R7000 VPN - DNS address can't be found

[batsarentbugs]

I bought a new R7000 router a couple days ago and I'm trying to set up the VPN on my Android phone so I can connect to open networks out in the wild and route through my home network for some security. I've followed the instructions on this KB article to set up the router's end of things, and followed the steps in this KB article for my phone's part. (I skipped step 6 of those instructions, since that results in a config file that's too large for the OpenVPN app to use and also doesn't jive with how I've used with OpenVPN in the past.) I've also set up an account with Netgear's NoIP.com DDNS service and have that going on the Dynamic DNS setup on the router, which I did before enabling the VPN service.

I installed OpenVPN on my phone, imported the client profile, and it connected in a snap. But when I open Chrome on my phone and try to go to a website, it says the site can't be reached. "www.google.com's server DNS address could not be reached. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_CONFIG" Does the same thing regardless of website or app, and whether I'm using my phone's data connection or an open Wifi network.

When I set up the router through NoIP.com, it said I needed to forward port 1194 to finish the OpenVPN configuration. But the default ports for OpenVPN with this router are 12973 and 12974, aren't they? So I shouldn't need to forward any other ports? Even if I did, there wouldn't be a dedicated IP address that I would forward to since it's not any particular always-connected device that would need the port, so I'm not sure how I would do that in the first place. But the NoIP configuration tool had a thing to check if ports were open, and neither 1194, 12973, or 12974 showed up as being open. Checking with this tool tells me that port 1194 times out, so is presumably closed, and 12973 and 12974 refused connections.

This is my DNS setup:

This is my VPN setup:

Initially I had the "auto" option selected, and it had the problem with not being able to connect to websites on my phone. So I deleted all the files I had put on my phone, deleted the profile in OpenVPN, switched to the "all sites on the internet and home network" option as shown above, and redid the OpenVPN configuration on my phone. Same problem.

And on the port forwarding question, if I do have to forward port 1194:

Here's OpenVPN running successfully on my phone:

And here's what happens when I try to connect to a page in my browser on my phone:

Any thoughts as to what I'm missing or doing wrong?

[batsarentbugs · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the delayed responses, I've only just recently been able to sit down and take a look at all this again. My VPN does seem to be working now, but I can't say I really did anything to make it work. The only things that have changed with respect to my router or client setup are a firmware update that I did a week or so ago, and I disconnected the thumb drive I had attached to my router. I'd recommend trying those if they apply to you, otherwise it's still a mystery to me.

[JamesGL]

Hi batsarentbugs,

Please try to include the step 6 just to make sure that all configuration has been done for the OpenVPN to work.

JamesGL
Community Team

[batsarentbugs]

I tried including step 6 on my first attempt at setting it all up, this is what happens when I try to import the profile from the edited file:

[JamesGL]

Hi batsarentbugs,

Please check your inbox.

JamesGL

Community Team

[boniclass]

I have the seme issue. Would you mind sharing how you resolved it ?

Thanks in advance

Boniclass

[batsarentbugs · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the delayed responses, I've only just recently been able to sit down and take a look at all this again. My VPN does seem to be working now, but I can't say I really did anything to make it work. The only things that have changed with respect to my router or client setup are a firmware update that I did a week or so ago, and I disconnected the thumb drive I had attached to my router. I'd recommend trying those if they apply to you, otherwise it's still a mystery to me.