How to Install SoftEther VPN on Manjaro/Arch Based Linux

This tutorial only tested on Manjaro Linux.

1. Install SoftEther VPN

1. First download SoftEther VPN Linux Client.
2. Extract the tar.gz file.
3. cd to that extracted folder.
4. run this command make
5. It will ask for license aggrement and you have to agree to that license prompt otherwise it will not install.

2. How to Start SoftEther VPN

• To start you have give below command

sudo ./vpnclient start

3. How to Enter SoftEther Command Prompt

• After starting SoftEther VPN you can enter SoftEther Command Prompt. Run below command

./vpncmd 

• This will show three options and choose option 2 and press Enter. This will show below text

Specify the host name or IP address of the computer that the destination VPN Client is operating on. 
If nothing is input and Enter is pressed, connection will be made to localhost (this computer).
Hostname of IP Address of Destination: 

• If you don't give any input and pressed Enter again then you will enter into localhost. This will show you below text

Connected to VPN Client "localhost".

• Now we will check if SoftEther VPN successfully installed or not. Run this command check if output of text is like below then you have successfully installed SoftEther VPN

All checks passed. It is most likely that SoftEther VPN Server / Bridge can operate normally on this system.

The command completed successfully.

4. How to Create VPN Account

• Follow step 3.
• Upon Entering run the command to create VPN interface

NicCreate YourVpnName

For my case I Entered Below Command

NicCreate bcc

• Now we have to create account
  • AccountCreate YourAccountName to create your account.

  For my case I Entered Below Command

  AccountCreate bcc

  • Destination VPN Server Host Name and Port Number

  Your destination VPN Server Host and Port Number
  Example: 123.45.67.789:443
  

  • Destination Virtual Hub Name

  Your Destination Virtual Hub Name
  Example: VPN
  

  • Connecting User Name

  Your User Name
  Example: test
  

  • Used Virtual Network Adapter Name

  Virtual Network Adapter Name (You created this earlier by NicCreate command)
  

  For my case

  bcc

  • After that you will get confirmation message like this

  AccountCreate command - Create New VPN Connection Setting
  Destination VPN Server Host Name and Port Number: 123.45.67.789:443
  Destination Virtual Hub Name: VPN
  Connecting User Name: test
  Used Virtual Network Adapter Name: bcc
  The command completed successfully.
  

5. How Setup VPN Account Password

• Enter below command and press Enter

AccountPassword YourAccountName

For my case I Entered Below Command

AccountPassword bcc

• You will have to enter password two times and after that you will get Specify standard or radius:, write standard.
• After that you will get confirmation message.

The command completed successfully.

6. How to connect VPN Account

• Enter below command and press Enter to connect to VPN account.

AccountConnect YourAccountName

For my case I Entered Below Command

AccountConnect bcc

• If account connected successfully, will get below message

AccountConnect command - Start Connection to VPN Server using VPN Connection Setting
The command completed successfully

• You can also check this by below command.

AccountList

7. How to Modify Route Table

You connected to SoftEther VPN but you ip route doesn't go through that VPN yet. You can see this by ip route which will show you current ip route. To route through the SoftEther VPN you have to connect VPN interface

• First run cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward to check if IP Forwarding is enabled. If '0' is returned then run the next command echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
  (You may need to sudo su to perform some of the next commands)
• Run dhclient vpn_YouVpnName for my case dhclient vpn_bcc to obtain an IP address from the VPN DHCP server
• Run this command

sudo ip route add vpn_server_address/32 via 192.168.0.1
Example: sudo ip route add 123.45.67.789/32 via 192.168.0.1

• Delete old route

sudo ip route del default via 192.168.0.1

• Now ping google's nameservers at ping 8.8.8.8 -c4

8. Disconnect from VPN and restore route table

• First run this command

sudo ./vpnclient stop 

• Then you have delete ip route that goes through vpn.

sudo ip route del vpn_server_address/32
Example: sudo ip route del 123.45.67.789/32

• Add default ip route

sudo ip route add default via 192.168.0.1

• Restart your network manager

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Useful Links

• Installation guide of softether vpn client on linux
• SoftEther-VPN-Client-Setup-on-Linux
• How to Set up SoftEther VPN Client on Linux
• VPN Client Management Command Reference