Installing Mullvad VPN

Assuming you mean Mullvad VPN: CachyOS is Arch-based, and Mullvad is available in Arch’s official repositories—no AUR package or downloaded .deb is needed. Mullvad’s Linux guide confirms this.

1. Update CachyOS and install Mullvad:

sudo pacman -Syu mullvad-vpn

1. Enable and start its background service:

sudo systemctl enable --now mullvad-daemon.service

1. Open Mullvad VPN from your application menu, enter your Mullvad account number, choose a location, and connect.

Alternatively, use the terminal:

mullvad account login YOUR_ACCOUNT_NUMBER
mullvad connect
mullvad status

Enable automatic connection at startup:

mullvad auto-connect set on

If the GUI remains stuck on “Connecting to Mullvad system service,” check:

systemctl status mullvad-daemon.service

You can verify that the VPN and DNS protection are working at Mullvad Connection Check. The package itself is listed in the official Arch repository, although Mullvad notes that Arch-based distributions aren’t officially supported by its own support team.

Autostart (CachyOS)

Only if you enable auto-connect.

The service command starts Mullvad in the background after reboot:

sudo systemctl enable --now mullvad-daemon.service

But to have it actually connect automatically, run once after signing in:

mullvad auto-connect set on

Check it with:

mullvad auto-connect get

For maximum protection before it reconnects, enable Lockdown Mode too:

mullvad lockdown-mode set on

That blocks internet traffic until Mullvad is connected.