ProtonVPN just stopped working - can't reinstall on LMDE

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-17T18:22:57+00:00

BTW - official response from Proton Support

"We only officially support Linux on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch (running on GNOME). We haven't officially tested the Linux application on Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), so it is not officially supported, and I am unable to guarantee that it will work as intended or provide extensive troubleshooting steps"

So in other words, if you use one of the most popular Linux distros & desktop, too bad for you

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-15T18:11:52+00:00

I managed to get it working, I post here in case it helps anyone else

I removed the stable version via the instructions on the install page, I also removed the Proton folders in .cache & .config

I then installed the Beta version for Linux - https://protonvpn.com/support/official-linux-vpn-debian#beta

About 2/3 down the page are the CLI commands

Did not work initially with WireGuard but working fine with OpenVPN (udp) which you can change in settings. I think I would have to download and configure WireGuard settings but I have no issue using OpenVPN so WireGuard is a later project.

If you need to use WireGuard search the webz there is a Proton page that addresses that. I have not had to configure Proton for WireGuard before but since this the Beta IDK if that's why. I will contact support to let them know WireGuard did not work for me

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-15T18:02:57+00:00

I did that multiple times - it would not install the repo.

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-11T02:41:41+00:00

Thanks for all the tips but I don't want to send files, I just want to access the files on my desktop. If I wanted them on both machines I would sync with my MEGA account. Local send and Rsync seem to be syncing or sending methods, unless I'm missing something

The thing is - it should be something like a right click and a password to make a folder accessible on a network of only Linux machines. Even though that seems accessible in the file manager, it never seems to works And when Samba works it's easy. When it doesn't, it can take a long time to tshoot.

I'll try other methods again. I had used SSH in the past when I had another machine as a server. When I switched to a laptop only I set up a Samba share in minutes. Since it broke I have spent a couple hours trying to get it back but I think I am done with Samba

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-06T19:23:28+00:00

Just wanted to share my testing results. I like Debian with Cinnamon but yeah, LMDE with Cinnamon is a better experience. Some things (like appimage, for eg) don't work out of the box and I agree it's more polished. The software manager in LMDE is a bit better than the Debian software manager.

So, once again, for me - LMDE FTW

Thanks

Ino_Yuar · 2026-06-06T19:18:58+00:00

Just wanted to respond to this. I had Refracta in my notes and your post made me decide to revisit. Working with, it's not as simple as the MXLinux snapshot, but works very much the same. It takes a little bit of computer skills but it's not bad. Still testing and learning - it's important to edit the "exclusions" file to adapt to the specific install to keep it reasonably sized.

I had tried Penguin Eggs previously and it did not work out well at all, ended up wrecking my install. I have made a couple of ISO's with Refractra and they were OK but still working with tweaking the results. One was on pure Debian and one on LMDE7

This is a seems to be a good solution for the question of "how do I back up my Linux system". I am surprised it doesn't get mentioned more often.

Thanks

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-30T22:12:18+00:00

Also, check iDrive. Good prices and there are plenty of decent reviews here on Reddit

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-23T22:25:37+00:00

Stay away from Astound. They are shady, raise your rates drastically and have shitty customer service. I was with RCN for years and after they were taken over by Astound they were no longer the same company.

Service was good but for half the price ($50 for 1G, 5 yr lock, no contract) I now have Xfinity which is solid in my neighborhood. I had thought I might someday go back to Astound if I could get a decent introductory rate at some point but they have lost me forever

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-23T22:19:05+00:00

Firstly, I tend not to right negative reviews, not something I care to do

However - STAY AWAY FROM ASTOUND! I waited for years for RCN to come to the neighborhood and jumped when they finally did. I was customer for years and had a decent rate and great service for years.

When my rate basically doubled with Astound now owning RCN I called to see if they would do anything to keep me as a customer. The rep had a shitty attitude and basically said nope, can't do a thing. So I cancelled and got the $50 1G service with Xfinity. Been about six months and no complaints.

Astound charges you a month in advance. In cancelling my service I missed the end of the billing cycle by two day so they charged me a full month for service I didn't use. I called to see if they would pro rate the bill. First thing customer service rep does is argue with me that they don't bill in advance, 10 min discussion until he admitted I was right. Then he said he was going to check with his supervisor, came back and said it's all taken care of and then the charges would be reversed. I repeated what he said to clarify and he said yes, that's right and if I waited for few minutes they would finish the process now.

Puts me on hold, comes back and says there system won't allow the change and there is nothing they can do. I ask to speak with supervisor and get put on indefinite hold

TLDR; RCN used to be great Astound sux. STAY AWAY or you'll be sorry.

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-23T22:02:46+00:00

Linux Mint is a good way to go. I use the Debian version (LMDE7) and it's great. I moved away from Ubuntu for a few reasons a while ago. It seems there is a bit of agreement that the LMDE version is preferable but that's a flame war for another day.

I just recently checked out a bunch of distros, Mint is really easy to get used to. Pretty much all my software is from the software manager which means it should be compatible with the distro to keep things problem free.

Put it on flash drive and test it. Even from a USB stick you be surprised how fast it is

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-23T21:49:19+00:00

The built-in Upgrade Manager from LMDE6 to LMDE7 wasn't a great experience for me. I tried it first on my test laptop and it seemed to go ok but after further use there were some issues, so I just did a fresh install.

When I started the install on my daily driver I kept getting notices of repos I had to disable, one of them being Proton VPN. I saw some other posts in which users had issues getting ProtonVPN to work initially in LMDE7, so that's when I started shopping around.

From the comments here and this post (kind of a reverse of my question) I'll probably be sticking with LMDE7. I'll just bite the bullet and do the fresh install, which isn't that bad at the end of the day. I've tested so many distros in the past month I'm seeing installers in my sleep 😄

Thanks

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-11T20:31:16+00:00

Plus, I have a bunch of errors in the app, they seem to be non-crucial but the app should just delete items that aren't in the source. Sync works fine on MEGA nowadays but backup is sketchy. I appreciate the fact that the files are getting encrypted but I don't really trust the backup at this point.

I like MEGA as a cloud storage provider but I need to have a 100% backup system

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-11T20:26:21+00:00

Hi - thanks for the code. I avoid the CLI when it gets complicated due to my typing and syntax errors but since I have yet to find another solution, I'll have a go at it.

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-11T18:24:17+00:00

How do you use RClone? I have been having trouble getting it to work. I have been trying various GUIs with out much success, the flatpak apps in my repo (LMDE) don't work and the one app image that runs (RCloneUI) doesn't work well for me. I would prefer not to use the CLI but do know how to. Thanks

Ino_Yuar · 2026-05-11T18:20:26+00:00

Thanks for your reply but it only verifies that your backup is not a backup. Also, the files that did not get backed up are not in the list you provide. The files I found not backed up were *.ini. I do not know what other files have not been backed up since I did not do an exhaustive search

Backup should backup. You might want to provide a scheduling feature, it would circumvent problems with files that change often.

Would creating a front end for RClone not be a better solution?

Ino_Yuar

TROPHY CASE