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Personal VPN - OpenVPN and Windows
Vista 32 and 64
OpenVPN will run
properly on Windows Vista with a few tweaks. There is a difference
between the 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista. Older versions of
OpenVPN that run on Windows XP will usually work on Vista 32.
However, for maximum compatibility, the latest version of OpenVPN
(currently version 2.1) should be used. In addition to being fully
compatible with both Windows 32 and Windows 64, it also includes
several new features that are worth having.
The biggest problem
with Vista and OpenVPN is one of administrator rights. In trying to
protect Vista from malicious software, a new feature called 'UAC' has
been added. It prevents software from launching with administrator
privileges even if you are logged in as the administrator. This feature
can affect your ability to successfully run OpenVPN, in a few ways. Upon
installation of the software, it can prevent proper installation of
the TAP driver -- which is essential to OpenVPN. Even if installed with
administrator rights, it can prevent the software from obtaining
enough rights to create a connection. A typical error often seen in
the OpenVPN log when using Vista often looks something like this:
Mon May 19 18:44:45
2008 Route addition via IPAPI failed [adaptive]
Mon May 19 18:44:45 2008 Route addition fallback to route.exe
The requested operation requires elevation.
This error is telling
the user that the application does not have enough rights to add the
route.
The solution to all
problems regarding OpenVPN and Vista can be resolved by following
the steps below:
1) Use OpenVPN
version 2.1 or later
2) When installing
OpenVPN on Vista, always right click on the file and use the "install
as admin" option.
3) Always right click
and run OpenVPN as administrator.
Different versions of
Vista sometimes behave differently and, with the installation of
updates, sometimes change. In some cases, OpenVPN works fine for a
while and then stops working due to a change in Vista. In cases
where right clicking does not solve the issue, you can set the UAC to
allow software to run as administrator by default.
--Open the "Control
Panel".
--Under "User Account and Family" settings click "Add or remove user account".
--Click on your user account.
--Click on "Go to the main User Account page".
--Under "Make changes to your user account" click on
"Change security settings".
--Under "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your
computer more secure" click to unselect the "Use User
Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer".
Click on the Ok button.
--You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when
ready. |
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