When you install a system-wide VPN client, you’re telling the VPN client to route all network traffic from that system through your VPN providers servers. The result of that is local connections are disabled, unless they’re available from the Internet, since everything goes straight to ExpressVPN outside your network.
You still haven’t said what you’re trying to accomplish by using a VPN, so that makes it difficult to give specific suggestions. But, maybe the browser extension is what you’re looking for. That will allow your web browsing to go through the VPN, but gives you more control (you can easily turn it off, or use multiple browsers with different settings, etc.). That won’t affect file shares, since that’s independent of your web browser.
That really shouldn’t happen. If you uninstalled the ExpressVPN software, you should have access to local resources again. Have you checked The Windows Network configuration? It’s possible that ExpressVPN configured a VPN protocol that’s built-in to Windows, and that’s still running. I don’t use Windows or ExpressVPN, so that’s just a guess, but I know Windows has some native VPN support.
You may have to look at the vpn app (assuming you’re using one) for a setting to allow local network (LAN) access, or “network lock” or something. If you’re just using a windows VPN I think it’s buried somewhere in the TCPIP or IPV4 settings and called “use default gateway on remote network” or something like that.
No, I think terminology is getting mixed up here. “System-wide” in this case would mean “Computer-wide”, where installing a VPN on your “Computer”, (also called a “Computer System”) affects everything that computer tries to access.
Other things on your network, apart from that particular computer (system), would not be affected by the VPN, like a NAS, or a chromecast, however the computer with the VPN (if active) would not be able to talk to them. Other computers on the network (like your shop one) would be able to.
Rebooting all the equipment probably introduced some other unknown problem that has nothing to do with the VPN.
Can you uninstall the VPN? At least until everything goes back to normal.
VPNs can introduce slowness. There’s not much to be done about that.
For one, they are encrypting everything, and the more encryption there is, the more horsepower that takes, which can slow stuff down.
For two, a VPN is routing all your traffic somewhere first, before it goes wherever you say you want to go. Like if you decided it would be a good idea to use a VPN that makes you look like you’re in Luxemborg. Guess what, just opening a page to Google has to route through Luxemborg first. Playing CoD or something is just crazy talk at this point.
For three, you’re depending on their servers (in Luxemborg in that example) for speedy routing. Picture a freeway interchange. It’s like that. The bigger the better. How big is theirs?
azj. Thanks for joining the conversation, and clarifying system wide. I already uninstalled the VPN. The problems with house PC continued, and after the restart of all my systems including the NAS the shop PC started having the issue. I don’t think its a coincidence that right after I installed the VPN all of this happened. I have never had any of this happen before.
How did you “go to network status”? Was that on the NAS, or a PC?
It’s highly unlikely that the VPN client on one of your computers modified your NAS.
Unless you’ve had that working before, I wouldn’t expect it to (i.e. it’s not a very good test). In general, you can’t just connect two computers, and your NAS is likely just a small linux or bsd computer, with a straight-through network cable. Unless one or the other has an auto-configuring network adapter (which used to be quite rare, and I think still is), you need a crossover cable to do that.
ETA: Plus addressing issues. That’s just very unlikely to work.
There are 2 things to check. If the network status on the PC is “not connected” there is either a physical problem with the NIC in the PC, the cable, or the switch. Or, it can’t connect to the DHCP server on the router to get its assigned IP address. Check the lights on the port on the PC, lights on the ports on the switch, and double-check your router is still working.
Given that you’re seeing multiple problems on your local network (I think), it’s possible your router is disconnected from your LAN, or not functioning. I would focus on one PC that’s plugged directly in to the router, if possible. Get its network connection working properly by checking every step between it and the router. If you can’t get that working, you’ve almost definitely got a router problem.
I think most paid VPNs are pretty much a scam at this point with all the Youtubers shilling for it. For securely accessing your home network, including accessing Synology from afar, I recommend Tailscale. I have been using it for many months and it is great and free. It runs based on Wireguard VPN.
Well, at this point, it sounds like your Synology is not getting proper network settings. I’d try the following:
1) turn off the pc with ExpressVPN on it, just to be sure (this shouldn’t be necessary, but hey, just to be sure)
2) reboot the Synology. This can take 5 minutes or so. To do this you are probably going to have to tap the power button, wait a bit for all its lights to go out, then tap it again. If that doesnt work, hold down its power button until the lights go out (force it off, less desireable), then push it so it comes back on. A much worse/last ditch method is to pull its power.
3) try and ping the Synology after waiting the 5 minutes or so from a different computer. It appears from your screenshots that its name is “nasstorage”, so you’d open a command prompt by typing “cmd”, and either press enter or click the command prompt icon, then in the black command window type “ping nasstorage” (no quotes). You may have to do this a few times. Hopefully you get messages that say “Reply from…” after a bit and not “Request timed out” or something else bad.
You can click the “X” or type exit to get rid of the command window.
If that doesn’t work then I’m not sure what’s up with the Synology, but it really shouldn’t have anything to do with the VPN. Maybe unplug/replug/check its network cable.
If all that does work, then turn your VPN computer back on and go from there.
Good luck
As far as one vpn service over another, ExpressVPN is fine. I happen to have “Private Internet Access”, but only because I got a good deal many years ago and I knew how to connect to them using a router. I also connect to them using a PC when I’m at work with no issue.
They throttle the speed of the free accounts, and don't allow file sharing.
Also, with a free VPN, you are the product, which means they sell your data, which is the exact opposite of what you want with a VPN.
If you care about your privacy, do not get a free VPN.
"If you really want better protection online, avoid free VPNs. While you might save a few dollars each month, the risks to your privacy and data are not worth it. In fact, using a free VPN could cost you a lot more than the subscription to a premium provider."
I don’t know about file sharing and the speed does slow from some free locations but Proton was one of the best for protecting your info. It is fast enough for me but I don’t use it for gaming or anything requiring a lot of speed. At least it was rated highly when I joined up over a year ago.
My Apologies!!! I found the problem with my network and as minithree and azj suggested it was not an issue cased by the VPN. At the same time I installed the VPN I also updated some old passwords including the one on the NAS. I didn’t realize that I needed to update them inside each of my computers as well (someone else setup this nework for me).
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I left my original post but edited it to reflect this. That way all of the responses to that comment will still make sense. I also deleted the post I made that suggested a person should take into account the “damage” done by VPNs as part of the “Price”. Again I apologize for posting the incorrect information. Thanks to all who offered support.
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I still plan to peruse the VPN. I am going to do a new set of backups before proceeding since mine are like 5 months old. Once that is done I will Test the VPN again.
I’ve been using PIA for quite a while, and the general consensus is that it’s good, but slow. It’s been tried (twice?) in court and proven that they keep no logs, which is good. One concern I have/had is the ownership transfer to Kape, who had ties to stuff that would stick spyware in some apps, but there’s been no proof that it has anything to do with PIA.
I did notice the slowdowns, so would “shop around” for various servers as the need arises. Some are blacklisted by some sites (no prob, pick a different server and you’re done), other times the server might be busy and slow, so again, pick a different server. That’s about it as far as my grexing. Well, that and getting directed to amazon.co.uk instead of .com if I happen to pick a server in London, that kind of thing.
It does work pretty well overall, and since using them I haven’t gotten any of those “letters” which studios send to various people purely at random with no basis whatsoever to support their wild unsubstantiated claims, so that’s well worth the annual sub.
