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Friday, June 2, 2017

Install OpenVPN on fireTV (no root required) for NORD (MAC, Windows, Linux)

















DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. This article is for entertainment and educational purposes only,


Alright!! now that's out of the way I'm going to keep this short and simple 


Scope : - 

Install OpenVPN client
import profile with username and password
connect to your preferred VPN server


Use case : - 


  • Secure your fireTV traffic using any OpenVPN supported VPN services=
  • Connect to your home file server/NAS and stream files when traveling via your FireTV or Firestick using your own VPN server (not covered in this article)
  • Watch Streaming services when traveling using your own VPN server (not covered in this article)



Guide :- 

Project Summary 

Hardware - FireTV 4K Latest firmware 

Platform - Windows 10 Enterprise

in this guide im using ADB to install OpenVPN client on my fireTV and use that to connect to the NORDVPN service

All Project files are located on C:\NoRDVPN


Files Needed (Please download these files to your workstation before proceeding)

OpenVPN client APK - http://plai.de/android/

NORDVPN OpenVPN configuration files - https://nordvpn.com/ovpn/

ADBLink - http://jocala.com




01. Enable Developer mode on Fire tv 

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-enable-adb-debugging-on-an-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/


  1. From the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick’s home screen, scroll to “Settings”.
  2. Next, scroll to the right and select “Device”.
  3. Next, scroll down and select “Developer options”.
  4. Then select “ADB debugging” to turn the option to “ON”.

02. Install OpenVPN client via the network using ADBLInk

Install the ADBlink program

Download URL - http://jocala.com

Create Device profile and connect 

Launch ADBLink and click on "New"


Fill out the information 

Notes - 

Address  - this is the IP assigned to your FireTV you can get this from the fireTV Network status page under 

“Settings”.> “System”.> “About” > “Network”


You can also get this information from your ARP table, DHCP leases on your DHCP server, etc 









Leave everything else with default values and save the profile


Install APK using ADBLINK


































Browse to the location you download all files to and select the OpenVPN APk file 

In this guide the location is "C:\NoRDVPN\"
































After a successful install, you will be greeted with the following dialog box 




















02. Configure and copy(ADB Push) OVPN configuration files

this step is very important

02-01 Create Login configuration files

Under the same folder where you downloaded files Example - C:\NoRDVPN

create a text file with the following name - login.conf

Edit the file with your favorite text editor 

















Enter your NORDVPN credentials in two separate lines (Email address and password)













Save Changes


02-02 Edit the VPN configuration file

Open the VPN configuration files in my case, I picked a US server so my filename is 

us226.nordvpn.com.udp1194.ovpn


File the line that reads "auth-user-pass" and replace it with "auth-user-pass login.conf"


Save Changes

02. Push configuration files to the FireTV


  • Click on "File Manager" on adbLink
               Notes - By Default, it will connect to the root of the SDcard on your FireTV 
  • Create a folder (I'm going to call it NORD_VPN)



Find the created "NORD_VPN" folder and double click on it via the left window pane 


Click on "Push"


Browse to the folder (C:/NoRDVPN) and select the two configuration files 

Note - 

Use Shift to select multiple files

Files will be pushed out to the FireTV as soon as you select Choose



Now we are done with the work from your workstation

By the time you reach this step you will have completed the following 

  • Installed OpenVPN on the FireTV system
  • Customized the VPN configuration files
  • Copied the VPN configuration files to the Root of the SDcard on the FireTV system
Note - Next steps are really simple and you only need the fireTV remote to complete these

03. Import VPN profile on FireTV and connect


Browse to your Apps and Games > See All 


Select and launch OpenVPN Client



Use the + sign to add a profile 



Click Import


Browse and Select the ovpn configuration file using the browser 






Click on the imported VPN profile to initiate the connection 

















Under the "Settings" Tab make sure "use System proxy" is enabled


Now your fireTV is routing traffic via the VPN 



This is the only outbound connection from the FireTV connecting to the NORDVPN server IP via openVPN port UDP 1194

You can find this IP in the configuration file or by going to the OpenVPN logs Tab

Until next time....Stay Awesome Internetz : ) 





10 comments:

  1. For those of you reading this that are struggling to install a profile I have a fix!

    Problem occurs when you choose to import a profile, the box on the left appears but you are unable to select anything within that window.

    Fix Steps -

    1. Install ES File Explorer
    2. Open the app and navigate to the folder that you copied your OPVN file over to previously
    3. Click to open the file then choose Import Profile into OpenVPN
    4. Close app and reload OpenVPN app and you will see your profile has been loaded!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That worked, but when you have a password file, and ca.crt you need to choose it too, then the same mistake you cant select it.

      Where is openvpn save the data? can i push the files direct in the config folder?

      Delete
    2. i found a way to get it running, under Setting you can select "Use internal File Browser" after you select it, you can select all files in the config.

      Delete
  2. Is it possible to connect this application to a openvpn server hosted at home (one that is built in to asus router). i was just approached today about a PS Vue subscription. and the guy travels/wants to share, so if we could get the Firestick to connect back to his home network that should not be an issue as it would be under the same IP. and we could use the open VPN server built in to the ASUS routers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your info. In my case, I was not able initially install opvn profile as described in your comment. Instead of using ES File Explorer. I have found, there is possibility to change Settings (inside OpenVPN) to Use Internal file browser. Then I was able to find and import ovpn profile.

    ReplyDelete
  4. From my openVPN server , I exported 2 files, one is the profile *.ovpn and the second is the certificate. Does the certificate has to be part of the profile file as shown in your example. If this is the case, how do I merge those files ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. is there any difference with between using openvpn and nordvpn app for fire stick?
    because even using nord app, my netflix still blocked with firestick (my provider blocked them because they have exclusivity agreement with other services, mental eh?)
    i tried openvpn directly from nordvpn: https://support.nordvpn.com/Restricted-countries/1391383832/Connecting-from-countries-with-internet-restrictions-on-Android.htm but firestick but upon installing, theres error (not supported device)

    ReplyDelete
  6. On my FireTv OpenVPN works fine, the vpn works until the app is open, when i open an other app VPN broke down. In Vpn log i found "system OS shut down VPN...".

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I perform step 3 in the instructions posted above by Mark in Feb. 2019 for importing a profile into OpenVPN (Click to open the file then choose Import Profile into OpenVPN), I get an error message that says, "Importing the config yielded an error, cannot save it."

    ReplyDelete