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Forum Discussion
Retired_Member
Nov 06, 2017Nighthawk r7500 vpn setup
I'm new to VPN but learn quickly. I'm trying to setup VPN on my router for a layer of security for my home. I am getting error messeges with openVPN. Following the instructions on the router, many for...
- Retired_MemberNov 08, 2017
After reading a LOT of information I decided to sell my R7500 and buy a R7000P I flashed it with DD-WRT and was done in about an hour... Super easy. I'm not sure why Netgear does not have more functionality built in the standard interface. Thank you all for the replies.
Retired_Member
Nov 07, 2017I am setting this up on a PC connected to the router in hopes to have the entire network using the VPN tunnel. I am on Win 10 and have performed these steps to a tee:
Step 1: Select the Enable VPN Service check box and click the Apply button.
Step 2: Download the client utility from http://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html and install it on the devices where you want to run the VPN client.
Currently IOS and Android clients are not supported.
Step 3:
Click the proper button below to download the configuration files for your VPN clients.
For Windows For non-Windows
Step 4: Unzip the configuration files you have just downloaded and copy them to the folder where the VPN client is installed on your devices. For a client device with Windows 64-bit system, the VPN client is installed at "C:\Program files\OpenVPN\config" by default.
Step 5: For a client device with Windows, you need to modify the VPN interface name to "NETGEAR-VPN". The VPN interface usually has a Device Name as "TAP-Windows Adapter".
Step 6: Client utility must be installed and run by a user who has administrative privileges.
Step 7: For help connecting using OpenVPN clients, please refer to http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html#quick
Note: if you want to make any change in Advanced Configurations section, please make the changes before you download the configuration files in Step 3.
Advanced Configurations
Service Type UDP TCP
Service Port
12974
Clients will use this VPN connection to access _Auto _X_ All sites on the Internet & Home _Network Home Network only
At this point I have the following installed in the OpenVPN config dir:
ca.crt
client.crt
client.key
client.ovpn
I run the gui interface with admin privs and get this message every time:
Mon Nov 06 22:45:30 2017 WARNING: No server certificate verification method has been enabled. See http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm for more info.
I am just trying to set this up as a client letting the server do it's thing. What am I missing here?
bripab007
Nov 08, 2017Tutor
I believe the Windows VPN client needs to be TAP, so you have the VPN server set to TAP on the router, right?
Searching that error seems to bring up a host of different problems/suggestions on the web.
One thing you could try is using a consolidated .ovpn file that contains all the necessary certificates embedded inline in the body. I've had good luck with those, rather than the separate client, server, certificat authority, key, etc. cert files. http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.network.openvpn.user/32469
- Retired_MemberNov 08, 2017
After reading a LOT of information I decided to sell my R7500 and buy a R7000P I flashed it with DD-WRT and was done in about an hour... Super easy. I'm not sure why Netgear does not have more functionality built in the standard interface. Thank you all for the replies.
- bripab007Nov 08, 2017Tutor
That's funny you mention that--I had a 7000 running stock Netgear FW and had no problem setting up and using its VPN server either. Since getting my 7500, I set up the primary VPN on that, then flashed DD-WRT on my 7000 to use it as a wireless repeater bridge and set up a secondary VPN on that.
While the VPN was relatively easy to get working on DD-WRT initially, I found it was not redirecting web traffic through the VPN. I had to do a bit of research and mucking around to get it to redirect all traffic (both LAN and WAN) through the VPN, unlike Netgear's implementation that just worked. So you might want to make sure your web traffic is going through the VPN properly.
- Retired_MemberNov 08, 2017Good info, I'll check into that.