How to Setup OpenVPN Connect on Windows

How to setup OpenVPN Connect on Windows

A. Download and Install OpenVPN GUI

1. Download the latest stable community version of OpenVPN client (Windows Installer) HERE Note: If you have a 32-bit Operating System, download the 32-bit version of the installer. You can check your System Type by going to Control Panel > System and Security > System.

2. Open the folder where installer is downloaded and double-click the 'openvpn-install- <version>.exe' file to begin installation.

3. You may encounter a Security Warning screen: "Do you want to run this software?" If you see the Security Warning screen, click Run to run the software.

4. The Setup Wizard prompt will appear. Click Next to continue.

5. The OpenVPN license agreement and terms appear. Click I Agree to continue.

6. The component selection dialog appears. Leave all components checked with their default settings and click Next.

7. Select your destination folder and click Install. Note the Destination Folder location during install (usually C:\Program Files\OpenVPN)

8. When the installation is complete, click Next.

9. The wizard will notify you of the completion of the installation and prompt you to click Finish.

B. Download and copy the .ovpn profiles to the OpenVPN config folder

1. Visit our Network page HERE

2. Select an OpenVPN server location you wish to connect to and then click Get Profile to download .ovpn profiles. Repeat step to download more profiles

3. Open the folder (usually the ‘Downloads’ folder) where you’ve downloaded the profiles and then copy them to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config folder Note: If you get a pop-up message that says ‘You’ll need to provide administrator permission to copy to this folder’, click ContinueHow to Connect to OpenVPN

1. To connect, find the OpenVPN GUI icon on your desktop and double-click it to launch OpenVPN.

Note: On Windows 7, Vista, 8 and 8.1, run the program as administrator to enable the program to make changes to your computer and update the network configuration. a) Right-click the OpenVPN GUI icon and select Properties. b ) Click ‘Compatibility’ tab and check ‘Run this program as administrator’ c) Click Apply. Note: If you get a pop-up window asking if you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer, click ‘YES’.

2. In the system tray, right click on the OpenVPN GUI icon.

3. Find the site to connect to from the menu, and choose Connect from the site's submenu.

4. Enter your VPN username and password when prompted and click OK.

5. The OpenVPN GUI icon in the tray will turn green once the secure connection is established.

How to Disconnect from OpenVPN 1. Click the OpenVPN icon on the system tray to open the menu.

2. Select the active connection (the one with a check mark) and then click 'Disconnect’

Automatic login without manually entering VPN username and password Are you thinking of 'automatic login' without the need to enter password every time you want to

connect to OpenVPN? If so, please read on. Currently, there is no secure way to store the user name and password in Windows using OpenVPN. For security purposes, most versions of OpenVPN do not allow a user/password to be read from a file. If you are willing to take the security risk of having your login information saved in the clear on your hard drive, you can use the OpenVPN Community client and set it up to automatically log in. Recognizing the security risks, the procedure is as follows:

1. If you do not have OpenVPN GUI installed yet, download and setup it up first.

2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config folder

3. Using a text editor like Wordpad or Notepad, create a file name ‘password.txt’

On the first line, type your VPN username (12345 in this example) On the second line, type your VPN password

Save the file. 3. Next is to open and edit your .ovpn file with Wordpad and find the line that reads 'auth-user-pass'. Change it to 'auth-user-pass password.txt' (without the quotes). Save and exit.

4. Test the connection and see if it will connect automatically.