Bitdefender AV Plus and Mullvad VPN Conflicting?

I was wondering if BD is aware of a conflict between the Bitdefender software and the Mullvad VPN service, particularly when Windows starts up and loads Bitdefender and I presume authenticates the user's BD account and subscription.

If connected to Mullvad, upon Windows startup the BD service will fail on Windows 11 startup and be greyed out in the taskbar. It will ask the user the log in but the login will fail and ask the user again. The app will open but will be extremely laggy and will have a "modules failed to load" message. Or the app will sometimes hang completely after asking the user to log in.

BD works perfectly if the Mullvad VPN is completely uninstalled or if the user disables auto-connect and auto-load at startup. I am not sure if Bitdefender has blocked some/all connections from Mullvad internally to activate/authenticate the BD software.

I am able to reproduce this on three computers, two Windows 11 machines and one Windows 10 machine with all recent updates.

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Comments

Gjoksi

Hello.

You should contact Bitdefender Consumer Support by chat, telephone or e-mail:

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

Chat is the fastest way to get in touch with Bitdefender Consumer Support.

NOTE: Bitdefender telephone support is not toll-free!

Regards.

@camarie @Alexandru_BD @dvsls

bitdefenderplsfix

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitDefender/comments/1n37iwi/help_mullvad_vpn_breaks_bitdwfender/ reproducible. bitdefender pls fix.

Alexandru_BD

Hello,

This is being investigated as we speak.

Thanks

bizzazz

@Alexandru_BD, any updates on this? It's quite bad that Bitdefender is rendered useless like this.

Alexandru_BD

@bizzazz head to the link below to get in touch with Bitdefender Support. The issue seems to be related to this one here:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/105039/bitdefender-services-are-not-responding-please-restart-the-computer

However, the engineers were unable to reproduce this remotely, to find out if the same fix solves the mullvad conflict as well. Should you agree to schedule a remote session, they might be able to speed up the resolution. Here's the link where you can get in touch:

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.

Regards

bitdefender user Blatherbop

Hi @Alexandru_BD.

you said: "However, the engineers were unable to reproduce this remotely.."

Unfortunately, I have to report that this problem is very real and Bitdefender should be able to reproduce this. I am sorry to hear you were not. I believe Bitdefender support is definitely in the minority here if you examine the reports on your subreddit (www.reddit.com/r/bitdefender). As well as the others in this very forum. My bitdefender subscription has been rendered useless if both Mullvad and Bitdefender start up at the same time. Once I close Mullvad and prevent it from opening at system startup, bitdefender starts up normally.

I am a client of Bitdefender therefore I take my safety and security seriously.

I am also a client of Mullvad for the same reasons.

I can not continue to start up my machine without my VPN connected. I can not switch VPN providers.

Would you please work towards a fix for us all?

Thank you kindly.

Edit: The Mullvad client is not on auto update so I am several Mullvad clients behind current. This problem began (for me) when bitdefender autoupdated to version 27.0.54.270, released on August 20, 2025.

Again, thank you for your attention to this matter. We do love bitdefender and while we all understand that bugs happen, one that renders Bitdefender useless is not what any of us want.

bizzazz

This 100%. I can reproduce this without fail on 3 different computers. Seems very odd that Bitdefender can't.

Steps to reproduce are pretty simple:

Install Mullvad, enable auto start and Killswitch (two very common and basic VPN options)
Install Bitdefender
Reboot. Bitdefender fails to start

@Alexandru_BD

bitdefenderplsfix

this, bitdefender pls fix or refund me