ProtonVPN App error on Debian: "Loading app..."

VPN
1

Never had a problem with ProtonVPN app (Debian 12, xfce) and from one day to another when I start ProtonVPN app, the window just says “Loading app…”.

I removed the ProtonVPN app with

sudo apt purge "protonvpn*" proton-vpn-gnome-desktop && sudo apt autoremovesudo apt purge "protonvpn*" proton-vpn-gnome-desktop && sudo apt autoremove

as described on the Proton website and installed it again after rebooting my laptop. Same problem…

Does anybody experienced the same or a similar issue or knows how I could get it to work again?

…

UPDATE:

Maybe it will help somone in the future: I was able to solve my problem in the following way:

After removing the Proton VPN app through

sudo apt purge "protonvpn*" proton-vpn-gnome-desktop && sudo apt autoremove

(like it says on the Proton website), I searched for every file on my machine which contains “proton” with

sudo find / -path /timeshift -prune -o -type f -name '*proton*'

and carefully selected and removed all files which I thought is related to Proton VPN.

After installing Proton VPN, it worked normally again.

I think removing

/home/USERNAME/.config/Proton/keyring-proton-sso-account-nnsw42tpha.json
/home/USERNAME/.config/Proton/keyring-proton-sso-accounts.json

did the job.

2

Please reach out to us via our contact form so our technical support team can try to assist you further: https://protonvpn.com/support-form

3

Try running it from the terminal, are there any errors in the console ?

4

If the ProtonVPN service state or any requirements aren’t working right, try checking them. Update your system and restore any tools you need, like OpenVPN or WireGuard.

5

Just used “Report an issue” from the app menu to create a ticket

6

Running the app from the terminal, I get the following output:

2024-10-16T11:53:16.202030 | proton.vpn.session.session:96 | WARNING | VPN session could not be deserialized.

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/proton/vpn/session/session.py", line 92, in __setstate__

self._server_list = self._fetcher.load_server_list_from_cache()

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/proton/vpn/session/fetcher.py", line 113, in load_server_list_from_cache

return self._server_list_fetcher.load_from_cache()

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/proton/vpn/session/servers/fetcher.py", line 160, in load_from_cache

cache = self._cache_file.load()

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/proton/vpn/core/cache_handler.py", line 50, in load

return json.load(f) # pylint: disable=C0103

^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3.11/json/__init__.py", line 293, in load

return loads(fp.read(),

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3.11/json/__init__.py", line 346, in loads

return _default_decoder.decode(s)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3.11/json/decoder.py", line 337, in decode

obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

File "/usr/lib/python3.11/json/decoder.py", line 353, in raw_decode

obj, end = self.scan_once(s, idx)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Unterminated string starting at: line 58509 column 40 (char 2179065)

2024-10-16T11:53:16.527241 | proton.vpn.core.connection:448 | INFO | CONN:STATE_CHANGED | Disconnected (initial state)

2024-10-16T11:53:17.115399 | proton.vpn.app.gtk.app:57 | INFO | APP:PROCESS_START | self=<app.App object at 0x7f86a8d75c80 (proton+vpn+app+gtk+app+App at 0x3e32c210)>

2024-10-16T11:53:17.209600 | proton.vpn.core.refresher.vpn_data_refresher:210 | WARNING | Reloading VPN session...

2024-10-16T11:53:17.212442 | proton.vpn.session.utils:107 | INFO | API:REQUEST | '/vpn'

2024-10-16T11:53:17.212862 | proton.vpn.session.utils:107 | INFO | API:REQUEST | '/vpn/v1/certificate'

2024-10-16T11:53:17.213106 | proton.vpn.session.utils:107 | INFO | API:REQUEST | '/vpn/location'

2024-10-16T11:53:17.213531 | proton.vpn.session.utils:107 | INFO | API:REQUEST | '/vpn/v2/clientconfig'

7

Looks like it could be a corruption in the cache of vpn servers on your machine.
Try deleting this folder ${HOME}/.cache/Proton/VPN.

You’ll have to log in again afterwards.

8

Thanks, this did not resolve it. However, I think something similar did. I added my solution to my original post