How To Fix ‘Unable to Load VPN Network Connection Editor’ Error in Ubuntu 18.04 GUI Network-Manager

In this article, we will be discussing a common issue that Ubuntu 18.04 users face when trying to load the VPN Network Connection Editor in GUI Network-Manager. The error message typically reads ‘Unable to load VPN Network Connection Editor’. This can be a frustrating issue, especially when you are trying to establish a secure connection. Fortunately, there are several solutions to this problem.

Solution 1: Install Necessary Packages

The first solution involves installing the necessary packages. The packages that you need to install are network-manager-openvpn and network-manager-openvpn-gnome.

You can install these packages by running the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt install network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome

In this command, sudo is used to run the command with root privileges, apt is the package handling utility in Ubuntu, and install is the command to install the packages. The names of the packages to be installed follow the install command.

After running this command, you need to restart the Network Manager service. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo service network-manager restart

In this command, service is used to run system services, network-manager is the name of the service, and restart is the command to restart the service.

Once you have restarted the service, open the system settings, go to networking, and add your OpenVPN configuration.

Solution 2: Connect through Ifupdown

The second solution involves connecting to the VPN through Ifupdown. To do this, open the network settings window and click on “Ifupdown (ens33)”. From there, you can connect to the VPN. Note that you will need to repeat this step after every reboot.

Solution 3: Install Required Packages and Restart Services

The third solution is similar to the first one, but with some additional steps. First, make sure you have the required packages installed. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install openvpn network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome

Next, restart the Network Manager service by running the following command:

sudo service network-manager restart

After that, ensure that OpenVPN is running by running the following command:

sudo service openvpn restart

If you see errors related to VPN secrets in the syslog, use the following command to open the connection:

nmcli --ask connection up VPN-CONNECTION-NAME

In this command, nmcli is a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager, --ask is used to prompt for missing connection details, connection up is used to activate a network connection, and VPN-CONNECTION-NAME should be replaced with the name of your VPN connection.

Conclusion

If none of the above solutions work, there may be other underlying issues causing the problem. It is recommended to check for any error messages or logs that could provide more information about the issue. You can check the syslog for any related errors by running the command tail -f /var/log/syslog.

We hope this article has been helpful in resolving the ‘Unable to Load VPN Network Connection Editor’ error in Ubuntu 18.04 GUI Network-Manager. Remember to replace VPN-CONNECTION-NAME with the name of your VPN connection in the commands where it is used. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to leave a comment below.