Installation Instructions for OpenVPN GUI for Windows

OpenVPN-GUI has been bundled with OpenVPN installers for a long time, so there is rarely a need to install it separately. Bleeding-edge versions of OpenVPN-GUI are available in OpenVPN snapshot installers based on Git master branch. OpenVPN-GUI gets installed by default in all OpenVPN installers.

Installation using the official OpenVPN installers

• Download an OpenVPN installer
• If you have a previous version of OpenVPN GUI running, shut it down. Make sure it's closed by ALL logged on users.
• Run the OpenVPN installer

Manual installation of OpenVPN GUI

• Download and install OpenVPN
• Download OpenVPN GUI of your choice and save it in OpenVPN's bin folder. Default is C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\. You must put it in this folder because OpenVPN GUI depends on the OpenSSL DLLs installed in this folder by OpenVPN.

Configuring OpenVPN GUI to start on Windows logon

OpenVPN GUI can be configured to start automatically on logon to Windows from its setting menu.

Adding an OpenVPN configuration file

To launch a VPN connections using OpenVPN GUI you need to add an OpenVPN configuration file with .ovpn suffix. Any text editor (e.g. notepad.exe) can be used to create a OpenVPN configuration files. Note that log and log-append options are ignored as OpenVPN GUI redirects the normal output to a log file itself. There are sample config files in the sample-config folder. Please refer to the OpenVPN project homepage for more information regarding creating the configuration file.

Once the configuration file is ready, you need to let OpenVPN GUI know about it. There are three ways to do this:

• Place the file into the system-wide location, usually C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\, or any of its immediate subdirectories. This VPN connection will be visible for all users of the system.
• Place the file into C:\Users\username\OpenVPN\config\, or any of its immediated subdirectories. The configuration file is only visible for the user in question.
• Use the "Import file" function in OpenVPN GUI itself

Using OpenVPN GUI

When OpenVPN GUI is started your OpenVPN config folders (C:\Users\username\OpenVPN\config and C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config) will be scanned for .ovpn files and the OpenVPN GUI icon will appear in the system tray. Each OpenVPN configuration file shows up as a separate menu item in the OpenVPN GUI tray, allowing you to selectively connect to and disconnect to your VPNs. The config dir will be re-scanned for new config files every time you open the OpenVPN GUI menu by right-clicking the icon.

When you choose to connect to a site OpenVPN GUI will launch openvpn with the specified config file. If you use a passphrase protected key you will be prompted for the passphrase.

If you want OpenVPN GUI to start a connection automatically when it's started, you can use the --connect cmd-line option. You have to include the extention for the config file. Example:

openvpn-gui --connect office.ovpn

To get help with OpenVPN GUI please use one of the official OpenVPN support channels.

Running OpenVPN GUI as a Non-Admin user

OpenVPN 2.3.x and earlier bundle an OpenVPN GUI version (< 11) which has to be run as admin for two reasons

• OpenVPN GUI registry keys are stored in system-wide location under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and they are generated when OpenVPN GUI was launched the first time
• OpenVPN itself requires admin-level privileges to modify network settings

OpenVPN GUI 11 and later can make full use of the Interactive Service functionality in recent versions of OpenVPN. This changes a number of things:

• OpenVPN GUI can store its settings in user-specific part of the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• OpenVPN is able to delegate certain privileged operations, such as adding routes, to the Interactive service, removing the need to run OpenVPN with admin privileges. Note that for this to work the OpenVPNServiceInteractive system service has to be enabled and running.

Run Connect/Disconnect/Preconnect Scripts

There are three different scripts that OpenVPN GUI can execute to help with different tasks like mapping network drives.

Preconnect If a file named "xxx_pre.bat" exist in the config folder

where xxx is the same as your OpenVPN config file name, this will be executed BEFORE the OpenVPN tunnel is established.

Connect If a file named "xxx_up.bat" exist in the config folder

where xxx is the same as your OpenVPN config file name, this will be executed AFTER the OpenVPN tunnel is established.

Disconnect If a file named "xxx_down.bat" exist in the config folder

where xxx is the same as your OpenVPN config file name, this will be executed BEFORE the OpenVPN tunnel is closed.

Registry Values affecting the OpenVPN GUI operation

Parameters taken from the global registry values in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenVPN\ key

config_dir

The global configuration file directory. Defaults to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config

exe_path

path to openvpn.exe, defaults to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn.exe

priority

the windows priority class for each instantiated OpenVPN process, can be one of:

• IDLE_PRIORITY_CLASS
• BELOW_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS
• NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS (default)
• ABOVE_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS
• HIGH_PRIORITY_CLASS

ovpn_admin_group

The windows group whose membership allows the user to start any configuration file in their profile (not just those installed by the administrator in the global config directory). Default: "OpenVPN Administrators".

All other OpenVPN GUI registry values are located below the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OpenVPN-GUI\ key

The following keys are used to control the OpenVPN GUI

config_dir

The user-specific configuration file directory: defaults to C:\Users\username\OpenVPN\config. The GUI parses this directory for configuration files before parsing the global config_dir.

config_ext

file extension on configuration files, defaults to ovpn

connectscript_timeout

Time in seconds to wait for the connect script to finish. If set to 0 the exitcode of the script is not checked.

disconnectscript_timeout

Time in seconds to wait for the disconnect script to finish. Must be a value between 1-99.

preconnectscript_timeout

Time in seconds to wait for the preconnect script to finish. Must be a value between 1-99.

log_dir

log file directory, defaults to C:\Users\username\OpenVPN\log

log_append

if set to "0", the log file will be truncated every time you start a connection. If set to "1", the log will be appended to the log file.

silent_connection

If set to "1", the status window with the OpenVPN log output will not be showed while connecting.

service_only

If set to "1", OpenVPN GUI's normal "Connect" and "Disconnect" actions are changed so they start/stop the OpenVPN service instead of launching openvpn.exe directly.

show_balloon

0: Never show any connected balloon

1: Show balloon after initial connection is established

2: Show balloon even after re-connects

All of these registry options are also available as cmd-line options. Use "openvpn-gui --help" for more info about cmd-line options.

Building OpenVPN GUI from source

See BUILD.rst for build instructions.