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Last Updated: February 20, 2025
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A VPN protects your online security and privacy and reclaims your digital freedom. Nonetheless, a VPN may fail to do its job correctly if it keeps disconnecting.
Troubleshooting a VPN that keeps disconnecting can be frustrating. Various reasons can affect how a VPN works. Usually, issues stem from the VPN software, service, network connection, and device.
This guide will list all possible issues and their solutions to ensure that your VPN doesn’t disconnect unnecessarily. Without further ado, let’s get started!
We have compiled the most common reasons your VPN keeps disconnecting. After that, an organized list of solutions will help you troubleshoot your VPN connection.
Your VPN relies on a stable internet connection to establish a connection tunnel to the VPN servers. Any issues in your network connections may result in the VPN connection dropping randomly. Connection issues may result from problems with your Internet Service Provider, your network DNS servers’ settings, and even your connected devices, including your router.
Sometimes, your internet bandwidth may not be enough, especially if you have many users or connected devices on one slow network. Besides bandwidth, having many users/devices can impact the performance of a router or switch due to congestion. As a result, your internet latency will likely increase. An increase in latency can make your VPN disconnect and connect randomly.
Usually, VPN software sends a connection message to the VPN server every 10 seconds. If there’s no response from the server after 120 seconds, the VPN tunnel will disconnect, and the VPN will try to re-establish the connection. Thus, a slow internet connection may be the reason for your randomly disconnecting VPN.
VPN blocking techniques cause your VPN to disconnect and prevent it from reconnecting. Sometimes, your VPN connection may be successful, but you won’t be able to access the internet or bypass restrictions. Governments and various institutions may block VPN connections to prevent users from evading censorship. So, you may experience VPN blocking if you use a VPN in countries or specific places where a VPN is illegal or not allowed.
Various techniques are used to detect VPN traffic and block them. Standard VPN blocking techniques include IP blocking, port blocking, and, in extreme cases, deep packet inspection (DPI).
Most premium VPN services offer a simultaneous connection limit of between 5 and 10 devices on a single subscription. However, this might not be enough if you have many devices or share your VPN account with others.
If you exceed the set connection limit, your VPN will disconnect. Sometimes, your VPN won’t be able to re-establish the connection until a connected device disconnects.
When many users connect to a single VPN server, the server gets overcrowded, and congestion occurs. The server may drop some connections to keep up with the demand and avoid delivering poor performance to connected users. This happens randomly; if you are an unlucky user, your VPN will disconnect unexpectedly.
Problems with VPN server congestion commonly occur on VPNs with smaller server networks. You may also experience VPN connection drops if you connect to high-demand servers such as streaming servers.
Conflict from other software on your device may affect your VPN and cause it to disconnect frequently. Software conflicts occur when programs or processes compete for the same resources, such as network connection resources.
Usually, interference happens due to one of the factors I’ve listed below. Remember, if these apply to you, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re interfering and causing the problem with your VPN. But they’re certainly worth investigating. Here are the factors:
Power optimization settings in some devices, such as battery saving and efficiency modes, may cause a VPN to disconnect. Power-saving settings like VPNs may pause or stop apps running in the background.
Power saving may also turn off your cellular connection, 5G in particular. A change in your cellular connection may cause your VPN connection to drop temporarily, especially if you are not using a cellular-friendly VPN protocol.
As I mentioned, your VPN will keep disconnecting if there are issues with your network connection, VPN app/service, or device. Troubleshooting and fixing problems in these areas will stop your VPN from disconnecting frequently.
Your internet or network connection issues can cause your VPN to disconnect randomly. Use the following approaches to identify and solve problems related to your internet connection.
This approach will help determine if there are issues with your internet, device, or VPN. If the VPN works correctly on the other device, the problem might be your device. If the VPN still disconnects on the other device, there is an issue with your network or the VPN service itself.
The internet connection you are using might be causing frequent VPN disconnections. It might be slow or unreliable. Try using a cellular network or connect to another network, like your neighbor’s Wi-Fi or your friend’s hotspot. If the change in network stops your VPN from disconnecting, your network has issues. The VPN service may have temporary issues if you’re still disconnecting on a different network.
At times, the way you connect to the internet can cause problems. For instance, your Wi-Fi connection might be experiencing interference, which might slow your connection and increase latency. A faulty ethernet cable might also disrupt your connection and need replacing. Try switching connection methods.
If you’ve determined that your internet connection is the problem, proceed as follows to fix the problem.
You may need to restart the device on which you’re using the VPN to remove temporary files and reset processes. You should also check for updates, as system updates can improve performance and fix bugs and security vulnerabilities.
Restarting your router helps solve many internet connection problems. Unplug it from the power source, wait at least 30 seconds, and then plug it back in. Updating your router can improve performance and fix issues.
Your VPN may disconnect due to an issue with the Windows TAP adapter, a network driver that enables a VPN to make tunneling connections. Your VPN connection might drop repeatedly if you have multiple TAP adapter drivers. Therefore, you should only use one VPN at a time.
The easiest way to update your TAP driver is to uninstall and reinstall the VPN. If you have two VPNs, you should uninstall both and only reinstall the one you prefer, then see if your problem is fixed.
If your household has numerous devices/users accessing the internet through one shared source, either a cellular data plan or a home Wi-Fi plan, that high-user traffic source may be congested and slow. Consider upgrading to a higher bandwidth package or limiting internet access on other devices.
If your internet connection has no issues and your VPN still keeps disconnecting, it’s time to troubleshoot and fix problems with your VPN app. VPN software issues are easy to solve since you only need to tweak a few VPN settings. Let’s get started.
If your current server is congested or underperforming, connecting to a different server may stop your VPN from disconnecting. To improve the reliability of your VPN connection, use the one-tap automatic connection feature or connect to the nearest server.
If you are connecting to a faraway server and server latency or load is mentioned, choose one with low latency or load. For streaming purposes, use dedicated streaming servers optimized for speed, reliability, and block evasion.
A VPN protocol dictates how a VPN connection is made. Your VPN client may disconnect if the current protocol is not working correctly, a firewall is blocking its connection, or your ISP is blocking it. Switching to another protocol may stop your VPN from disconnecting.
If you have ExpressVPN or NordVPN, I recommend their proprietary Lightway or NordLynx protocols. Proprietary protocols are suitable for unblocking content and are reliable with incredible speeds. WireGuard is another recommendation as the top choice, as is OpenVPN. You can also consider IKev2/IPSec, suitable for frequently changing networks.
Some VPNs offer TCP and UDP protocol variants, especially for OpenVPN. Use TCP for reliability and UDP for speed-intensive tasks.
Some VPNs allow you to set up a trusted network that you deem safe; thus, you won’t receive the VPN’s protection while connected to that network.
That can cause problems and confusion. For example, suppose you’re connected to your VPN, you walk within range of the trusted network, and your device connects to the network automatically. In that case, the trusted network will trigger your VPN to disconnect.
Turn off the trusted network feature in your VPN settings to avoid your VPN connection dropping unexpectedly.
Double VPN, sometimes called multi-hop, offers another layer of security and privacy by routing your online traffic through a second VPN server. However, this added layer of protection will come at a cost, especially if your internet is slow or unreliable. Your double VPN connection will be even slower, may slow to a crawl, and may drop temporarily.
Only use the double VPN feature if you’re engaging in sensitive online activities or avoiding being targeted by watchdogs.
Your VPN might disconnect or not connect if VPN traffic is blocked by your ISP or network administrators of various organizations. If you suspect this is the case, use obfuscation mode to bypass the VPN blocks and stop your VPN from disconnecting. This feature is also helpful in countries with heavy censorship.
Obfuscation mode masks or scrambles your VPN traffic, making it look like regular HTTPS traffic. Since HTTPS traffic is rarely blocked, your obfuscated VPN traffic will have a higher chance of evading VPN blocks.
Internet connections rely on data packets to send information from one point to another. For efficiency, your device sometimes wants to transmit data at the maximum rate possible for a short time, causing data usage to spike.
An MTU, or maximum transmission unit, is the largest packet that can be sent in one instance. If your connection uses MTUs, it can cause congestion or delay other packets, slowing your connection. If the congestion persists, you may experience a temporary drop in your VPN connection.
Some VPNs offer MTU configuration settings to prevent this situation. If your network is unreliable, set the MTU to small packets to avoid data usage spikes from lagging you out. You can customize the MTU to an optimal number if you have the know-how. Otherwise, stick to a small number or the default setting.
VPNs use ports to know where to route your internet traffic. Usually, a VPN protocol defines the port when making a connection. Some protocols may define more than one port. However, a VPN can only use one port at a time. Sometimes, the specified port may be blocked, making your VPN disconnect frequently.
When this happens, the easiest solution is to change the VPN protocol since the selected protocol will automatically define another port. However, some VPNs, such as Private Internet Access, allow you to change the port number without changing the protocol.
If your VPN still disconnects after you fix issues with your internet and the VPN software, the problem might be with your device. Usually, a device setting or app affects your VPN connectivity. Here’s how you can fix common device issues that are known to interfere with VPN connections.
Depending on your settings, your firewall and antivirus software may disrupt your VPN connectivity. This can happen significantly if you recently updated this software or changed some settings. To determine if they are the problem, pause them temporarily and try to use your VPN. If there are no disconnections, add your VPN to the allowlist on your problematic software and turn them back on.
Battery-saver settings and other battery optimizations affect connectivity by closing background apps and switching off cellular connections on mobile devices. Add your VPN to the exception list to ensure your VPN connection isn’t affected by battery-saver settings. If this is impossible on your device, turn off the battery-saving settings.
Having multiple VPN apps may cause them to conflict with each other regarding tunneling. This is because they may share the same TAP adapter or install another TAP driver, which can cause software conflicts. If you have multiple VPNs, uninstall the ones you are not using or quit the app entirely before connecting with your favorite VPN.
Unforeseen issues that are hard to troubleshoot may affect your VPN’s connectivity. Updates solve these issues by patching bugs and vulnerabilities and improving performance and stability. I recommend turning auto-updates on.
Some problems can only be solved by the VPN’s support team. If the above solutions cannot keep your VPN from disconnecting, get assistance from your VPN provider. Most VPNs offer support 24/7 through live chat, but you can also check for solutions in their knowledge base or user forums.
Sometimes, your VPN may keep disconnecting because your VPN provider offers an unreliable or low-quality VPN service. Except for the popular VPNs, most VPN providers provide subpar services and can’t fulfill their promises of delivering a seamless VPN experience.
If you have an unreliable VPN service, I recommend you switch to a reputable premium VPN provider such as ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access (PIA), or CyberGhost. I have thoroughly tested these VPN services and can confidently attest that they offer reliable connections, blazing speeds, and impeccable security and privacy. These VPNs suit various online tasks, including streaming, gaming, and torrenting. They boast user-friendly apps, are compatible with most operating systems, and offer multiple simultaneous connections on a single subscription. New users can test any of these services through their risk-free money-back guarantees.
Besides randomly disconnecting your VPN, you’re likely to encounter other VPN connection issues throughout your time using a VPN. This section will highlight the most common problems and their possible solutions.
You are likely to connect to the wrong location when using a VPN that includes virtual servers. Usually, virtual servers are physically located in one country but offer an IP address from another country when you connect to them.
Virtual servers become a problem when not implemented properly. Nowadays, most VPNs indicate which server locations are virtual servers. You can avoid those server locations to avoid connecting to the wrong location.
You may be unable to unblock streaming content when a streaming site has blacklisted all the IP addresses associated with a particular VPN. VPNs with smaller networks suffer the most since they are easier to block.
You may need to change your server location to continue unblocking content regularly. You can also opt for a VPN that periodically updates its IP addresses. Consider a streaming-optimized VPN like CyberGhost or an all-around excellent VPN like ExpressVPN. Additionally, you can use a dedicated IP address, which doesn’t change, is not shared with other users, and is unlikely to be blocked, but you will be tied down to one location.
Your favorite VPN server may vanish if unavailable or temporarily removed for maintenance. It will be available again in a few days if it is temporarily taken down. To learn the status of a particular server, check the news on your VPN provider’s website or contact their customer support.
Similar to unblocking streaming websites, evading censorship is hit or miss for most VPNs. Heavily censored countries use powerful VPN blocking techniques, such as DPI, to detect and block any VPN traffic. Even VPNs with obfuscation features may not always work in these countries.
Nonetheless, some VPN providers offer unique configurations you can use in heavily censored countries. Follow up regularly with your VPN provider to get the latest configurations and bypass censorship.
VPNs are critical tools with valuable features, but they’re not helpful if you can’t connect to your preferred server in the first place. Unfortunately, that kind of technical problem is all too common. Fortunately, it’s usually easy to fix.
As we discussed, underlying network issues, VPN software issues, and even problems with your device are among the possible reasons your VPN keeps disconnecting. Whatever the case, you can use the solutions in this guide to quickly fix your VPN connectivity problems.
If your VPN keeps disconnecting by itself, it can be for several reasons. Usually, there are issues with your network connection, VPN software, device, or one of their configurations. You can generally troubleshoot and fix the problems outlined in this guide.
Your VPN connection can drop randomly for various reasons, such as an unstable internet connection, increased network latency, a congested VPN server, triggered battery saver settings, or the trusted network feature being on.
Your iPhone VPN may not stay enabled due to network settings, VPN account status, or even the VPN app configurations. Ensure you have an active internet connection and an active subscription. You can also restart your iPhone, reset your network, update your VPN app, or connect to other servers.
If your VPN is blocking your internet, you probably need to disable the VPN kill switch. This nifty feature blocks access to the internet when the VPN connection is not active. It is designed to protect your security and privacy by preventing accidental data leaks, which might happen if your VPN connection drops unexpectedly. However, it can stop you from establishing an initial internet connection and may interfere with your connection in other ways.
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