There are many reasons to install VPN on your home router. First, running VPN on your home router provides a layer of protection to all devices on your network so you don’t need to set up VPN on each device. Second, Apple TV, Fire TV and other media players generally don’t allow you to install VPN on them, so running VPN on your router is often the best option to access restricted content. Finally, most VPN providers allow only three concurrent connections.

By installing VPN on your router instead of each device you bypass this limitation. In this article I’ll show you how to set up an OpenVPN client on an Asus router running Asuswrt-Merlin firmware. (If you want to read my upcoming article about setting up VPN on dd-wrt routers be sure to sign up for my newsletter.) I use an Asus RT-AC68R, which is hands down one of the on the market. Before we set up the OpenVPN client let’s first replace the router’s firmware with the awesome “Asuswrt-Merlin” version. This custom-built firmware offers advanced VPN features that let you configure up to five OpenVPN clients and also offers a “Routing Policy” feature to specify which devices can use VPN and which can’t, a true pro level function. To download the latest Asuswrt-Merlin firmware and instructions. Backup your existing settings before installing the new firmware. Below you’ll find instructions to configure OpenVPN clients for, and proXPN. Instructions.

First, download and save the OpenVPN configuration files (.ovpn) from the VPN provider’s website. Some providers (HideMyAss) offer separate configuration files for connections using TCP or UDP protocols. I almost always use UDP. The difference between UDP and TCP is minor. Here are the links to each provider’s OpenVPN configuration files.

First, the proXPN OpenVPN configuration file: proxpn.ovpn. This file includes all the default settings you need. Second, go to the page, choose an OpenVPN server, and then copy its IP address. Next, edit proxpn.ovpn in a text editor; replace the IP address on the first line with the IP address you copied from the location page.

Then, on the router, import the edited proxpn.ovpn file. Finally, next to Redirect Internet traffic, choose 'All traffic' and click Apply. You can skip the rest of the instructions. Open a web browser and enter the IP address of the router. Once logged in successfully you’ll see the Administrative page, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Asus Rt N12 Ip Address Vpn Proxy For Mac Windows 10

Navigate to Advanced Settings and select VPN OpenVPN Clients. Figure 1-1. Client Control. Underneath the Client control section, right next to the Select client instance option, choose a VPN client instance from the drop down list. Next, click Choose File, select a configuration file you downloaded earlier, and click Upload.

This applies the default settings for you. Next, we’ll go through and fine-tune each setting. Let’s start with changes to the Basic Settings. Basic Settings. Start with WAN: Select Yes if you want the VPN to start automatically when the router boots; select No if you want to manually start the VPN. Interface Type: TUN. Protocol: This setting is pre-selected by the file you imported.

Firewall: Automatic. Server Address and Port: The “Address” and “Port” fields are pre-selected by the file you imported. Authorization Mode: TLS. Username/Password Authentication: Yes. Username: Fill in the username of your VPN account. Password: Fill in the password of your VPN account.

Asus Rt N12 Ip Address Vpn Proxy For Mac Free

Extra HMAC authorization: Disabled. Create NAT on tunnel: Yes. Advanced Settings. Poll Interval: 0. Accept DNS Configuration: Choose Strict to use the provider’s DNS settings; choose Disabled to not use the provider’s DNS settings. Encryption cipher: Default. Compression: Adaptive.

TLS Renegotiation Time: -1. Connection Retry: -1. Verify Server Certificate: No. Redirect Internet traffic: No. Using the “Policy rules” option allows you to specify which devices connect to the Internet through VPN, and which devices connect directly. Custom Configuration.

Figure 1-3 By setting up VPN on your router you’ve added an extra layer of protection for devices connected to your home network. I appreciate all the wonderful feedback. Keep commenting, your support makes this site better!

Q & A Fix for the “routing conflict” error Nov 13, 2015 A couple of readers said they got a “routing conflict” after they made changes to the VPN settings. After testing this issue with IPVanish, PIA and Torguard it seems this problem is exclusive to IPVanish. When disconnecting from the IPVanish server the remote IP address assigned to the router’s WAN interface should be removed automatically, but it isn’t. This causes the “routing conflict” error when you re-connect by toggling the “service state” button, or by clicking the “apply” button. This error shouldn’t interfere with your VPN connection, but it does mess up routing tables, and it’s annoying. I have submitted this issue to – Asuswrt-Merlin FW developer, and IPVanish. I’m hoping to see an official solution soon.

Until there is a solution to this problem you can temporarily fix the “routing conflict” by manually removing the route that should’ve been automatically removed by the VPN server when it disconnected. This manual fix is required each time you disconnect from the VPN server, or after you make changes to the router settings. Here are my brief instructions:. Log into the router using SSH ssh 192.168.1.1. Delete the route associated with the VPN server as shown below (s.s.s.s is the IP address of the VPN server). Ip route delete s.s.s.s Got a question? Post it in our.

We’ll work it out. Thank you very much for the instructions! Running an Asus router with AsusWRT-Merlin (latest version as of writing this) and your instructions for connecting it to Ipvansih are spot on!

Setting all the traffic leaving my router to use the vpn rather then having to set up each and every machine in my house, (voip box, internet connected printer, appletv box, laptop, ipad, iphone, Kodi box, etc.) is a royal pain, not to mention that most of them don’t even support setting up a VPN! Those that do are difficult at best to configure and get to work! I also offer free wifi connections to people visiting, on a separated ssid of course, and by having the router itself connected to my vpn provider, I can protect them as well! This is one of the reasons I support large companies that allow for third party firmware on their devices.

Asus has been a big supporter of open source firmware on their routers and the community hasn’t disappointed. Both is supplying working firmware, thanks AsusWRT-Merlin, and thank you for the documentation on how to connect everything! I have read this, but somehow cannot get it to work on my ASUS RT-AC68U with standard ASUS firmware. I want to be able to connect to my router/LAN via OpenVPN from a hotel room 1,000 miles away so I can use Microsoft Remote Desktop via VPN to connect to one of the computers on the LAN.

I enabled OpenVPN and created a Username/Password and downloaded the config file. Then, I went to the VPN Client tab and created and activated a VPN Client (not sure why is this for my laptop in the remote hotel room?). It asked for the VPN Server config file during the process. Now that both the VPN Server is created and a VPN client is activated, what do I do with my laptop to access the router/LAN via VPN? I just went through both your tutorials for setting up a 2nd router with VPN and this one. I am using PIA and an Asus RT-N12D1 with Asuswrt-Merlin firmware loaded.

I am able to follow all the steps in you guides successfully, but after I set up all the settings on the OpenVPN client page (the.ovpn file, username & pw, and paste the certificate authority) and click apply. I then switch the service state to On and it wont connect. The VPNrouter has internet access and is plugged into another router that is plugged into a cable modem. When I look at the router logs I am seeing this error “openvpn436: ERROR: username from Auth authfile ‘up’ is empty”. Any ideas what the problem is and how to fix it? It sounds like it is not reading my username or something, but I have made sure I am putting in the correct username and PW for my PIA account. Thanks for the guides.

Hi, First, I would like to say thank you very much sharing the knowledge of setting up VPN. You did a superb job educating me the importance of VPN and with your instructions are easy to follow and to understand. I have question. Currently, I have proXPN as my VPN service. I would to know if I can use your setup with proXPN. If you do know how, would you mind help me to setup? I’m having a hard of getting the openVPN list.

Thank you, and I will do my best to pass down your site to other people that I know who would like to setup a VPN on their routers. Thanks, Jarod. I’m having issues with the Routing conflict and am unable to SSH to my router. I am using Putty on my laptop and trying to SSH to my VPN router IP address.

The laptop can connect as I have the router Admin page open on it. Any help connecting so that I can delete the route.

Also in my VPN router when the VPN is turned off I have a TX rate to my fire stick of 30Mbps however when I turn on the IPVanish VPN it goes down to 6 which in turn is causing me all kinds of buffering issues.any advice. Thanks in advance. I am across this site on a google search for tweaking vpn settings. I have a ASUS N66U running the latest version of merlin 380.57.

I messed around with the VPN custom config file for tor-guard. Tor-guard’s default are (below) I changed the MTU to 1500 and the mssfix to 1492 as shown in this article. Is this something that is recommended to do?

Tor-guard default remote-cert-tls server tun-mtu 48000 mssfix 0 fragment 0 sndbuf 393216 rcvbuf 393216 push sndbuf 393216 push rcvbuf 393216 fast-io ping-restart 0 route-delay 2 route-method exe script-security 3 system mute-replay-warnings. I’ve got my VPN client running on my RT-N66, but now how do I see my server behind it? I can get the VPN’s IP address via whatsmyip services or DDNS. I am able to access the FTP server for the flash drive on my router, so it doesn’t look like my VPN provider is all the ports, but except for the FTP server on the router itself, I cannot see anything else. And yes, I have port forwarding set up properly- I am able to see that server without the VPN client running. On the off chance that my VPN provider is blocking some ports, I’ll set the FTP to a different port and set the server to the old FTP port (21), but assuming that’s not the problem then what should I do? Would changing my policy rules allow incoming connections from my ISP to get routed correctly?

I guess that’s something else I could try. Nonetheless, I’d prefer to have my server accessible via the VPN and not through my ISP.

Thanks for the great tutorial. I am not well skilled in these things but the tutorial was great! One question I had was once I have IPVanish installed on the router, is there a way to have it search for the fastest connection or just use US IP addresses since I am in the US? I ask because I have been on an IP address in Albania for 2 days and it sometimes slows to a crawl?

Also for some reason I can’t access the router with Putty on port 22. I did receive a connection conflict yesterday but all is well today so far.

It is not working yet. I contacted their help support. They said it was better to try with the IP address directly instead of hostname and to try few differents port, those below: I’ve tried 209.95.50.87 (New York server) with each one of those: UDP 9201, 1194, 8080, 53 TCP 80, 110, 443 still getting same error, as: for UDP: openvpn8046: write UDPv4: Network is unreachable (code=101) for TCP: openvpn8108: TCP: connect to AFINET209.95.50.87:80 failed, will try again in 5 seconds: Network is unreachable Now they said I need to try each IP address linked to the hostname with port too there are 13 of them + combination with the port number. Will take some time to do it. I am wondering, maybe it’s a network problem on my side that I have.

My router connected to my computer is connected to another one, I don’t know if it can make trouble? So right now: modem = router 1 in WAN port = LAN port of router 1 = LAN port of router 2. I am no expert in network maybe this way to do it is not good. You may wonder why I have two router I got a router in one building (the one that have the modem) and another one in another building. I tried their Windows little software to connect to the VPN, it works correctly. I wanted to make the router works because it would be less painfull with other connected devices and even those not supported by app or something. Thanks for support.

I’m trying to set up two routers to VPN one of them using your guide at I think I got through most of it (aside from #6 Under the “Administration” menu, enable the “Allow web access from WAN” – I don’t see this option anywhere), but setting up the VPN on the TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 Wireless N600 Dual Band Router you recommended has me baffled. I have no technical knowledge of these things and I can’t find anything online. I’ll be using a Linksys E2500 as the internet router and the TPLink as the VPN router. I’m stuck at step 2 on this guide.

I don’t see anything labelled VPN in this TP Link routers settings. Hello I have Asus Merlin 374.432 running on my RT-AC68U. With this my wifi signal is the best, and I don’t want to change it. I have as my VPN I downloaded the openvpn config from them for the Miami gateway, since I am in Miami and it’s closer Followed the steps above and it looks like it is on but it’s not, or nothing is going thru the VPN client The OpenVPN Client1 shows running BUT nothing is going thru the VPN Everything just shows ZERO So can you help me with this please. Thank you philmiami. Im working on trying to get the PIA VPN up and running on an Asus RT-68R running Merlin Firmware 378.56.2.

The Basic WAN settings are mostly default with the exception of UPnP being active and selecting my own DNS servers as opposed to those supplied by the ISP. IPv6 is disabled, etc.

I have followed this guide to a “T” with no luck on getting the VPN to connect. Instead, in the logs, I get the following errors when attempting to connect: Dec 5 12:38:39 openvpn-routing: Refreshing policy rules for client 1 Dec 5 12:38:39 openvpn-routing: Allow WAN access to all VPN clients Dec 5 12:38:39 openvpn-routing: Refreshing policy rules for client 2 Dec 5 12:38:39 openvpn-routing: Allow WAN access to all VPN clients Dec 5 12:38:39 rcservice: udhcpc 3590:notifyrc startvpnclient1 Dec 5 12:38:39 dhcp client: bound xx.xx.xx.xx via xx.xx.xx.xx during 3600 seconds. Dec 5 12:38:42 openvpn3736: Options error: Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in config.ovpn:20: tls-remote (2.3.8) Dec 5 12:38:42 openvpn3736: Use –help for more information. Dec 5 12:38:42 dnsmasq3772: warning: interface ppp1. does not currently exist Dec 5 12:40:57 rcservice: httpd 3389:notifyrc startvpnclient1 Dec 5 12:40:59 openvpn3788: Options error: Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in config.ovpn:20: tls-remote (2.3.8) Dec 5 12:40:59 openvpn3788: Use –help for more information. Dec 5 12:41:00 dnsmasq3826: warning: interface ppp1.

does not currently exist According to PIA website, the dnsmasq parameters usually get set when using DD-WRT firmware on routers running it. However, it doesnt appear that these options are able to be manipulated via the Merlin GUI. Anyone have any ideas? PIA DD-WRT link: Asus Merlin dmasq WiKi: Thanks ahead of time for anyone that might be able to assist. Hi William I updated my router with the Asuswrt-Merlin software and followed your instructions in setting up an OpenVPN client using my ipvanish account. On initial setup it worked fine however when I switched the ‘Service state’ from on to off and then on again, a message pops up saying ‘Error – Router conflict!

The same message appears when I change the ‘redirect internet traffic’ from All traffic to No. The only way that I can reconnect back to my OpenVPN client is by resetting the modem which is very frustrating. The reason I switch from VPN to standard ISP connection is that I don’t want certain devices in my home using the VPN and also using the VPN slows down the internet as I have a standard DSL connection. I reside in Australia and recently have purchased a Roku 4 to test my VPN however will not be able to if my router VPN keeps dropping off.

I am also having problems with my wifi on my HTC one M7 (Android Phone) when my VPN option is switched on in my router. All other devices seem to work well. The phone connects to my wifi signals both (2.4 and 5 ghz) however does not connect to the net or anything online. Why is it doing that? My router is a RT-AC68U and internet provided via a DSL modem. Please help 🙁 Thanks.

Glad you brought that up Lal -as I just setup IPVanish on the same router (RT-AC68U connected with an external DSL modem) – setup went through perfectly due to the excellent guide on this site and all of my devices function well – the only problem I’m having is the same as yours – if I turn off “redirect internet traffic” (to compare speeds etc) then when I switch it back to all, the router will not connect to the VPN again without a reboot. I am currently on Merlin’s latest 378.562 stable firmware and have no other problems aside from this – I can live with it but it’s also picking threads out of my normally passive OCD 😉. I also am a newbie not just on vpn but on networking as well. However I try to muddle along.

I was running ipVanish on individual computers. I have now installed it, using your wonderful clear instructions, on my RT AC87U router. I have internet access on the router, VPN client is running as shown, and I can get on the internet on all computers except the Windows 10 one that I used to install on the router. I keep getting the message that my DNS settings are wrong. Does anyone know how to resolve this problem?

Should I uninstall ipVanish from this computer? New question. Can I hook up more than 1 router to my modem? I have several routers including an RT AC68U. My modem has 4 ports so it seems to me I should be able to hook up 4 routers but I don’t know if I can. If possible, I would like a second one that will be less accessible by others in the office. Thanks for any help.

Ditto Grant & rob m – I too see the same issue on RT-N10P where it doesn’t appear that the VPN settings completely save. After hitting Apply the PIA username and password disappear. Also the certificate authority disappears (sometimes). Also the custom configuration keeps disappearing. I tried uploading the.opvn files from PIA.

It looks like some of those settings tend to “stick” like user address and the custom configuration, but others do not (username, password, redirect traffic, etc.) Using latest firmware (pre-mod 8-2). I will need to flash Tomato soon if I can’t get this resolved. Hi there, I want to set up my open VPN (I’m using private internet access) to where it is ONLY connected to one port on my router. So, I have 4 ethernet ports, and for example, I only want port 1 to have access to the VPN, so when I plug in my laptop to port 1 it will be running off the VPN connection only. Is this possible to do with the merlin firmware?

Obviously I don’t want the wireless to be connected to the VPN or any other connections to my router, just port 1. Please let me know 🙂 Thomas.

I see you are using Merlin. In previous comments you stated that this will work on the RT-AC87R/U also. However, I have the AC87R and the configuration screens are very different then what you show. I follow the config as close as possible (login creds, server name, load config file for server in question and add the hash. ) The stock firmware (Non-DD-WRT nor Merlin, updated to 3.0.0.4.3786117) shows the VPN up and connected however, the IP reporting back to me is the same as non-VPN IP (Using your site or IPCow). Message to Ben.

Yes, you can install IPVanish on a DSL-AC68U. I have just installed it on a DSL-AC68R: 1) Go to IPVanish software support site and download two files: a) Certificate file: ca.ipvanish.com.crt b) openVPN file for the server you are planning to use, eg. Ipvanish-US-LAX-a01.ovpn 2) On your modem, go to VPN, VPN Client, Add Profile. 3) Enter any name, your login details and load the ovpn file. 4) Select to upload the certificate and upload the.crt file 5) Click Save and Activate. That should be it 🙂. I am a VPN newbie who just signed up for IP Vanish.

I have a Netgear WNR 3500 running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (8/12/10) mega. It supports open VPN; however, the DD-WRT configuration instructions provided by IP Vanish do not match up with the settings available on my router. Any advice on where I could begin to educate myself on how to configure my router? Alternatively, I am considering purchasing an ASUS RT-AC66R and loading with DD-WRT. IP Vanish sells this model on its website, pre-loaded with DD-WRT.

I am assuming I could load the same version of DD-WRT on one purchased elsewhere and configure it using their guide. I appreciate any feedback. Your articles are very written for novices like myself. I would like to do the same thing as Robert asked (How can I make specific devices use IPVanish’s VPN which others devices default to non-VPN?). Would you be open to helping us with an step-by-step article showing how to do this with an ASUS RT-N66U router, running the latest Asuswrt-Merlin firmware? I do not have two routers but I do have a Roku3 and an Amazon Fire TV.

These I would like to run on a wireless VPN tunnel connection and my home computers on my ISP’s standard connection. Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

I should clarify my request a bit. I have seen some fairly confusing posts elsewhere approaching the problem through exclusions to the VPN. For my needs ( a couple of Fire TVs running Kodi) I would think that approach would be inefficient as I have many more computers, iphones, ipads, etc that do not have fixed IP addresses. I was thinking that specifying the two Fire TV IP addresses (or even better their MAC addresses) that need to be routed through the IPVanish VPN would be more efficient and easier to maintain. In addition, I would like to learn how to block outbound traffic from theses devices to specific domains to avoid unwanted software updates from taking place. It turns out that one of the domain names is 2 characters too long to block it from within the firmware UI (I suspect its a bug in the firmware UI). I would be ever so grateful for one of your step-by-step tutorials on these two topics.

I imagine there are many more folks who would be as well. Again, thank you! Great question!

If you install IPVanish on the router you protect all devices that use that router, because all outgoing connection are going through the secure tunnel to IPVanish’s VPN server. You can also use the ASUS router as a VPN server for “incoming” connections, for example if you want to connect to your home network from a laptop while you are traveling. For that to work you need to install a VPN client on your laptop or mobile device (Tunnelblick for example) that will then connect to your ASUS router. You should be able to run both at the same time, so if you wanted to access the Internet via your home router, it should still route your requests via IPVanish.

However, if you already have an IPVanish subscription, it would certainly be faster to simply install IPVanish on your laptop or mobile and use it directly 😉.