OpenVPN Client Configuration on Windwos XP

Requirements

  • A system pre-installed with Windows XP with service pack 1.
  • Internet connectivity with dial-up Modem or through any
    other networking means.

Configuration Steps

  1. Install The Package openvpn-gui on Windows XP.
  2. Copy the file C:\program files\OpenVPN\sample-config\client.ovpn
    to C:\program files\OpenVPN\config\client.ovpn and then add or replace
    following entries in it.


    dev tun
    proto udp
    remote gatekeeper.zodiacmtc.com 1194
    persist-key
    persist-tun
    ca ca.cert
    cert .cert
    key .key
    ns-cert-type server
    tls-auth ta.key 1
    comp-lzo
    tun-mtu 1500

    The phrase <common name of the client system> should be replaced with
    a descriptive name of the system which is used to create the key on server.
    Preferably no space should be present in the common name of the system.
    For example one such name of the system can be "laptop-aan" which describes
    the laptop being used by AAN. In that case the key and cert file to be used
    on the client system can be named as laptop-aan.key and laptop-aan.cert
    respectively. These files along with two other files, namely ca.cert and
    ta.key should be obtained from the server. Without these files, VPN
    connections can't be established. The files other than ta.key and ca.cert
    will have to be created separately for each client system being configured
    for VPN connectivity. Starcom engineer can create and send those files
    whenever a new client system is configured for VPN based access.
    
  3. Copy the ca.cert, ta.key, <common name of the system>.cert and
    <common name of the system>.key files to the configuration directory
    C:\program files\OpenVPN\config.
  4. Then right click on openvpn icon on taskbar, choose and click on connect.
  5. Supply the password which is provided by the person who supplied the key
    files.
  6. A pop-up window show the connection status. Within few seconds, the VPN
    should be up.
  7. In the browser like firefox, set the proxy server setting to the LAN IP
    of the web proxy server. (10.10.10.216 port 8080)
  8. Check any external site after authenticating with the web proxy server and
    check the proxy server logs. It should show the entries for the site being
    accessed over VPN.
  9. Configure e-mail clients like MS Outlook or Thunderbird to connect to the
    mail client on local network and access mails.
  10. If above two steps get completed successfully, the VPN setup is complete.