How to Install Private Internet Access VPN on a Chromebook

I recently signed up for Private Internet Access – a well regarded VPN service for just $7 a month and $3 a month if you pay for a year in advance. It’s easy to set up, gives me access to a large number of servers across the world, has excellent bandwidth, and the provider keeps no logs of user activity. Perfect for privacy conscious people especially in today’s world where snooping seems to be the norm.

But I had some trouble getting it to work on Chrome OS with my new Chromebook  – mainly because I’m new to the whole VPN scene and didn’t know how to go about it. I finally got it to work in the end and it was pretty easy. You just need to know how.

Generate the L2TP Username and Password

First sign into your Private Internet Access account using your VPN username and password. Towards the bottom, you’ll see an option to generate an L2TP username and password combination. This was the key step I missed in my initial efforts. We’re not going to use the VPN login details, but these. You can regenerate it as many times as you want. Here’s a screenshot:

Generate L2TP username and password
Generate L2TP username and password

Create the VPN on Chrome OS

On your Chromebook, click the “Settings” option on the pop up on the taskbar. Under the “Internet Connection” section, hit “Add Connection” and “Add Private Network”.

Add Private Network
Add Private Network

Next, fill in the details as in the screenshot below. Change the “Server hostname” to any one of the VPN servers available in the list here. In my example, I’m connected to the US-EAST server. Change the “Provider type” to L2TP/IPsec + Pre-shared key and in the “Pre-shared key” value, type mysafety . Finally, enter the username and password that were generated for you in the first step.

VPN Details
VPN Details

Hit “Save identity and password” and click “Connect”. When successful, your Wi-Fi icon at the bottom right should change permanently to include a little “chain” underneath it like in the following screenshot:

Connection Successful!
Connection Successful!

And that’s it! You can now safely use your Chromebook at any unsecured Wi-Fi location, happy in the knowledge that you have an unbreakable private high speed connection to a number of servers around the world!

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43 thoughts on “How to Install Private Internet Access VPN on a Chromebook”

  1. Thanks @bhagwad for sharing this informative and helpful post about installation of vpn on a chromebook for private internet access. I have also tried this on my PC and I got success on this installation.

    Reply

  2. :( I cannot connect to https websites when i do this on my Chromebook. Http is fine. When i use the mobile data instead of wifi, https works. When I tether internet from my phone to my Chromebook, so Chromebook is using wifi and pulling internet from my phone, and connect to the pia VPN, https works! It just doesn’t work when I connect through wifi on my router.

    I don’t understand.

    Reply

  3. Want to thank you for posting this. I just got a chromebook and wanted to go through my VPN. when I contacted Private Internet, they stated that there was no way to set it up on a chromebook. So I searched and found this. It connects well. Each location has to be set up separate, but it can be done.

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  4. Did the June 10 release break this for anybody else … or is it just me? I can connect to PIA with the L2TP settings described above, but webpages no longer load — they just spin forever. I reset my browser settings, deleted the old connections, and set the connection up again. I can connect. PIA says I’m connected. But nothing loads.

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  5. I am trying to set up a vpn through Witopia on my chromebook but nothing is working. Would you know anything about that? Support thinks this is a blocking issue. I am connected by wifi through a router in my home. Maybe you can direct me to some help? Thanks!

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  6. Obrigado Baghwad for this valuable and clearly, to the point explained tip. Even working on a -as they say ‘safe’ chromebox I prefer to keep working with the extra protextion of my vpn. I used PIA but I will try to add my prefered VPNunlimited service later. By the way, I really got touched by your picture of the piano, a Niendorf. I inherited a Niendorf of my father and I can tell you that this IS a really wonderful piano brand with -if you’re as lucky as me- a great warm sound! Congratulations.

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  7. Seems that the latest ChromeOS beta 41.0.2272.32 update has broken this again. Back to the stable for me…

    EDIT – seems like it might be my ISP (Virgin) blocking it. That’s weird. I’ll keep looking. Can anyone else confirm it’s working?

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  8. I have Witopia VPN installed on my chromebook now for about 1/2 year. Their live chat helped me get it set up and it works. I’m having a terrible time, though, with my internet connection. I use Frontier and my modem has to be restarted just about every day and on some days, multiple times. I only have one other choice here in Moscow and that is the cable company which I have not wanted to use. Anyone else using Frontier and have suggestions?

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