Windscribe VPN initialize error Dissolved

[davidy]

I'm (back) on kernel 6.3.5ahs (sysvinit) and installed the windscribe vpn w/sysvinit scripts. It starts but throws an initialize error and then exits.
Is there a particular kernel it should run on? Need some help here. I assumed wrongly that if it's in the mx package repo and I installed it it would work. I have also installed and run all the available kernels in mx packages and all of them throw the same error, even with systemd. I even went so far as to boot into 5.10 uninstall windscribe and reinstall and reboot to both sysvinit and systemd and all it does is tell me "initialize error".
Thnaks to those who can help. I know it will work as it wouldn't be in the repo if not.

The one thing good about mullvad is it just works. Even on a phone with no sim which is more than I can say for ivpn. Problem with mullvad is all the US servers went down for an entire day, and when you switch servers it happens so fast you'd think it was all in the software. The gui takes longer to update than does the ip switch.

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System:    Kernel: 6.3.5-1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable hpet=disable rcupdate.rcu_expedited=1 
           BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.3.5-1-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro zswap.enabled=1 
           quiet splash mitigations=off 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.3_ahs_x64 Wildflower January 15  2023 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: System76 product: Lemur Pro v: lemp10 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
           type: 9 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: System76 model: Lemur Pro v: lemp10 serial: <filter> UEFI: coreboot 
           v: 2021-06-28_f8c3962 date: 05/10/2021 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Tiger Lake family: 6 model-id: 8C (140) stepping: 1 microcode: A6 cache: 
           L2: 12 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 44851 
           Speed: 904 MHz min/max: 400/2801 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 934 2: 400 
           3: 1169 4: 1248 5: 1300 6: 554 7: 800 8: 400 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected 
           Type: retbleed status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable 
           Type: spectre_v1 status: Vulnerable: __user pointer sanitization and usercopy barriers 
           only; no swapgs barriers 
           Type: spectre_v2 
           status: Vulnerable, IBPB: disabled, STIBP: disabled, PBRSB-eIBRS: Vulnerable 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK driver: i915 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a49 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: Chicony Chicony USB2.0 Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-7:3 
           chip-ID: 04f2:b685 class-ID: 0e02 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.14 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver: loaded: intel 
           display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") 
           s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
           Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 157 size: 310x170mm (12.2x6.7") 
           diag: 354mm (13.9") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Xe Graphics (TGL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.5 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a0c8 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.3.5-1-liquorix-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl port: 1000 
           bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a0f0 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: wg-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0026 
           class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2 
           sub-v: 200f hci-v: 5.2 rev: 200f 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: slave accept 
           service-classes: rendering, capturing, audio 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 923.25 GiB size: 907.69 GiB (98.31%) used: 22.45 GiB (2.5%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 282 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 
Repos:     Packages: 2239 note: see --pkg apt: 2216 lib: 1101 flatpak: 23 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           3: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-backports main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:Alexx2000.list 
           1: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Alexx2000/Debian_11/ /
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:cboxdoerfer.list 
           1: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/cboxdoerfer/Debian_11/ /
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye non-free main
           2: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
Info:      Processes: 274 Uptime: 7m wakeups: 1395 Memory: 15.48 GiB used: 1.83 GiB (11.8%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.4-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[fehlix]

I'm (back) on kernel 6.3.5ahs (sysvinit) and installed the windscribe vpn w/sysvinit scripts. It starts but throws an initialize error and then exits.

Thanks for the ("partial") report. Seems they changed something with their pkg-setup. A adjustement will be send to the repos shortly, so it would install in sysvinit properly.

[davidy]

Thanks fehlix. I've been pulling my hair out trying to even get an OS other than this one installed just to see if I could run it. I tried to install XeroLinux (so it would build an xfce version of itself) but it was updated and will not install at all. I tried to use EndeavourOS cassini nova (lost in space) and it would not install either. Then I tried Rocky which is very powerful at almost 10gigs for the iso but found out I have to format before booting as leaving the installer left a blank screen.
Crossing fingers Windscribe works better than mullvad.
Reinstall says "post-installation sub-process returned error". And opening it gives "windscribe process initialize error". It will work with the 6.3.5-1 ahs kernel?
I'll remove it again. I'm happy to switch kernels if that helps.

[fehlix]

Thanks fehlix. I've been pulling my hair out trying to even get an OS other than this one installed just to see if I could run it. I tried to install XeroLinux (so it would build an xfce version of itself) but it was updated and will not install at all. I tried to use EndeavourOS cassini nova (lost in space) and it would not install either. Then I tried Rocky which is very powerful at almost 10gigs for the iso but found out I have to format before booting as leaving the installer left a blank screen.
Crossing fingers Windscribe works better than mullvad.
Reinstall says "post-installation sub-process returned error". And opening it gives "windscribe process initialize error". It will work with the 6.3.5-1 ahs kernel?
I'll remove it again. I'm happy to switch kernels if that helps.

OK, here is a "quickfix" to finish the "broken" install:
Open terminal as normal user and run this sed-command

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sudo sed -i 's/enable)/enable|preset)/' /usr/share/mx-packageinstaller-pkglist/windscribe_sysvinit_helper.sh

The reasone of failure, they added a "preset" option to enable windscribe, instead of enable, which they used in the past. So the sed commadn will follow their changes.

Now finish the failed post-install step by running this command:

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sudo dpkg --configure windscribe

You should now be able to open WindScribe client from the menu.
And yes, please tell us how it goes and works.
My trial-key expired long time ago, so I'm not able to test further.
+++EDIT+++
If you still got an error when starting the client. Do reinstall WindScribe using MX Package Installer ->Populare Apps ->Windscribe

[davidy]

Cool bruddah. Working. I started it with mullvad running in background and after exiting mullvad it works great so far. It has some browser addon stuff too but, it behaves like one would think with proper delays between changing servers. Gui is kinda cramped but it does have 2 appearance options and you can set it to default, beta, or straight-up guinea pig release updates. Mullvad again just a few minutes ago was behaving weird and 2 different connections, with one in the US, both got dropped for whatever reason. The one thing that really bothers me with mullvad is the near instantaneous ip switching which makes me think there is some software shenanigans. I have no idea who actually runs windscribe but their ethos is written well, not to mention MX supports it under sysvinit.One other thing that's weird is if you hit the gui close button windscribe shuts down and exits with no warning, though it does minimize (& startup) to tray tg.

With ivpn there was never any breakage other than regular "under maintenance" of specific ip's. Mullvad's entire 'US is down for 24hrs' is hardly confidence inspiring to say the least. I'm gonna test it on my phones too and give another update later.
TYVM! The one thing I do not know is how many devices I can run. I almost ran proton but being it's not in the repos I decided against.
btw, windscribe has a ton of servers from countries I even forgot about, lol, incl iceland. Since I am atm no longer running mullvad's vpn there is zero reason to use their browser either.

You can set different common dns servers, do client side pinging keep-alives, the whole shebang, set ports, it's a real client. Glad I switched even though I have 10months left with mullvad. If all goes well in a week or 3 I'd be willing to give you my mullvad key. It works I just don't need more than one vpn as I've only 5 devices anyways and literally no one I know who could use it. Swear to God I must have ran clonezilla like ten times today. It's a record!

[davidy]

New post so the last is not overly long.

The gui has an option to supply your email to get 10gigs of data/month. That's for the free version though. I just blew past 10gigs in the last hour and throughput both up and down is respectable. I'm still dowloading via qbittorrent.
What's very interesting is the "Fake Antarctica" server appropriately named 'Troll Station' (ipleak reports it as Canada so don't bother). Each server has it's own moniker as such.
Account creation generates a random user name and password. I chose my own password.
There are 70 different countries to chose from. Most if not all have multiple servers to chose from and you can see latency and load for each. The gui works very well but I wish it were larger with larger fonts.
From the gui itself:
"At Windscribe, we believe that the internet should be free of censorship, personal data harvesting, targeted advertising, and geographic restrictions. We adhere to this philosophy very seriously, it is what distinguishes Windscribe from most other VPNs out there."

I haven't tried it on my phones, I'm still using mullvad there, but if the deb version is any indication I'm sure it will work fine. Fehlix let me know if you would like 10months or so of mullvad, if not maybe one of the mods or devs would. I'll happily delete my password once given over.
There's a quite a lot more stuff the ff browser addon will do but that's for another day.

BTW, using the paid version of mullvad, which works on android devices with no sim as well. requires nothing more than the 16digit set of numbers to 'login'. Anybody?

Bytheby, the Windscribe's android ap is the best I have ever used and does work with a no-sim device.