Starting NordVPN on my Windows Server at startup, NOT on login

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1

I know there’s an option in NordVPN to “Launch the app on Windows startup”, but actually all this does is add NordVPN as a startup app, so when you login it launches and connects.

I use NordVPN on my Windows Server 2022 Standard Edition with split tunnelling to enable VPN access for just one app. And should the server reboot after an update or just reboot unexpectedly, I need NordVPN to start up without me having to login to my server.

I’ve tried adding a scheduled task to start NordVPN.exe on startup with admin privileges whether the user is logged on or not, but Nord simply won’t launch unless there’s an active login session.

I’ve created a PowerShell script that launches on startup to make sure the Nord windows services start first, then wait a minute before running:

Start-Process -FilePath "<path-to-NordVPN.exe>" -ArgumentList "connect <destination-server>"

But that doesn’t work.

I’ve tried adding NordVPN.exe directly as a manual Windows Service using NSSM with admin logon privileges, then using PowerShell on startup to wait for “nordvpn-service”, and “NordUpdaterService” to start before manually starting the NSSM NordVPN service, and that doesn’t work either… or rather all of this DOES work, but only if I run the script(s) manually when I’m logged into my server.

It seems NordVPN simply refuses to start unless there’s an active login session. I’ve even tried editing the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon” registry to enable “AutoAdminLogon”, but with no luck.

I could configure NordVPN through my servers router, but I don’t have access, and that wouldn’t allow me to use split tunnelling.

Right now I have a temporary solution which is a PowerShell script that runs on startup and sends a secure API request to my home server (just an old laptop I keep turned on, mainly for network file sharing) which triggers an Admin RDP session back to my remote server, then disconnects after 2 minutes. This works but isn’t a permanent solution.

Does anyone know a way or have suggestions on how to start NordVPN after a reboot without having to logon in a windows server environment?

2

Do you have auto connect on? I have it on and whenever i start up my laptop or it restarts after update, the vpn auto connects as soon as wifi is connected, without me key in my windows log on password.

3

I was able to get this work on Windows 11. I installed it as a service using NSSM and a .bat file. Startup Automatic. I am using my local account to use for this service. This is what you might be missing. After this setup, restart your machine and wait… It takes a minute or two after windows boots up to connect. I hear the connect audio when it’s ready. Then I can login to this machine using NordVPN meshnet.

u/echo off

nordvpn -c

4

I do. And the same happens on my laptop. But from what I’ve researched, servers behave differently after a reboot, focusing more on system services and background tasks. The OS infrastructure is a lot stricter, so apps like NordVPN that rely on a specific user account to initialize require a login session before the OS allows it to execute. There’s almost certainly a solution using a startup procedure to grant the admin account permission to start a service like NordVPN without a GUI, but I just can’t figure out a way. OpenVPN with my NordVPN credentials is something I looked into, but split tunneling is tricky, plus the NordVPN app is much more robust and handles issues like connection drops and reconnections much better than OpenVPN.

5

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6

Is this what you looking for?

7

Thank you, I haven’t come across that particular guide, it seems very detailed and I’ll look into it more later. But yes, OpenVPN is a solution, but as the guide says it “lacks the additional features of the NordVPN native app”. Ideally I’d just like to start the NordVPN native app, but that guide definitely seems a lot more helpful than the standard OpenVPN documentation I’ve been using :blush:

8

It just pop in my mind now, what about if you use this openvpn thing for during starting of the server, once it’s all connected then create a script to open the normal NordVPN client and connects with that thus you’ll have the split tunnelling option?

9

OpenVPN is designed more for server environments, it installs as a service so it can run as a background task and use various VPN service credentials to establish a VPN connection after a server reboot, but it’s a fiddly alternative to the NordVPN app. I’d rather just start the NordVPN app after a reboot, which is what I’m struggling to figure out, so… it’s either one or the other. If I can just figure out how to start the NordVPN app without logging in after a reboot I’m golden and don’t have to compromise by using OpenVPN as an alternative.

10

Well, good luck for your project. Do post the solution if you ever find out how to do it.