Last updated on December 28th, 2024
Last tested on Ubuntu 20.04

TunnelBears and Penguins have been friends for some time now, but occasionally that friendship needs an update. While TunnelBear doesn't support a dedicated application for Linux at this time, users running the latest version of Ubuntu should be able to follow the instructions below in order to set-up their Bear and connect on their device.

It's important to note however that TunnelBear provides an easy-to-use browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. If you use any of these browsers on Linux, you can always opt to install our fully supported browser extension instead (which gives you even more of the Bears that you love).

That said, for users that need to protect all traffic on their device (and for those that don't mind getting a little technical), we'll help provide some guidance on how to get things running.

Getting started on Linux

Unlike the more common TunnelBear experience, some assembly is required. Following the steps below should get you tunneling, but it’s possible that you’ll need to use some Linux-style ingenuity to get things working with different distributions or custom setups.

Before we begin, there are a few things to be aware of:

  • The instructions below were made with Ubuntu in mind. They should work for other Linux distros, but the steps may vary slightly.
  • As we do not support an official Linux application, the TunnelBear Support team is limited in the troubleshooting they can provide for any issues.
  • You must have an active TunnelBear account in order to set-up the VPN connection. You can create an account here if you do not already have one.

With that out of the way, let's get started!

Installing TunnelBear:

  1. Open a Terminal window and enter the following command: sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn-gnome
  2. Download the latest TunnelBear OpenVPN configuration files.
  3. Unzip the folder to your machine in a location of your choosing. 
    1. Note: Do not delete these files, you’ll need to keep them stored!
  4. Open your network settings and locate the VPN section.
  5. Click the "+" button to add a new VPN profile and select "import from file...".
  6. Navigate to where you saved the unzipped folder from step 3.
  7. You’ll see a list of files. Open the file with the country you want to connect to.
  8. Most of the fields will now be auto-filled, but you’ll still need to enter your TunnelBear username (email) and password:
    1. Note: You’ll need to have an active TunnelBear account.
  9. Select the “Apply” button. You’re almost ready to start tunnelling!

Getting connected:

  1. Select the network indicator in your status bar.
  2. You’ll see a sub menu for “VPN connections”. Under this sub menu, select the TunnelBear server you’d like to connect to from the list.
  3. Once connected, a lock icon will appear over the network indicator in your status bar. This indicates that you’re connected securely to the VPN!
  4. To confirm you're connected securely, you can do the following:
    1. Open your web browser and check to see if you are using a TunnelBear IP address.
    2. Additionally, you can make sure your DNS isn’t leaking by running the “Extended test”. You should see the same IP address shown above.

Common issues

While we aren't able to provide detailed troubleshooting for Linux as a platform, there are some common issues and solutions that we can share.

  1. Unable to connect or TLS handshake errors:

    In an effort to further secure our server infrastructure we've recently pushed some updates to our servers that utilize stronger/newer OpenVPN ciphers. Make sure you’re using recent versions of the OpenVPN and OpenSSL packages to prevent connection errors.
  2. Websites won't load or IP not changing:

    On some older distributions, NetworkManager doesn't pick up the DNS configuration that we are pushing from our VPN servers. When establishing the VPN connection from the command line directly, there's no issue as DNS is configured outside of NetworkManager and via resolvconf. Most configurations of NetworkManager run their own DNS daemon (dnsmasq) for DNS caching. Unfortunately, when NetworkManager tries to apply our DNS configuration, dnsmasq receives it, but does not apply this configuration globally.

    You can workaround this issue with a quick edit of NetworkManager.conf to stop it from using the caching DNS server.
    1. From the terminal, enter this command: sudo gedit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
    2. 2. Within the file, change dns=dnsmasq to #dns=dnsmasq
    3. 3. Return to the terminal and enter: sudo restart network-manager
the TunnelBear Team