Using NordVPN on ArchLinux

I found myself with access to a NordVPN account a while back, and while VPN’s have many, many downsides and the advertising of them is even worse, there is still a place for them.

The CLI client is available in the AUR, so it can be installed via:

yay -S nordvpn-bin

Once installed, you’ll want to add your username to the nordvpn group using:

sudo gpasswd -a $(whoami) nordvpn

Logout and log back in for the above to take effect. You can manually start the daemon as root:

sudo nordvpnd

With the daemon started, you can login to your account, list available coutries to connect to and connect via:

nordvpn account
nordvpn countries
nordvpn connect Iceland

Once you’ve finished your nefarious activities, you can disconnect logically using:

nordvpn disconnect

Edit 2021-01-20: Addded group membership command