OpenVPN server provides a full featured software solution for VPN services using SSL encryption to provide internet services using OpenVPN’s server. There are various software packages available online to download and used, since access servers of OpenVPN provides support to a huge number of configurations. To access VPN services via OpenVPN server, you need to set up its client on your system, for which tutorial steps are provided below.
- To begin with, you need to download the installer for the OpenVPN client that you can download from http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/downloads.html.
- Double click on the installer setup to start it and click on the next button to continue.
- You will be taken to the license agreement page, click on I Agree to continue with the installation.
- Next, you will be provided options of different components to choose from. Click on the Next button to continue with the installation.
- The next screen is to define the path where the software will be installed. You can provide your own address or path of an installation or leave the default path and click on Install to continue.
- A popup may appear confirming the installation of the device software. Select the Install option to continue.
- A box will appear showing the progress of the installation, where you need to wait for the installation to be finished. After it is done, select the next option to continue.
- Then, you will be taken to the installation completed box, where you need to select the Finish option to complete the installation.
- After the installation is finished, you will get a shortcut named OpenVPN on your desktop. Right click on it and then click on the properties option from the drop down menu.
- In the next box, go to the compatibility tab and check the option “Run as administrator” and then click on Apply and Ok buttons to confirm the modification.
- You are now able to add the files of configuration related to the VPN client, the services of which you are going to use. The VPN provider will provide you with the configuration files or you can get them from other free websites offering genuine files. Go to the config directory in the OpenVPN folder where you installed the client software and paste the configuration files there.
- To let OpenVPN work on this version of windows, you need to enable its Network Connections services. Go to search and there type services.msc, where you need to click on “services“to go to the Services control panel.
- Look for the entry named Network Connections and then change the startup parameter for this service from manual to automatic and then start the service. Without this service OpenVPN service will crash while the routes are being set.
- The client software setup is complete and you are now ready to connect to the VPN service that you subscribed to. Double click the OpenVPN icon on the desktop and click on yes if a popup appears for confirmation.
- You get an icon for OpenVPN in your taskbar. Here you need to right click on the icon and select the Connect option from the drop down menu that appears. In case of multiple configurations, you need to select the one that you wish to connect through.
- While, most of the VPN providers need you to enter the login credentials like username and password to establish a connection. Make sure that you get the required details from your service provider that might be needed to enter in the box asking for the same.
- You will be able to see a popup balloon when a connection will be established successfully to the server. You can also verify your IP address shown on the network from various websites available online to confirm a virtual IP, if your service provider has promised to provide you with.
- If you wish to disconnect from the service, you can do this simply by right clicking on the OpenVPN icon appearing in the taskbar and selecting the disconnect option from the drop down menu that appeared.
With this, the setup for the OpenVPN client is complete on the Windows 8 OS and you can enjoy using VPN services.
In case the services, still don’t work, RAS connection manager might have been disabled. You need to follow the below mentioned steps to enable it.
- Select Windows features related option after going to “Control Panel/Programs/ Programs & features”.
- Here you can change the state of the Administration Kit of the RAS Connection Manager (CMAK). Turn it on to resolve the issue.
- After turning on the service, click on the OK button to finish.
- Close the window of Programs & features and ensure that the route-method.exe file is being used in the configuration file used in the OpenVPN configuration.
