Bug: ExpressVPN refuses to connect to Montreal

[JanitorialMess]

Is this urgent?

None

Host OS

Debian Bullseye

CPU arch

x86_64

VPN service provider

ExpressVPN

What are you using to run the container

docker run

What is the version of Gluetun

Running version v3.40.0 built on 2024-12-25T22:01:25.675Z (commit e890c50)

What's the problem 🤔

If I set SERVER_CITIES to Montreal it refuses to connect and keeping trying without showing any errors. If I don't set the city, and just set Canada as a country, gluetun will always connect to Toronto (the only other available city). I checked the available servers list and I can ping the hostname for Montreal. I also noticed that the same hostname is specified twice. Montreal only has one entry on the desktop client.
I tested the images tagged as latest, v3 and even v3.35 from a year ago and none of them worked.

| Canada | Montreal | `canada-montreal-ca-version-2.expressnetw.com` | ❌ | ✅ |
| Canada | Montreal | `canada-montreal-ca-version-2.expressnetw.com` | ❌ | ✅ |

Changing the log level to debug does not give any useful additional information. Running in privileged mode did not help either.

Share your logs (at least 10 lines)

2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] default route found: interface eth0, gateway 172.17.0.1, assigned IP 172.17.0.10 and family v4
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] local ethernet link found: eth0
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] local ipnet found: 172.17.0.0/16
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [firewall] enabling...
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [firewall] enabled successfully
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [storage] creating /gluetun/servers.json with 20776 hardcoded servers
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO Alpine version: 3.20.3
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO OpenVPN 2.5 version: 2.5.10
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO OpenVPN 2.6 version: 2.6.11
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO IPtables version: v1.8.10
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO Settings summary:
├── VPN settings:
|   ├── VPN provider settings:
|   |   ├── Name: expressvpn
|   |   └── Server selection settings:
|   |       ├── VPN type: openvpn
|   |       ├── Countries: canada
|   |       ├── Cities: montreal
|   |       └── OpenVPN server selection settings:
|   |           └── Protocol: UDP
|   └── OpenVPN settings:
|       ├── OpenVPN version: 2.6
|       ├── User: [set]
|       ├── Password: [set]
|       ├── Network interface: tun0
|       ├── Run OpenVPN as: root
|       └── Verbosity level: 1
├── DNS settings:
|   ├── Keep existing nameserver(s): no
|   ├── DNS server address to use: 127.0.0.1
|   └── DNS over TLS settings:
|       ├── Enabled: yes
|       ├── Update period: every 24h0m0s
|       ├── Upstream resolvers:
|       |   └── cloudflare
|       ├── Caching: yes
|       ├── IPv6: no
|       └── DNS filtering settings:
|           ├── Block malicious: yes
|           ├── Block ads: no
|           ├── Block surveillance: no
|           └── Blocked IP networks:
|               ├── 127.0.0.1/8
|               ├── 10.0.0.0/8
|               ├── 172.16.0.0/12
|               ├── 192.168.0.0/16
|               ├── 169.254.0.0/16
|               ├── ::1/128
|               ├── fc00::/7
|               ├── fe80::/10
|               ├── ::ffff:127.0.0.1/104
|               ├── ::ffff:10.0.0.0/104
|               ├── ::ffff:169.254.0.0/112
|               ├── ::ffff:172.16.0.0/108
|               └── ::ffff:192.168.0.0/112
├── Firewall settings:
|   └── Enabled: yes
├── Log settings:
|   └── Log level: info
├── Health settings:
|   ├── Server listening address: 127.0.0.1:9999
|   ├── Target address: cloudflare.com:443
|   ├── Duration to wait after success: 5s
|   ├── Read header timeout: 100ms
|   ├── Read timeout: 500ms
|   └── VPN wait durations:
|       ├── Initial duration: 6s
|       └── Additional duration: 5s
├── Shadowsocks server settings:
|   └── Enabled: no
├── HTTP proxy settings:
|   └── Enabled: no
├── Control server settings:
|   ├── Listening address: :8000
|   ├── Logging: yes
|   └── Authentication file path: /gluetun/auth/config.toml
├── Storage settings:
|   └── Filepath: /gluetun/servers.json
├── OS Alpine settings:
|   ├── Process UID: 1000
|   └── Process GID: 1000
├── Public IP settings:
|   ├── IP file path: /tmp/gluetun/ip
|   ├── Public IP data base API: ipinfo
|   └── Public IP data backup APIs:
|       ├── ifconfigco
|       ├── ip2location
|       └── cloudflare
└── Version settings:
    └── Enabled: yes
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] default route found: interface eth0, gateway 172.17.0.1, assigned IP 172.17.0.10 and family v4
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] adding route for 0.0.0.0/0
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [firewall] setting allowed subnets...
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [routing] default route found: interface eth0, gateway 172.17.0.1, assigned IP 172.17.0.10 and family v4
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [dns] using plaintext DNS at address 1.1.1.1
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [http server] http server listening on [::]:8000
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [healthcheck] listening on 127.0.0.1:9999
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [firewall] allowing VPN connection...
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [openvpn] OpenVPN 2.6.11 x86_64-alpine-linux-musl [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD]
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [openvpn] library versions: OpenSSL 3.3.2 3 Sep 2024, LZO 2.10
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [openvpn] TCP/UDP: Preserving recently used remote address: [AF_INET]107.152.206.69:1195
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [openvpn] UDPv4 link local: (not bound)
2025-02-21T21:27:12Z INFO [openvpn] UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]107.152.206.69:1195
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [healthcheck] program has been unhealthy for 6s: restarting VPN (healthcheck error: dialing: dial tcp4: lookup cloudflare.com on 1.1.1.1:53: write udp 172.17.0.10:42230->1.1.1.1:53: write: operation not permitted)
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [healthcheck] 👉 See https://github.com/qdm12/gluetun-wiki/blob/main/faq/healthcheck.md
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [healthcheck] DO NOT OPEN AN ISSUE UNLESS YOU READ AND TRIED EACH POSSIBLE SOLUTION
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [vpn] stopping
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [vpn] starting
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [firewall] allowing VPN connection...
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [openvpn] OpenVPN 2.6.11 x86_64-alpine-linux-musl [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD]
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [openvpn] library versions: OpenSSL 3.3.2 3 Sep 2024, LZO 2.10
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [openvpn] TCP/UDP: Preserving recently used remote address: [AF_INET]144.168.163.5:1195
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [openvpn] UDPv4 link local: (not bound)
2025-02-21T21:27:18Z INFO [openvpn] UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]144.168.163.5:1195
2025-02-21T21:27:29Z INFO [healthcheck] program has been unhealthy for 11s: restarting VPN (healthcheck error: dialing: dial tcp4: lookup cloudflare.com on 1.1.1.1:53: write udp 172.17.0.10:57377->1.1.1.1:53: write: operation not permitted)
2025-02-21T21:27:29Z INFO [healthcheck] 👉 See https://github.com/qdm12/gluetun-wiki/blob/main/faq/healthcheck.md
2025-02-21T21:27:29Z INFO [healthcheck] DO NOT OPEN AN ISSUE UNLESS YOU READ AND TRIED EACH POSSIBLE SOLUTION
2025-02-21T21:27:29Z INFO [vpn] stopping

Share your configuration

sudo docker run -it --rm --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
    -e VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=expressvpn \
    -e OPENVPN_USER=<user> \
    -e OPENVPN_PASSWORD=<pass> \
    -e SERVER_COUNTRIES=Canada \
    -e SERVER_CITIES=Montreal \
    --device /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun \
    qmcgaw/gluetun:v3

[github-actions]

@qdm12 is more or less the only maintainer of this project and works on it in his free time.
Please:

• do not ask for updates, be patient
• 👍 the issue to show your support instead of commenting
  @qdm12 usually checks issues at least once a week, if this is a new urgent bug,
  revert to an older tagged container image