my vpn is timing out i have reinstalled it and restarted pc but still is timing out?

Scott Andrew Wirth

Alexandru_BD

Hi,

I think there can be a variety of underlying reasons that cause Bitdefender VPN (or any VPN, for that matter) to time out. Since there is little information we can work with, if you’ve already tried reinstalling the Bitdefender VPN component and restarting your PC, here are some common causes and steps you can check, to narrow down what might be going on:

First, try using your smartphone’s mobile hotspot (i.e., a different network connection) to see if the VPN connects. If it connects on a different network, the issue may stem from your ISP or your local network. Then temporarily disable any non-Bitdefender firewall to see if the VPN connects (if this applies ofc). If it does, you may need to add the Bitdefender VPN executable to the exception/allowlist in that third-party firewall.

Another possible cause could be the network drivers. If your network adapter drivers are old or corrupted, you might experience frequent drops, slow speeds, or timeouts. Go to the Device Manager in Windows and update the network adapter drivers. You can also uninstall and let Windows reinstall them.
Having a custom or misconfigured DNS, or an active proxy, can cause VPN connections to fail (especially if the VPN tries to set its own DNS or if the proxy disrupts the tunnel). Try switching to a well-known DNS provider (e.g., Google DNS at 8.8.8.8) to see if it helps with the VPN connection.

Multiple VPN clients or virtual adapters can conflict with each other, especially if they’re both set to auto-connect.
If you have any other VPN tools installed (Cisco, OpenVPN, Proton, etc.), try disabling or removing them to see if the VPN connects successfully.

Next thing to check would be the subscription/license status. If your Bitdefender subscription is expired, not properly activated, or has device-limits reached (10 devices connected simultaneously) you might see timeouts or blocked connections. Log in to your Bitdefender Central account to confirm your VPN subscription status. Make sure the device is associated with the correct subscription.

Try switching to different server locations/protocols within the Bitdefender VPN app to see if one region times out while another works, or if exchanging protocols helps in any way. If all locations and available protocols time out consistently, it might be a broader connectivity issue.. Some servers may experience downtime or a high load at times.
Finally, flush DNS and reset TCP/IP. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run this:

ipconfig /flushdns
netsh int ip reset
netsh winsock reset

Then restart your PC and see if the VPN connects.

As it can be noticed, there can be multiple causes here, and if all else fails, Bitdefender’s support can walk through your logs and verify if something on the server side (like an account or license issue) could be behind repeated timeouts. If necessary, you can reach the Support teams using this link:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

State your contact reason / choose request category, then choose from the available contact channels, chat, phone and email/ticket. Chat would be the fastest way to reach them.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards