Develop Bugs

VPN Client on the Fire TV

Hi,
I'm in France and trying to set up a VPN client on the Fire TV.
The only decent I've found on the store is VPNroot which won't connect and display a "socket address family" error.
I'm using Boxpn service which works great on my desktop/mobiles.
Anyone succeeded in setting a VPN client on the ftv ?

..

c0mm0n said:
Hi,
I'm in France and trying to set up a VPN client on the Fire TV.
The only decent I've found on the store is VPNroot which won't connect and display a "socket address family" error.
I'm using Boxpn service which works great on my desktop/mobiles.
Anyone succeeded in setting a VPN client on the ftv ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet. I have tried HMA and vyprVPN the apps crash when connecting to a server. You could do what I did and install DD-WRT on your router, granted your router is compatible. It works great for me and a have everything behind that router protected by the VPN

Yes i'm working on the router side too, but still thinks it'd be great to have the client running on the FTV itself.

c0mm0n said:
Yes i'm working on the router side too, but still thinks it'd be great to have the client running on the FTV itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it would be cool to take it anywhere with you and just fire up the VPN app and get all the content without having to worry about carrying a router with you. ill keep looking into it. will update if find anything

Tun.ko with droidvpn works.
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app

Proxydroid with socks5 algo works.
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app

I'm afraid, Fire TV OS is not particularly receptive to VPN usage however, if your router supports DD-WRT firmware, it's a good news because DD-WRT has the option of selecting different VPN configurations like: PPTP, L2TP or OpenVPN and Once configured, users on the network don’t need to enter a log in process when they need to activate the VPN. It just starts automatically, so any device connects automatically and easily, giving you all the benefits of using a reliable VPN service.

^^ Macuser just mentioned the tun.ko vpn module got it working. Theres a tun.ko installer by droidvpn in the playstore that some of u guys may want to mess with.

i tried to follow Rose Ab's idea
i found an old router with dd-wrt on it, i now have to networks: one local and one connected via vpn which has the AFTV on it.
it works great

lanfeust said:
i tried to follow Rose Ab's idea
i found an old router with dd-wrt on it, i now have to networks: one local and one connected via vpn which has the AFTV on it.
it works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share how you configured the two networks? I'm thinking about doing the same thing, but can't find a reliable guide to do so.
I have two routers - both configured with dd-wrt. I find that when I plug my second router (w/vpn) into the first's LAN port, I can never get a connection to pass through. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

vyktym said:
Care to share how you configured the two networks? I'm thinking about doing the same thing, but can't find a reliable guide to do so.
I have two routers - both configured with dd-wrt. I find that when I plug my second router (w/vpn) into the first's LAN port, I can never get a connection to pass through. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually, i have one router for my "usefull" network wich is configured as a gateway (you can use your internet box too). The other is configured as a vpn connected client, connected on the first, making a network for devices that need to be connected to the USA. I use purevpn and they have good tutorials for tomato or ddwrt and other kind of routers.
I also have a NAS with two ethernet ports... each connected on a different network, so it can be available from the fire tv and my computer

lanfeust said:
actually, i have one router for my "usefull" network wich is configured as a gateway (you can use your internet box too). The other is configured as a vpn connected client, connected on the first, making a network for devices that need to be connected to the USA. I use purevpn and they have good tutorials for tomato or ddwrt and other kind of routers.
I also have a NAS with two ethernet ports... each connected on a different network, so it can be available from the fire tv and my computer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for clarifying. I think I got it working on my end by configuring the 2nd router to use the first router's IP address as the gateway and local DNS server. Still not my preferred option (waiting for the PIA android app to function by itself), but it will work for now. Cheers.

wouldnt it be better to just load up DDWRT on a router and configure your vpn from there?

macuser said:
Tun.ko with droidvpn works.
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell us a little more about how you got this working?
Thanks

The best option avalaible is proxydroid.
Droidvpn is too slow.
Knowing this, if you still prefer using a vpn just let me know.

macuser said:
The best option avalaible is proxydroid.
Droidvpn is too slow.
Knowing this, if you still prefer using a vpn just let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain the settings on the router side? I have dd-wrt

OpenVPN running both natively and on router
justin6162 said:
Can you explain the settings on the router side? I have dd-wrt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a thread on reddit that explains both using the OpenVPN client directly on FireTV or split-routing setup.
Here is the link to use the OpenVPN client natively on FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/
Here is the link to use OpenVPN on the router and selectively route traffic over the tunnel for the FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/cjwup38
I'm sure you can adapt the instructions to suit dd-wrt. And if you can't, maybe you should switch over to OpenWRT.
P.s. I'm a lurker so I cannot generate links until I've posted 10 times. Maybe a mod can do it, or someone else can repost it, or better yet, transcribe the instructions.

snappywan said:
There is a thread on reddit that explains both using the OpenVPN client directly on FireTV or split-routing setup.
Here is the link to use the OpenVPN client natively on FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/
Here is the link to use OpenVPN on the router and selectively route traffic over the tunnel for the FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/cjwup38
I'm sure you can adapt the instructions to suit dd-wrt. And if you can't, maybe you should switch over to OpenWRT.
P.s. I'm a lurker so I cannot generate links until I've posted 10 times. Maybe a mod can do it, or someone else can repost it, or better yet, transcribe the instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to get a split tunnel up and running on an ASUS RT-N66U router running Merlin Firmware. The VPN in Merlin is basically a port of OpenVPN in the tomato firmware implementation. The first step is to create the VPN tunnel and then you can setup the separate routes. For Private Internet Access (PIA). I used the following instructions to setup the tunnel:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/110/updated-tomato-setup-for-newer-branches-including-tomatousb/p1
Next I followed the instructions on this page for setting up a separate route for my FireTv. With this configuration my AFTV goes through the VPN tunnel and everything else goes through the normal Wan to my ISP. I followed the following instruction. Look at page 2 of the post for the instructions by WIZIN
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9311&highlight=split
This is tailored for ASUS routers, but the idea should not be too difficult to implement on and dd-wrt o tomato firmware.
For me this is a much cleaner solution than running something on the AFTV. It starts up and shuts down with the router, so I don' have worry about restarting it when I reboot on the AFTV or it using CPU and memory on the AFTV.

Please help
Rose Ab said:
I'm afraid, Fire TV OS is not particularly receptive to VPN usage however, if your router supports DD-WRT firmware, it's a good news because DD-WRT has the option of selecting different VPN configurations like: PPTP, L2TP or OpenVPN and Once configured, users on the network don’t need to enter a log in process when they need to activate the VPN. It just starts automatically, so any device connects automatically and easily, giving you all the benefits of using a reliable VPN service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a fire tv and would like to have a backup to connect to the office. I have a Asus N900 which has asuswrt fimrware. How do I setup the client to connect I am getting bad config on mine when trying to connect. IPCP -timeout sending config-requests.

How to Block Root using UVerse Gateway?

Hi
I seem to have hit a bit of bad luck.
I have ATT Uverse with their 3800HGV-B Gateway, and a Netgear WNDR4300 behind it. As Uverse gateway wouldn't block the amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net, softwareupdates.amazon.com domains, I "blocked" them on the Netgear router, and AFTV is connected via Ethernet to the Netgear box.
I ordered AFTV from Staples and was lucky to get a rootable version (v620), the above blocking was not effective and v820 got downloaded but didn't autoinstall. I went ahead and Rooted it using AFTV Utility, and made a mistake!! of not disabling OTA updates on AFTV. I was make a mistake and clicked in the OTA menu and lost all root
I tried another AFTV box, and this installed OTA and went straight to v520. I have used AFTV Utlity to block further updates hoping it might be easier to get Root on this version than v820.
My "blocking" on Netgear router is clearly not working.
I MAY give this another try w/ a new AFTV order but need to know how to block the sites using Uverse Router. I would really like to get a Rootable AFTV, as I want to have XBMC assessable via the home page, pair my Wii Remotes, etc.
Is there anyway to determine the stock FW version based on AFTV DSN Number.
Any guidance would be most appreciated.
I really want the Root

Umm, ~200 views and no replies. I hope soem guru chimes in

First off, you should ask questions in the q&a forum. You get better results. But hold on, let me find my spoon...I don't use a netgear router so I can't tell u exactly what to do but you can probably Google it. On the router, you would need to look for parental controls or firewall areas. Use key word blocking or url blocking and block the required sites. They are listed around this forum somewhere. Then before you even power up your firetv, use your computer and try and download the software updates from Amazon. If you have your router set up correctly it should give you an error and not let you get them.
Edit: quick Google search turned up this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760884

Thanks for taking the time to post a reply. The issue I have is wrt the interaction of UVerse Gateway and the 2nd Netgear Router behind it. As DNS is still handled by Uverse, (I think) Netgear router is not able to block it. I have that part configured. I will try and block the additional URL in the thread. Thanks again.

Legolas2 said:
Thanks for taking the time to post a reply. The issue I have is wrt the interaction of UVerse Gateway and the 2nd Netgear Router behind it. As DNS is still handled by Uverse, (I think) Netgear router is not able to block it. I have that part configured. I will try and block the additional URL in the thread. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use UVerse but I have a similar setup with a router behind a gateway. Can't you disable DNS on the gateway and configure the router to handle DNS?
I can't offer specifics on UVerse as I don't use it but on mine I just turn off DNS on the gateway and let my router handle it.

The easy way to do it is to open a free account on opendns.com and block from there. After root, follow this guide: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-ota-update-for-amazon-fire-tv-and-keep-root-access/

Do you have DD-WRT installed on your Netgear? If so, I have the same setup (except I have a Time Warner cable in place of Uverse). Using the the DNSMasq on my Netgear does prevent DNS lookups. I can confirm that with my setup. The Netgear does not need to pass through the DNS look-up further upstream if you properly set up your Masq options in DD-WRT. I have used 2 routers with DD-WRT setup and both have worked as intended.
The reason I can say that it works is that my updates were blocked, but more importantly, any pings to the the blocked addresses from my laptop (hooked to the same Netgear router) results in the bogus IP I put (127.0.0.1). One thing you want to make sure to test your setup is to make sure that you ping it on a computer and make sure that you don't have any static DNS entries for your network adapter on your machine that you are testing with.
If you have DD-WRT installed or plan to install it, please update the thread and I can post some pictures of my setup.

jmerrilljr2 said:
The easy way to do it is to open a free account on opendns.com and block from there. After root, follow this guide: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-ota-update-for-amazon-fire-tv-and-keep-root-access/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo. I had to do this when my router blocks were not working. Before I even plugged in my FTV, I tested the update web addresses in my browser. If I hadn't of done that, then I would've thought that my router block was working and lost root as soon as I plugged it in. Instead, I saw that my router blocks were eff'd, and signed up for OpenDNS. Confirmed the blocks in my browser...THEN, I plugged in the FTV for the first time.
Anytime you only get one shot at something, you really want to make sure that you get it right and don't miss.

Now that Staples has AFTV down to $84, I will try my luck again and use OpenDNS setup. Hopefully I can get a "rootable" FW version out of the box.
BTW, Uverse Gateway sucks

Legolas2 said:
Now that Staples has AFTV down to $84, I will try my luck again and use OpenDNS setup. Hopefully I can get a "rootable" FW version out of the box.
BTW, Uverse Gateway sucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a look at a pdf of your 3800HGV-B Gateway modem and it apparently does bridge mode.
Bridge mode will make it act like a modem only, and let your router take care of DNS & all the other settings. It's how I have my home set up (I have comcast though, different hardware), as in my experience the modem/routers you get from your ISP usually sucks.
Might want to take a look into that.

nyder said:
I took a look at a pdf of your 3800HGV-B Gateway modem and it apparently does bridge mode.
Bridge mode will make it act like a modem only, and let your router take care of DNS & all the other settings. It's how I have my home set up (I have comcast though, different hardware), as in my experience the modem/routers you get from your ISP usually sucks.
Might want to take a look into that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Nyder. I managed to get 3800HGV into bridge mode and was able to block the Amazon sites from my computer. Will get to installing the new Fire TV (hopefully, it is rootable).
I wish AT&T had made this easy, it was PITA to get it working, w/ multiple factory resets needed to get it done right.

[Solved] Wi-fi vs Ethernet (IP Addresses)

Wi-fi vs Ethernet (IP Addresses)
Hi All,
I recently notice that when I switched the Amazon Fire TV from Ethernet connection to wi fi, the ip address changed. Once the IP address is assigned to each connection it remains the same for that connection I am sure most of you knew this but in case someone didn't.
For now have I blocked OTP on both ip address using adb. My question if i switched connection between wi-fi and Ethernet, do i have to block the amazon updates each time i switched the connection?.
Also what is the adb command to verify if amazon updates are blocked? I know how to block the updates but is there another command to just check to ensure amazon updates are blocked?
Thank you

ashsha7877 said:
Hi All,
I recently notice that when I switched the Amazon Fire TV from Ethernet connection to wi fi, the ip address changed. Once the IP address is assigned to each connection it remains the same for that connection I am sure most of you knew this but in case someone didn't.
For now have I blocked OTP on both ip address using adb. My question if i switched connection between wi-fi and Ethernet, do i have to block the amazon updates each time i switched the connection?.
Also what is the adb command to verify if amazon updates are blocked? I know how to block the updates but is there another command to just check to ensure amazon updates are blocked?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't remain the same unless you created a static ip. So even if you remain on the same Ethernet connection you will be assigned a new one from time to time. Not usually a big deal unless you're using that device as a server OR you're frequently sideloading apks or pushing zips to that device (you might want static for aftv)
It sounds like you already disabled updates through adb shell? If so once you entered it the terminal/command prompt will return new state "disabled", no need to try and verfify further but you can just disable them again.
Fyi--you might benefit by going to aftvnews and reading the starters guide. There's lots of other info as well.

Solved
KLit75 said:
It doesn't remain the same unless you created a static ip. So even if you remain on the same Ethernet connection you will be assigned a new one from time to time. Not usually a big deal unless you're using that device as a server OR you're frequently sideloading apks or pushing zips to that device (you might want static for aftv)
It sounds like you already disabled updates through adb shell? If so once you entered it the terminal/command prompt will return new state "disabled", no need to try and verfify further but you can just disable them again.
Fyi--you might benefit by going to aftvnews and reading the starters guide. There's lots of other info as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tested this, once you block the OTA updates on the amazon fire tv using adb command pm disable com.amazon.dcp and You should see the message: “Package com.amazon.dcp new state: disabled”, the fire TV will not get updates regardless of the IP address.
However, it is always safer to block OTA updates with your router and thru adb when IP address does changes.
Thankyou

ashsha7877 said:
I have tested this, once you block the OTA updates on the amazon fire tv using adb command pm disable com.amazon.dcp and You should see the message: “Package com.amazon.dcp new state: disabled”, the fire TV will not get updates regardless of the IP address.
However, it is always safer to block OTA updates with your router and thru adb when IP address does changes.
Thankyou
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Sorry. Once you disable them you're done with that box--no need to pm disable again. That applies to any network you connect to, doesn't matter. You could go to your friends house in another state, hookup aftv and they are still disabled.
This is different than blocking from the router. If you do that and don't pm disable then you WILL receive updates if connecting to a new network. Plus you could still get updates if Amazon uses a different domain. I only block updates on the router if I'm trying to root a new box then when it's rooted with cwm installed and updates disabled, I stop blocking them on the router. I find its not necessary, but some people keep them blocked.
In my first reply I was mainly trying to clear up any confusion related to ip addresses and the difference between static and dhcp. But good to hear you seemed to have figured it out.

Port #'s for blocking update servers

Finally gained access to my isp's router to add urls for blocking updates to the AFTV. The router is asking for port #s too, not just urls.
By default it puts in 80. When I tried to access those urls the two notification urls seem to be blocked, but the critical one
amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net is responding when I tested it. Giving me a too busy to answer message.
I am assuming that it is not actually blocked. Does anyone know what the port # is?

dropcheck said:
Finally gained access to my isp's router to add urls for blocking updates to the AFTV. The router is asking for port #s too, not just urls.
By default it puts in 80. When I tried to access those urls the two notification urls seem to be blocked, but the critical one
amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net is responding when I tested it. Giving me a too busy to answer message.
I am assuming that it is not actually blocked. Does anyone know what the port # is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not too sure why your router's UI is asking for port numbers. The HTTP protocol works over 80 and HTTPS works over 443. You should block both (as I am not sure if update checking and downloading works over HTTP or HTTPS).
There is one other thing that might be of concern to you, thought it might not be an immediate concern (somebody can look at the source code to see if Amazon is upto something). But, if I were Amazon, I would dynamically push a port (or plural) down to FTV (maybe during initial connection for credentials verification) and do the update song and dance over a non-standard port(s). If they do something like that, you will be SOL with particular port(s) blocking. But I have not read that it happening....
Again, this is the first time I have heard that URL blocking needing a port number... Make sure you are in the right menu on your router as a CYA.

What isp and router are you using?

It's a local telco. The rtr is a Comtrend CT-5374.

Maybe try opening a free account at opendns.com.

Blocking FTVstick update OTA FAILED

I following this article on AFTVnews to block url string "montoya-ota" on my router, but my FireTVstick still found and installed the latest update 54.1.1.0 .......... and yes, I have verified with other url string that this blocking method does work on my router.
So now I have the latest FireTVstick firmware installed, not really a big deal but just wonder if other blocking methods still works, if so, let me know which as I'd still like to have control on if I want an update from Amazon or not

I used this part of that same guide
"If your router is capable of blocking access to specific domains, set it to block the following 3 domains:
amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net
softwareupdates.amazon.com
updates.amazon.com"
And that blocks updates to my Fire TV Stick and Fire TV.

forty0z310 said:
I used this part of that same guide
"If your router is capable of blocking access to specific domains, set it to block the following 3 domains:
amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net
softwareupdates.amazon.com
updates.amazon.com"
And that blocks updates to my Fire TV Stick and Fire TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will configure my router to block those 3 URL's
Are there any side-effect with blocking those ? Like any problems with upgrading Apps and/or playing Amazon Prime movies, etc ?

lowbee said:
Thanks, I will configure my router to block those 3 URL's
Are there any side-effect with blocking those ? Like any problems with upgrading Apps and/or playing Amazon Prime movies, etc ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't ran into any problems.

lowbee said:
I following this article on AFTVnews to block url string "montoya-ota" on my router, but my FireTVstick still found and installed the latest update 54.1.1.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry guys, false alarm. I figured out what was wrong.
My router was blocking URL string "montoya-ota" for non-VPN traffic OK; however, I just realized that the router isn't blocking VPN traffic for the FireTV stick where all its data is passing thru a VPN tunnel. Duh :silly: Good thing I used pm disable com.amazon.dcp on my other FireTV boxes.