[GH-ISSUE #1661] Be able to deploy NetBird under System Account as Always-On-VPN #2898

New Issue

saavagebueno · 2026-08-05T00:49:31-04:00

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 00:49:31 -04:00

Originally created by @PowershellScripter on GitHub (Mar 3, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/issues/1661

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
No.

Describe the solution you'd like
Being able to utilize NetBird as an Always On VPN that can be installed and ran under the MACHINE context.
This means, being able to install the netbird client as the 'SYSTEM' account under windows and have it run the service as that account.

Describe alternatives you've considered
We have tried to use Tailscale under the same context, running the VPN unattended as SYSTEM and Tailscale doesnt have this ability as it never creates the server mode key under the system context. Alot of crafty manipulation of task schedules and scripts had to be done to get it working somewhat as needed.
Itd be nice to have NetBird (a vpn solution that runs under true kernel level Wireguard) be able to run as the system account.

Additional context
This is insanely beneficial for massive scale deployments where companies want to push the vpn out to all their systems and have the ability to setup the VPN without user interaction / userprofile dependency.
Also makes it useful to be able to build custom windows images that get deployed in different states / countries and build the images to be able to connect to the VPN as the system account to join to the companies domain as well as reconnect at boot to be able to pull domain configs etc.

Originally created by @PowershellScripter on GitHub (Mar 3, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/issues/1661 **Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.** No. **Describe the solution you'd like** Being able to utilize NetBird as an Always On VPN that can be installed and ran under the MACHINE context. This means, being able to install the netbird client as the 'SYSTEM' account under windows and have it run the service as that account. **Describe alternatives you've considered** We have tried to use Tailscale under the same context, running the VPN unattended as SYSTEM and Tailscale doesnt have this ability as it never creates the server mode key under the system context. Alot of crafty manipulation of task schedules and scripts had to be done to get it working somewhat as needed. Itd be nice to have NetBird (a vpn solution that runs under true kernel level Wireguard) be able to run as the system account. **Additional context** This is insanely beneficial for massive scale deployments where companies want to push the vpn out to all their systems and have the ability to setup the VPN without user interaction / userprofile dependency. Also makes it useful to be able to build custom windows images that get deployed in different states / countries and build the images to be able to connect to the VPN as the system account to join to the companies domain as well as reconnect at boot to be able to pull domain configs etc.

saavagebueno added the feature-request label 2026-08-05 00:49:31 -04:00

saavagebueno referenced this issue

2026-08-05 01:06:30 -04:00

[GH-ISSUE #2898] Policies seem to be applied incorrectly #6056

saavagebueno referenced this issue

2026-08-05 01:07:29 -04:00

[GH-ISSUE #2898] Policies seem to be applied incorrectly #6260

saavagebueno referenced this issue

2026-08-05 01:08:02 -04:00

[GH-ISSUE #2898] Policies seem to be applied incorrectly #6384

saavagebueno referenced this issue

2026-08-05 01:08:05 -04:00

[GH-ISSUE #2898] Policies seem to be applied incorrectly #6388

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Reference: DYNR/netbird#2898