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OpenVPN Data Channel Offload Support For Windows And Linux

Author
Johnny Hollick
Jun 10, 2026
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OpenVPN's Data Channel Offload is a feature that introduces a driver (Windows) or a kernel module (Linux) which allows the kernel to process OpenVPN packets without having to switch to user space. This massively increases throughput for OpenVPN tunnels, resulting in much higher speeds for the user. 

Windows users automatically benefit from OpenVPN's DCO's speed by default when using UDP, TCP, Stealth, and WSTunnel beginning with Windscribe app version 2.12.x or later.

Linux users require app version 2.23.4 or later. DCO support requires the ovpn module in the kernel.  The earliest kernel that supports the DCO module is 6.16. 

Linux Distro Support Info

  • Ubuntu/Debian:
    • Ubuntu 25.10/26.04 support this module out of the box.
    • Distros older than Ubuntu 25.10 (such as latest stable Debian 13) can support it but not from the official repos.  Users need to manually add the OpenVPN repo and install it from there:

      # Import the OpenVPN GPG key
      sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
      curl -fsSL https://swupdate.openvpn.net/repos/repo-public.gpg | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/openvpn-repo-public.asc

      # Add the OpenVPN repository
      echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/openvpn-repo-public.asc] http://build.openvpn.net/debian/openvpn/stable $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openvpn.list

      # Install it
      sudo apt install ovpn-dkms

  • RHEL: no support yet
  • Fedora 43+: installed by default  (Fedora 42 or older unsupported)
  • Arch-based: Should be installed by default

 

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