How to set up Open VPN on Windows 10

A few months back we wrote a post about how to install and set up OpenVPN on Fedora but since we also recently acquired a fancy new Windows 10 box, we figured we’d install and configure OpenVPN on Windows 10 and document the process.

You’ll need to first download OpenVPN from openvpn.net. Note that there is a downloads section at the bottom of the openvpn.net homepage but this is NOT what you want as this will download PrivateTunnel, which is something else. It’s a little misleading but you can find the actual OpenVPN downloads by first clicking on Community or skipping that step altogether and go directly to the OpenVPN Downloads page.

With that said, let’s clarify this and go ahead and install OpenVPN in just a few steps.

Installing OpenVPN

1. Download the OpenVPN Windows installer from the OpenVPN Download Page.
2. Right-click on the installer and select ‘Run as Administrator’.
3. Accept the terms and click Next, accept the defaults and click Install.
4. Assuming that you’ve already been provided with the required certs, (ca.crt. client.conf, client.crt, client.key, ta.key, client.opvn) copy them to the following directory:
C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config

Running OpenVPN

5. Right-click on OpenVPN Gui and click Properties. Under the Compatibility tab, make sure that Run as Administrator is checked.
6. Launch OpenVPN and it should be running in the background.
7. Double-click the OpenVPN icon in the Windows 10 right hand taskbar. You should receive a login prompt. Enter you credentials and you should then be connected to your network.
8. To test, open Powershell and try to ping something on the network. You can also download putty.exe from the PuTTY Download Page to connect to Linux servers on the network.

 

Depending on your network parameters, you will now be able to test your VPN connection using your own network specific tests.

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