USA VPN servers down today, or is it on me?

mike_0x00100100

As of today, all day, I cannot connect to ANY websites with VPN connected to any US servers. CA and other EU servers, some sites, but not all, could connect. "Site can't be reached, down or moved" messages. Disconnect from VPN and all sites immediately load. I have several work websites, as needed, added to split-tunnel so it is not that. I have switched servers to different specific US servers with mixed results, mostly down, even on the split-tunneled sites.

I did switch my Windows user account type from admin to a standard user last night after creating another local admin account for security. A few reboots since then. I considered reinstalling due to user permissions changed after install, but that is probably not a factor because tested and experiencing the same issues on my Android phone as Win 11 PC. Is this an issue with BF or Google servers? Or should I reinstall?

edit: I can ping google while vpn is up and all websites are down. I can also access local network shares, router & pihole. I thought maybe I was not actually connected to USA, and that was causing connection issues, but I could not access any websites to check my external ip! I see others are having issues with connecting to different countries than intended. No app error msg's.

Something is happening but I don't know what is is. Do you...? Thank you in advance.

mike_0x00100100

I think I solved it. It was feeling like a DNS issue so I checked Chrome settings. 'Use secure DNS' was toggled on *AND an optional DNS provider was selected from the 'With' dropdown*.

Choosing any secure DNS provider other than the "With your current provider", even if it is Google or Cloudflare, will make Bitdefender VPN DNS unavailable. Leaving secure DNS on at browser with default setting, all sites load.

Is this known and normal behavior?

Alexandru_BD

Hello @mike_0x00100100,

Yes, some browser configurations may interfere with the functionality of Bitdefender VPN’s Ad blocker and Anti-tracker features as well. Specifically, when a browser uses a custom DNS server or advanced blocking technologies, it may prevent Bitdefender from properly blocking ads or trackers. When this happens, Bitdefender will not filter browser traffic but will continue to filter all remaining device traffic.

As you have discovered, you can adjust your browser settings to allow Bitdefender VPN to work uninterrupted.

Regards