Here is why some NordVPN specialty servers are not displayed in your client

[Karlston]

Here is why some NordVPN specialty servers are not displayed in your client

 

NordVPN is a popular VPN service that supports a vast number of regions and servers, has a strict no-logging policy, was audited twice in the past two years, and comes with a lot of extra features that you may use when you are a subscriber.

 

One of these features is that so-called specialty servers are available that users may connect to. These connections work identical to regular server connections. Just select a type of specialty server to connect to it.

 

 

NordVPN supports four types of specialty servers:

1. Double VPN -- like a single connection to a server, but one that is chained to another VPN server in another country. The traffic is encrypted twice improving protection and anonymity in the process.
2. Onion over VPN -- this type sends traffic through a VPN server and then through the Onion network.
3. Dedicated IP servers -- available to users who purchased a dedicated IP address.
4. P2P servers -- servers that allow P2P traffic.

Some NordVPN customers may only see some specialty servers when they are using the client. P2P and Onion over VPN may be provided, but Dedicated IP and Double VPN may not be listed at all under specialty servers.

 

 

The explanation is simple: the supported specialty servers depend on the selected protocol. NordVPN supports several protocols that you may use to establish VPN connections. The NordLynx protocol, based on WireGuard, is a modern VPN protocol that promises better security and performance. You will notice that connections are near-instant with NordLynx, while they take a few seconds with OpenVPN, the other protocol that NordVPN supports.

 

One downside to using the NordLynx protocol is that it lacks support for all specialty servers. You can pick P2P and Onion over VPN, but neither Dedicated IP nor Double VPN specialty servers are supported at the time of writing.

 

If you need to use those, you need to switch the protocol to OpenVPN in the options. Here is how that is done on Windows:

1. Select the settings button in the title bar of the NordVPN application.
2. Switch to Auto-Connect in the Settings menu.
3. Disable "Choose a VPN protocol and server automatically" so that it reads off.
4. Switch the VPN protocol from NordLynx to OpenVPN (either UDP or TCP).
5. Click on the back button in the top left corner.

Doing so switches the protocol to OpenVPN, and that lists the missing specialty servers in the server connection listing on the main page.

 

Tip: check out our NordVPN configuration tips here.

 

Here is why some NordVPN specialty servers are not displayed in your client