ProtonVPN crashes when launched

earl · March 17, 2026, 8:12pm

I’ve been having this issue for the past couple of days where the icon will appear in the taskbar and then vanish. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the gtk app and I’ve also tried the CLI version but I couldn’t get it to sign in.

The only lead I have is that when I try to launch the app from the terminal it shows this:

proton.vpn.split_tunneling.interface:52 | WARNING | Split tunneling backend not found

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Bink · March 17, 2026, 9:26pm

Welcome to the community @earl

One thing you might try, is clearing the current ProtonVPN configs in case there’s a mis-configuration causing the issue.

rm -R ~/.config/Proton/VPN
rm -R ~/.cache/Proton/VPN

smokey · March 18, 2026, 3:53am

This is an open issue on their github

github.com/ProtonVPN/proton-vpn-gtk-app

App fails to open on Arch/KDE

opened 02:53AM - 19 Jan 26 UTC

mat926

> We are happy to answer your questions about the code or discuss technical ide…as. Please complete the following checklist (by adding [x]): - [X] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates - [X] This isn't a feature request - [X] This is not a report about my app not working as expected ---------------------------------------- When opening the app with the `protonvpn-app` command I get this error ``` 2026-01-19T02:47:12.289576+00:00 | proton.vpn.split_tunneling.interface:52 | WARNING | Split tunneling backend not found Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/protonvpn-app", line 8, in <module> sys.exit(main()) ~~~~^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/__main__.py", line 35, in main controller = Controller.get(executor, exception_handler) File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/controller.py", line 72, in get executor.submit(controller.initialize_vpn_connector).result() ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/concurrent/futures/_base.py", line 450, in result return self.__get_result() ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/concurrent/futures/_base.py", line 395, in __get_result raise self._exception File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/app/gtk/controller.py", line 104, in initialize_vpn_connector self._connector = await self._api.get_vpn_connector() ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/core/api.py", line 69, in get_vpn_connector self._vpn_connector = await VPNConnector.get( ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ...<3 lines>... ) ^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/core/connection.py", line 100, in get await connector.initialize_state() File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/core/connection.py", line 296, in initialize_state state = await self._get_initial_state() ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/core/connection.py", line 284, in _get_initial_state if self._session_holder.session.logged_in: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/vpn/core/session_holder.py", line 93, in session self._session = self._proton_sso.get_default_session( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^ override_class=VPNSession ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ) ^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/sso/sso.py", line 195, in get_default_session sessions = self.sessions ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/sso/sso.py", line 133, in sessions keyring = self._keyring ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/sso/sso.py", line 114, in _keyring self.__keyring_backend = Keyring.get_from_factory(self.__keyring_backend_name) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/keyring/_base.py", line 49, in get_from_factory keyring_backend = Loader.get("keyring", class_name=backend) File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/loader/loader.py", line 122, in get entry_is_valid = entry.cls._validate() # pylint: disable=protected-access File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/keyring_linux/secretservice/secretservice_backend.py", line 43, in _validate return cls._is_backend_working(SecretService.Keyring()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/proton/keyring_linux/core/keyring_linux.py", line 111, in _is_backend_working keyring_backend.get_password( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^ "ProtonVPN", ^^^^^^^^^^^^ "TestingThatBackendIsWorking" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ) ^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/keyring/backends/SecretService.py", line 79, in get_password collection = self.get_preferred_collection() File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/keyring/backends/SecretService.py", line 62, in get_preferred_collection collection = secretstorage.get_default_collection(bus) File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/secretstorage/collection.py", line 177, in get_default_collection return Collection(connection) File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/secretstorage/collection.py", line 45, in __init__ self._collection.get_property('Label') ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/secretstorage/util.py", line 67, in get_property (signature, value), = self.send_and_get_reply(msg) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/secretstorage/util.py", line 48, in send_and_get_reply raise DBusErrorResponse(resp_msg) jeepney.wrappers.DBusErrorResponse: [org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownObject] ("No such object path '/org/freedesktop/secrets/aliases/default'",) ``` It seems to be an issue with retrieving the wallet. This is a clean minimal install of ArchLinux with KDE plasma and kwallet. A workaround I found is I open an application like Brave that prompts to create the the wallet . Then open ProtonVPN again and it'll work. Can you make it so if no wallet exists then prompt to create one? ## Steps to reproduce 1. Install Arch Linux using minimal packages: `plasma-desktop sddm konsole` 1. Install ProtonVPN from Pacman: `sudo pacman -S proton-vpn-gtk-app` 1. Run `protonvpn-app` from the Konsole terminal