Example of VPN with OpenVPN in Operating System Vista
Part 2 Setting up connection to Server possibilities
OpenVPN Connection Setting Parameters
In preparation for this work you need
_ (i) You need to know the location of the OpenVPN Folder , \OpenVPN , as discussed in Step 4 of the instillation
_ (ii)a) The internet address , ( supplied by your provider ) , of all the Servers that you wish to make a connection to. As example, a server in Berlin Germany used by the VPN provider Hide.me ( https://hide.me/en/ ) , has an address of berlin.hide.me . You may or may not specifically need this directly, depending on how your provider organizes supplying you with all the information that you need, but is likely to be useful in any case for later reference.
_(ii)b) Configuration files for all the Servers that you wish to make a connection to. These you do specifically need when using the OpenVPN Client software. Typically, for each Server, this is like a small text file, but has the .ovpn extension, ( https://imgur.com/8JYHMTH instead of the usual .txt extension. ) These files can be created , opened and viewed using a simple text editor, but simply need to be saved with the .ovpn extension. Some providers will therefore, as an alternative, tell you what information is in such a file for a specific Server. You then make this file yourself as a simple text file, and finally change the extension on the final file from .txt to .ovpn
_ (iii) key/certificate file. This will likely be a text file either made yourself, or supplied by your VPN provider, or a combination of both. In most cases this will contain some sort of information in the form of a Username and a Password .
OpenVPN Connection Setting Parameters obtaining them
The information, and way to get it, for (ii) and (iii) , may vary from provider to provider.
As a working example, consider that I want this information from the provider Hide.me such that I can set up a connection possibility using OpenVPN Client software , to their Server located in Berlin, Germany.
( Hide.me organize that you get partially (ii) and (iii) together).
I will need to have registered an account, and will log in. https://imgur.com/YrwnvLK
I have a list of their server locations, and alongside the Server location for Berlin, Germany , I have the internet address , berlin.hide.me , https://imgur.com/ZM0xI32
Clicking on + more details , https://imgur.com/cz0tGX7 , https://imgur.com/yAgKbc1 , will give you the option of obtaining OpenVPN Configuration , for example , for windows https://imgur.com/SBnvkMO , https://imgur.com/nLtQYGC
The files , may need some editing , and are finally required on a specific location.
The download consists of a Zipped folder containing two files, https://imgur.com/ICbrz8L
I would recommend that you download initially to a convenient place, rather than directly to where they must be finally. This is advantageous
_a A back up
_b There can be problems making any necessary modifications at the final required location, so it is best to do all editing before copying the file or files to the required location.
I chose something like
……….. Desktop\OpenVPN\hide me config files\
In other words, on my desktop, I have a Folder named OpenVPN , and within that I have a sub folder named hide me config files
So save the file somewhere, https://imgur.com/PmbHvFU
It now needs to be unzipped. The exact steps to do this may vary a little depending on how you handle zipped folders in your Vista. On my Vista computers, simply copying the contents of the zipped Folder and pasting the contents into any folder will unzip them automatically. Typically I paste the contents into the Same Folder as where I have the original zipped Folder
https://imgur.com/GP5HHrq
https://imgur.com/Mt3WfQD
https://imgur.com/UmQIrwd
The config file, Berlin.ovpn in this example , is in its final state, and no further action on it is required.
The file userpass.txt , is a “key/certificate file”. Currently, for the provider Hide.me , the first line is given as your account Username , and you may need to change that. The second line is a Password which you currently need to edit to your account password. Hide.me are currently in the middle of changing how they organize which password you use, so for this information you should check with them if you choose Hide.me as your provider.
Here is the edited userpass.txt that I require to use Hide.me provider on my Vista computer: https://imgur.com/ofHDKpl ( remember to save this filem after editing, https://imgur.com/eD8qpOz )
For other providers, they may have other ways to organize the key/certificate file and possibly also the config file
So, before proceeding to the next steps, you need to have those 2 files in the required format. If in doubt, check with your provider.
( A note of warning here for the case of Hide.me provider:
_T he config files are generated when you obtain them.
_You are automatically logged out after a short time, although you can still navigate around the site, so it may appear that you are still logged in.
_ A check is probably made of if you are still logged in when you attempting to download config files. If you are logged out, the downloads process still works … but the download Folders are empty!
To overcome this problem, simply download fairly quickly after logging in, or refresh the page before downloading. )
Including Connection Parameter Setting into your computer
This step basically is just copying initially the final two files to the correct location which is where OpenVPN Client is expecting to find them. This will make one server available, in the current example, the Server used by Hide.me in Berlin, Germany.
The correct location is a folder with the name config , which should be seen in the location that you chose in step 4 of the instillation.
So now copy the two files to that folder
https://imgur.com/WbMQ5Vz
https://imgur.com/kGidr3U
https://imgur.com/LKWIAzy
At this point, if all has gone well, then you now see by right clicking on the system tray some more options including one to make a connection, https://imgur.com/Qki76HF
Subsequently , to have more than one Server available, you repeat the steps so far, except that you ignore the further copies of userpass.txt which are downloaded: In the final location, you just require a single appropriately edited text file with the name userpass.txt
For example, to add Frankfurt, Germany to the Severs available to me:
https://imgur.com/PghGGFD
https://imgur.com/fpufnvb
https://imgur.com/mwxeWor
https://imgur.com/gsX7v06
https://imgur.com/ZdI5Igg
Just to recap: The correct location for one correctly edited text file, userpass.txt , and one or more Server config files is a Folder with the name config within the Folder named OpenVPN in the path used in the instillation. ( the two folders, config , and OpenVPN , were created by the OpenVPN Client instillation )
So you should copy the two initial Files and any further config files to that location:
In this example, I have an untypical place, in this a case a few folders down in my desktop
…………………\Desktop\VPN\OpenVPN Client\OpenVPN\config https://imgur.com/qu7i6h5
Finally I should see these files in the config folder ( and also in my initial saved back up location ) :
https://imgur.com/dz2Yq0p
Having firstly only copied the initial two files in the config folder , if I right click on the grey rectangle padlocked symbol in the system try below, I see this: https://imgur.com/gH8vsmL
If I repeat for another Server, say for a Server in Frankfurt, Germany, the set up steps , ( ignoring any more downloaded userpass.txt files ) , then I now see that I have similar extra options for each Server : https://imgur.com/SDw5j7i , https://imgur.com/gdy7PML
You effectively have now the tunnels built and connections ready to be used.
Connecting to a VPN connection: Hiding. “Launch” the “Applet”
This next step is what VPN is all about: being able to “hide” with a few mouse clicks. In order to do that we need to connect up to one of the “tunnel” links which we have set up: The steps up until now have set up the various wiring required to make such a connection to a couple of Servers.
The OpenVPN software application that we are using is a so called “system-tray applet”. Once installed, an OpenVPN icon will normally be present on your desktop, https://imgur.com/rnqaVY3 , and double clicking on it will “start”/”launch” the “Applet” ( If you click once on the desktop item and drag the desktop item towards the Microsoft symbol/ Start button, bottom left, then the icon will also appear in the start menu. You can then click once on the icon there to “launch” the “Applet” , https://imgur.com/rnqaVY3 ).
Once launched, a right click on the small grey padlocked rectangle will show the options.
Click at the desired Server location on “Connect” , https://imgur.com/F9rPyfS
Once the connection has been successfully established, the OpenVPN icon turns green, and you may see for a very short time a small pop up coming from the system tray icon indicating the allocated IP address. ( The IP address shown will likely start with 10. - , IP address in 10.x.x.x private range belongs to Hide.me internal range, which is allocated to you for the current connection that you have made. It is used for internal routing.
To most people, your IP addressee now gives the indication that you are at the Server you chose to “hide behind” ).
For example, connect Frankfurt:
Double click on the OpenVPN desktop icon
Right click on the grey rectangle that appears bottom right in the system tray
Left click on Frankfurt , and then left click on Connect , https://imgur.com/bdgtwBD
A window should come up showing you what is being done in the connect attempt , https://imgur.com/fA5IOBB , and if all has gone well, a small pop up will appear for a short time confirming the connection and showing the IP address allocated to you for internal routing by your provider, https://imgur.com/4I8ceZr
( You can also see the successful connection details if you hover over the green rectangle with the cursor, https://imgur.com/FaEe64Q , https://imgur.com/3iq4MVv )
That is it … you are “hidden” – most people will think that your computer is at the location you chose!
For example, visit any of the internet sites which claim to show you your IP address and physical location , and you should see that they are fooled into thinking you are at a location near the Server that you connected to: https://imgur.com/vA0TGwr
As a last step, I would recommend copying the log information for the first few successful connections. This could be useful to compare with logs later if you have unsuccessful attempts connection.
https://imgur.com/73DiBa9
The information could get a bit a bit difficult to see in a text file: A useful alternative would be to copy the log information to the column of an Excel file. This can be done in a few simple steps,
Open an Excl file, and
Open the text file,
select anywhere in the text file,
and use the Keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+A Ctrl+c , to copy the entire text file to the Clipboard
https://imgur.com/kFUQhkT ,
Select the cell in Excel at which the text file lines should start,
Paste in https://imgur.com/iLu1KTX , https://imgur.com/zHZ2IB3 or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+v
https://imgur.com/XFsHAdM
Save the Excel file https://imgur.com/S08sDmN
Ref
https://kb.wisc.edu/66537vista
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks