How to run ExpressVPN on startup on Mint?

[Statik]

Hey guys, I'm setting up my first VPN, and after melting my brain trying to mount my NAS, I'm having issues having my VPN run on startup. Instead of remembering to do the old fashioned

Quote

expressvpn connect smart

is there any magic I can throw in the terminal to make expressvpn connect on startup?

 

Thanks for any help

[Nayr438]

You could create an autostart entry

Spoiler

 

~/.config/autostart/expressvpn_autoconnect.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=expressvpn
Exec=/usr/bin/expressvpn connect smart
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false

 

or you could create a user systemd service

Spoiler

 

~/.config/systemd/user/expressvpn_autoconnect.service

[Unit]
Description=Express VPN Auto Connect

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/expressvpn connect smart

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

systemctl enable  --user --now expressvpn_autoconnect

 

 

[Statik]

8 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

-snip-

I'm still pretty new to the whole Linux game, what's the difference between the two?

[Nayr438]

54 minutes ago, Statik said:

I'm still pretty new to the whole Linux game, what's the difference between the two?

Autostart will just launch it on login, the same as if you started it from the terminal

 

Systemd will run it as a user service that can be controlled via systemctl, enabling the service will have it auto start on login.

The Service has also additional configuration options for waiting for various events, executing commands on stop, Auto Restart, etc... , Though what I posted above is just a simple execute start.

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.service.html

Spoiler

• Start Service -> systemctl start --user expressvpn_autoconnect
• Restart Service -> systemctl restart --user expressvpn_autoconnect
• Stop Service -> systemctl stop --user expressvpn_autoconnect
• Check Service Status -> systemctl status --user expressvpn_autoconnect

[wasab]

Add your command to .bash_profile in your home directory. Droping script into autostart directory also works. 

 

You can use systemd as well if you are more advance. 

[BruhIDK]

https://www.expressvpn.com/support/vpn-setup/app-for-linux/#auto-connect