Same problem for me on Ubuntu 16.04. It seems that a workaround could be moving "key-direction 1" line before <tls-auth> line.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to network-manager-openvpn in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1643282 Title: key-direction not respected on OVPN import Status in network-manager-openvpn package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: When creating a VPN connection in Network Manager by importing an existing .ovpn file, the key-direction field is not respected. I needed to manually go into Advanced->TLS Authentication and set the Key Direction to 1. For example, my .ovpn file ends with the line: key-direction 1 ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04 Package: network-manager-openvpn 1.1.93-1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-47.68-generic 4.4.24 Uname: Linux 4.4.0-47-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Sun Nov 20 09:06:20 2016 InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-06-30 (143 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1) ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: network-manager-openvpn UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager-openvpn/+bug/1643282/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp