, disabling steamos-readonly is not an actual solution for the problem. The feature of TunnelDeck that allows you to use OpenVPN without disabling readonly is what this bug report is about. Installing a pacman package is also kind of a pain since you'll need to reinstall it whenever SteamOS is updated.

If you want to use a VPN without disabling readonly for now look into Wireguard, that seems to work out of the box for me. But using steamos-readonly disable is not really a solution, just a workaround/hack to force things to work.

[MNarath1]

Just to chime in here, disabling steamos-readonly is not an actual solution for the problem. The feature of TunnelDeck that allows you to use OpenVPN without disabling readonly is what this bug report is about. Installing a pacman package is also kind of a pain since you'll need to reinstall it whenever SteamOS is updated.

If you want to use a VPN without disabling readonly for now look into Wireguard, that seems to work out of the box for me. But using steamos-readonly disable is not really a solution, just a workaround/hack to force things to work.

Exactly the issue seems to lie at the sysmd-ext that has the openvpn package included and is supposed to merge it into /usr but it doesn't seem to work properly right now i dunno if this is an issue with the extension or the utility used for this trough

[dtantono]

I second this about this problem. after OS update, I need to do this workaround to get the plugin to work which is quite repetitive.

[steve228uk]

This should be fixed in the version now available on the Decky store.

[justalex95]

This should be fixed in the version now available on the Decky store.

thanks for the hard work, really appreciated