Hello Took me a while to sort out how to do this properly, especially the auto-start, so, just incase anyone else is hitting some boulders along the way, here’s how to avoid that. Gathered various bits of information from various threads/contributers; thanks to them.
1. download/import key …
wget https://www.expressvpn.com/expressvpn_release_public_key_0xAFF2A1415F6A3A38.asc
and
gpg --import expressvpn_release_public_key_0xAFF2A1415F6A3A38.asc
2. sign in, verify, and download linux arch installer … https://www.expressvpn.com/setup#linux
3. remove any current expressvpn install, if necessary …
expressvpn disconnect
sudo systemctl stop expressvpn
sudo systemctl disable expressvpn
sudo pacman -Rns expressvpn
4. install … go to the folder the downloaded linux arch installer is in … right-click and ‘open in terminal’. Using rename, select and copy the full name of the package … in the terminal, run e.g. sudo pacman -U expressvpn-2.6.3.3-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
5. copy service files across …
sudo cp /usr/lib/expressvpn/expressvpn*.service /etc/systemd/system/.
6. enable, start, and activate …
sudo systemctl enable expressvpn
sudo systemctl start expressvpn
expressvpn activate (if a previous install had been on the system, it may say you’re already logged in … just log out)
7. connect and set it to auto-connect …
expressvpn connect
expressvpn autoconnect true
Expressvpn will now immediately connect itself on booting in.
EDIT: I’m unsure how to update Expressvpn using this manual method, and attempting via manual or trizen seems to cause issues/end up without internet access … via trizen, there’s a failure message about conflicting files (/usr/share/bash-completion/completions/expressvpn exists in filesystem), and the update fails overall.
I’ve defaulted to doing Step 1 (as there’s no other way to get the key imported), then just installing from the AUR, so updates can be straightforward. Doesn’t seem to need the service files copying over in this instance … just enable/start/activate, then connect. Can set it to ‘expressvpn autoconnect true’ and ‘expressvpn protocol auto’, and you’re good to go. Running ‘expressvpn preferences’ will show you your settings, e.g.
auto_connect true
desktop_notifications true
network_lock default
If e.g. auto_connect isn’t set to ‘true’ … expressvpn preferences set auto_connect on