FAQ /

Troubleshooting and frequently asked questions

Does TorVPN support Windows/Linux/MacOS/iPhone/Android?

Absolutely! OpenVPN alone works on all of these platforms. If you have any problems setting up OpenVPN on your device or operating system, you can still use PPTP.

TOR and VPN - what is the difference?

VPN is a virtual network. TOR is free to use privacy network run by volunteers and The TOR Project (not affiliated with TorVPN). With the simple tick of a checkbox on the TorVPN control panel, you can have all of your data tunneled through the TOR network. We also make it easy to access .onion sites without running the TOR browser. Please be advised that this method of accessing the TOR network is not recommended unless you know what you are doing and have good reasons to do so.

For more information about this topic, see this external blog entry: TOR != VPN - A simple explanation.

What is special about TorVPN?

It is not one thing, but a combination of many. We only use stable and fast servers, and never oversell what we have. You can switch servers at any time, free of charge. With OpenVPN, PPTP and SSH support available, you can be sure that you will be able to create anonymous internet in any network. We do not just use a static encryption key, but utilise a certificate infrastructure. The ability to create separate service accounts improves your privacy, security while making TorVPN convenient to use across devices. Transparent TOR routing makes it easy to switch to the TOR network and prevent any data leaks. Seamless access to .onion sites through a caching proxy is a nice option to have. The TorVPN DNS server will resolve for you .onion, .bit, .free, .oss, .pirate and various other top level domains. The warrant canary makes our operation transparent even in the event of a government warrant and gag order.

How does TorVPN protect my Wi-Fi connection?

Public wi-fi is a dangerous place to be. If the operator of the hotspot is not eavesdropping on your connections, injecting malicious code or just advertisements into your traffic, anyone else in distance of the hotspot could do the same. By using TorVPN, all of your communication becomes encrypted and impossible to intercept or manipulate.

Can I get an IP in [country] to watch shows online?

TorVPN makes no promises or guarantees about any third party services. Your favourite video streaming provider may choose to block access to the VPN server's IP address at any point. They may also rely on various other techniques to deny access to their content. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE ACCESS TO TorVPN JUST TO TRY WHETHER THE IPS WE OFFER ARE ACCEPTED WITH A THIRD PARTY. We provide VPN services, not video streaming services. We will not provide a refund if your problem is the lack of access to a specific third party service. The main purpose of our service is to enable uncensored internet access and secure your connections from snooping by your ISP.

The OpenVPN port is blocked in my network. What to do?

Edit your OpenVPN configuration file and replace the port with an alternative port. For the list of alternate ports, check the VPN server list and hover over the "OpenVPN" text with your mouse.

I have connected with OpenVPN. Why did my IP not change?

Most likely you are running OpenVPN without administrative privileges. Even if you did run it as Administrator, it may have already been running as user, preventing the new copy of the program to run. Make sure you have quit OpenVPN, then use right click and run as an administrator.

How do I chain multiple OpenVPN connections?

You can go through several servers, just connect to them using the OpenVPN client one after the other. You will need as many TAP network interfaces as the number of open VPN connections you would like. By default, only one TAP adapter is installed by OpenVPN, but you can create more by running the following program (as Administrator) from the start menu:


TAP-Windows > Utilities > Add a new TAP virtual ethernet adapter

No logging?

Many VPN providers advertise 'no logging' but still have logging in place. Advertising this policy is a marketing ploy. Even if a VPN provider does not have logging, the ISP they use is required to keep Netflow logs that could help in a police investigation in case of criminal activities. If you use a VPN with no logging at all, you are more likely to end up sharing an internet address with abusers. Your connections to internet hosts may be blocked or categorised as high risk. This could prevent you from visiting websites, sending emails, making payments online. Our policy is to never log, dismantle or interfere with data you send to or receive from remote hosts on the internet. We do keep connection logs for a brief time in order to be able to put a stop to mass scans, denial of service attacks and other abuse of the system. With the warrant canary, you have a way to know even if we receive a gag order and are forced by any government entities to breach your privacy.

Can I create multiple accounts?

You may not have multiple accounts on TorVPN, but as a customer you can create several sub-accounts on the control panel.

Why does OpenVPN refuse to authenticate me?

The most likely reason is that you already have a few sessions open. Please disconnect any OpenVPN sessions first. You can check the control panel to see the number of sessions allowed and currently open. If you have already disconnected but still see an open session, use the 'kill' button to force the session to terminate.

I cannot connect to any servers

If your internet works but you still get a timeout while trying to connect to any of our servers, your IP address may have been blocked. The most likely reason is that a VPN client you have set up is trying to connect too often but is refused because of having reached the session concurrency. Please make sure no clients are connecting and allow up to 10 minutes for the block to be removed automatically. Keep in mind that if you are using OpenVPN on the UDP protocol, the system will need a few minutes to clean up your session after you have disconnected.

I am getting error 806. What to do?

Your ISP, router, or company network administrator may be blocking the "GRE" protocol, which is needed for the PPTP VPN. Please consider using OpenVPN instead of PPTP. It only requires a UDP or TCP port which are more commonly permitted.

Why don't .onion sites work?

First you need to edit the service account on the control panel and 'Enable transparent TOR routing'. This will redirect all of your DNS queries to TOR which will resolve .onion domains to a virtual IP, and all of your traffic will be routed through TOR.

Using OpenVPN on TCP and the connection often breaks.

If you can ping and send small packets, but loading an HTTPS site breaks your VPN connection, it is likely that your link mtu is too high. On Linux, this example command may help: ifconfig eth0 mtu 1000 Try to work out the highest MTU you can use with the VPN being stable.

How do I enable SMTP access?

To prevent spamming, SMTP is disabled by default. If you are a TorVPN customer, contact us with your ISP's SMTP server address and we will be happy to whitelist it for you.

Can I pay with Bitcoin for the VPN?

Yes, we are happy to take BTC payments for the VPN services.

Can I donate?

This was a request. You may donate BTC to: 15a1u16Mis2LETacJ6C3cBps9Mo7saEjiA

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