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[razor2021]

ExpressVPN works fine for me. Your VPN Activation code is in the first page when you log into your account. Just copy and paste it in the terminal. If you're typing it in, don't. There is no systemd needed. It works fine as is from the MX Package installation.

[razor2021]

Another option if you botched the install/setup somehow, is just to download the deb version of expressvpn from their website --> https://www.expressvpn.com/setup#linux
Right-click to install the deb version (choose the Ubuntu 64-bit version), and open terminal and do the same thing as above. From cmd line, just run the following;

expressvpn activate
<activation code>

That's it. Then just a few simple cmd lines needed to enable options. The only one you need to remember is below.

expressvpn -help

[fehlix]

Another option if you botched the install/setup somehow, is just to download the deb version of expressvpn from their website --> https://www.expressvpn.com/setup#linux
Right-click to install the deb version, and open terminal and do the same thing as above. From cmd line, just run the following;

expressvpn activate
<activation code>

That's it. Then just a few simple cmd lines needed to enable options. The only one you need to remember is below.

expressvpn -help

installing the downloaded deb-version on sysVinit may create issue, that was the reason for the adjustment within the MXPI->Network->ExpressVPN entry.
But if installing now of the downloaded deb also works in sysVinit, without any followup issues, that would be good to know.
B/c the deb was prepared only for systemd (to install/run properly), hence the sysvinit adjustments added,
+++EDIT+++
Looking up the original adjustment, the reason for failing to install in sysVinit on MX Linux, was they had
checked whether running systemd or sysVinit, by just checking whether systemd's command systemctl
is available or not, and concluded wrongly if systemctl is found we are running systemd.
But running systemctl in sysVinit fails to start.
So if anyone could confirm that the downloaded deb now also installs properly when booted sysVinit (the default in MX)
and provides a functional ExpressVPN, we could then adjust the tweaks made in MXPI.

[jj 5117]

With NordVPN I sometimes have to jump through some activation page hoops that aren't clearly defined, after an update.
I fretted about the root causes of the problem, but it was the lack of specific instructional details that tripped me up.
The first times were a frustrating pain, then I got the hang of it.
Be calm and patient and try to walk through it in different ways.

[dragon3x]

Hi, there is a 7 days free-trial at ExpressVPN:

<<<<< https://www.expressvpn.com/order-deals-trial >>>>> and after that trial you can try MX Package Install,
that one should also have a 7 days free-trial. You can go a long way in assessing what is going on.

I am a newbie at Linux and with that VPN thing I know less than I tought .......

[razor2021]

Another option if you botched the install/setup somehow, is just to download the deb version of expressvpn from their website --> https://www.expressvpn.com/setup#linux
Right-click to install the deb version, and open terminal and do the same thing as above. From cmd line, just run the following;

expressvpn activate
<activation code>

That's it. Then just a few simple cmd lines needed to enable options. The only one you need to remember is below.

expressvpn -help

installing the downloaded deb-version on sysVinit may create issue, that was the reason for the adjustment within the MXPI->Network->ExpressVPN entry.
But if installing now of the downloaded deb also works in sysVinit, without any followup issues, that would be good to know.
B/c the deb was prepared only for systemd (to install/run properly), hence the sysvinit adjustments added,
+++EDIT+++
Looking up the original adjustment, the reason for failing to install in sysVinit on MX Linux, was they had
checked whether running systemd or sysVinit, by just checking whether systemd's command systemctl
is available or not, and concluded wrongly if systemctl is found we are running systemd.
But running systemctl in sysVinit fails to start.
So if anyone could confirm that the downloaded deb now also installs properly when booted sysVinit (the default in MX)
and provides a functional ExpressVPN, we could then adjust the tweaks made in MXPI.

@fehlix - I've always updated expressvpn using the MXPI installer.

I remember the adjustment you mentioned before. So, I uninstalled expressvpn using MXPI. Then I tried to run but it failed since it uninstalled. Just to check to make sure.

Then I just downloaded the Ubuntu 64-bit deb file, and re-installed again. I had to re-activate it, and I set up the additional advanced protection options. All worked fine.

Then I went into MXPI and tried to re-install it to see if it works as well. It re-installed with MXPI and expressvpn still works.

[/quote]

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'expressvpn' instead of '/home/jabberwocky/Downloads/expressvpn_3.78.0.0-1_amd64.deb'
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  expressvpn
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/23.4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 66.1 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 /home/jabberwocky/Downloads/expressvpn_3.78.0.0-1_amd64.deb expressvpn amd64 3.78.0.0-1 [23.4 MB]
Selecting previously unselected package expressvpn.
(Reading database ... 346067 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../expressvpn_3.78.0.0-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking expressvpn (3.78.0.0-1) ...
Setting up expressvpn (3.78.0.0-1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...

Press any key to close

[fehlix]

OK, thanks.

[fehlix]

I remember the adjustment you mentioned before. So, I uninstalled expressvpn using MXPI. Then I tried to run but it failed since it uninstalled. Just to check to make sure.

Then I just downloaded the Ubuntu 64-bit deb file, and re-installed again. I had to re-activate it, and I set up the additional advanced protection options. All worked fine.

Then I went into MXPI and tried to re-install it to see if it works as well. It re-installed with MXPI and expressvpn still works.

Hmme... they still have such constructs with their installer code:

Code: Select all

    echo "Installing expressvpn service..."
    # If systemctl exists we assume systemd, otherwise we try a few distro specific variations
    if command -v systemctl &>/dev/null; then
        install_systemd

which is supposed to fail when booting MX Linux with default sysVinit.
So their assumption is simply wrong.
And so unfortunately, I cannot get rid, of our fix within MXPI-> ExpressVPN installer.

[razor2021]

Does the above constructs prevent the OP from installing on MX? When you say its supposed to fail, I'm booting MX Linux with SysV, right? But it works without failing for me. But for some reason not working for OP at the activation point.

[fehlix]

Does the above constructs prevent the OP from installing on MX? When you say its supposed to fail, I'm booting MX Linux with SysV, right? But it works without failing for me. But for some reason not working for OP at the activation point.

On booted MX Linux with default sysVinit,
they failed during fresh installation of the downloaded and directly install deb,
to start the daemon. The error message normally shown, would look like this:

Code: Select all

systemctl start expressvpn
System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

On upgrade, in addtion to not able to start/restart, they would not able to stop the old running daemon:

Code: Select all

systemctl stop expressvpn
System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

They may have suppressed to show the error message, so you might not notice.
So in this sense the the installtion failed.
And also the init-scripts despite get installed would not have been enabled.
So after reboot with sysVinit again, VPN would not get started b/c init scripts have not been enabled to start the daemon.

On systemd booted MX Linux, the directly installed deb should work, but booting again with sysVinit
may not make daemon go up.
So. despite they have prepared everything incl. init-scripts, the missed to install properly due to one wrong assumption made.