Troubleshooting

Fix NordVPN Breaking Your Network on Linux After Disconnecting

If disconnecting NordVPN on Linux leaves you without internet access - no name resolution, no ping, apt update failing - the culprit is often the nordvpnd daemon fighting with NetworkManager, not NordVPN itself.

Solution found and shared on the Debian Forums.

The Problem

Stopping NordVPN from the console (nordvpn d) doesn’t fully release control of the network. The nordvpnd daemon keeps running in the background even after the VPN connection itself is closed, and it can leave the system unable to resolve names, ping hosts, or reach the internet at all.

Diagnosing It

First, list running services to confirm the daemon is still active even after stopping NordVPN from the console:

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systemctl list-units --type=service

Look for:

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nordvpnd.service                loaded active running NordVPN Daemon

The Fix

Stop the daemon directly:

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sudo systemctl stop nordvpnd

Then restart NetworkManager to restore connectivity:

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sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

After this, internet access, name resolution, and apt update should work again.

What Was Confirmed

Testing the cycle further showed:

  • Restarting nordvpnd and then connecting via nordvpn c worked fine, with the network staying up.
  • Disconnecting again via nordvpn d reproduced the same network breakage as before.
  • Stopping the daemon (sudo systemctl stop nordvpn) alone fixed it - no NetworkManager restart needed at that point.

Takeaway

The workaround is to manually stop the nordvpnd daemon after disconnecting NordVPN, and start it again (or just let nordvpn c restart it) before reconnecting. It’s a bit annoying to do by hand every time, but it reliably avoids the broken-network state. This could be scripted into a small wrapper around nordvpn c / nordvpn d if you want to automate it.