====== Ubuntu - VPN - ExpressVPN - Revert to internal DNS upon ExressVPN disconnect ====== ExpressVPN has a bug in that it does not revert the /etc/resolv.conf DNS settings back to the internal one when the VPN is disonnected. * This results in internet queries still trying to use the ExpressVPN DNS, which is cannot access due to the VPN being off. ---- ===== Disconnect from ExpressVPN ===== expressvpn disconnect ---- ===== Check which DNS server is being used ===== systemd-resolve --status returns: Global LLMNR setting: no MulticastDNS setting: no DNSOverTLS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no Current DNS Server: 10.100.0.1 DNS Servers: 10.100.0.1 DNS Domain: expressvpn **NOTE:** The **Current DNS Server** line should be pointing to the internal DNS, but here it shows this still points to the ExpressVPN DNS even though the VPN is disconnected. ---- ===== Fix this issue ===== ==== Check the status of the systemd-resolv service ==== sudo systemctl status systemd-resolved.service returns: ● systemd-resolved.service - Network Name Resolution Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-resolved.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-03-17 19:28:19 GMT; 4 days ago Docs: man:systemd-resolved.service(8) https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/resolved https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/writing-network-configuration-managers https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/writing-resolver-clients Main PID: 1160 (systemd-resolve) Status: "Processing requests..." Tasks: 1 (limit: 77016) Memory: 7.6M CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-resolved.service └─1160 /lib/systemd/systemd-resolved Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd[1]: Starting Network Name Resolution... Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: Positive Trust Anchors: Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: . IN DS 20326 8 2 e06d44b80b8f1d39a95c0b0d7c65d08458e880409bbc683457104237c7f8ec8d Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: Negative trust anchors: 10.in-addr.arpa 16.172.in-addr.arpa 17.172.in-addr.arpa 18.172.in-addr.arpa 19.172.in-addr.arpa 20.172.in-addr.arpa 21.172.in-addr.arpa 22.172.in-addr.arpa 23.172.in-addr.arpa 24.172.in-addr.arpa 25.172.in-addr.arpa 26.172.in-addr.arpa 27.172.in-addr.arpa 28.172.in-addr.arpa 29.172.in-addr.arpa 30.172.in-> Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: Using system hostname 'bigmamba'. Mar 17 19:28:19 bigmamba systemd[1]: Started Network Name Resolution. Mar 17 19:30:37 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: Flushed all caches. Mar 20 10:47:01 bigmamba systemd-resolved[1160]: Flushed all caches. **NOTE:** This shows the service is running. Good. ---- ==== Restart the systemd-resolv service ==== sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved.service ---- ===== Check again which DNS server is being used ===== systemd-resolve --status