I’ve used openvpn for years on Linux. I recently tried to set it up on a relative’s windows 10 PC. I downloaded it and installed it, staged the config files and certs, and started the vpn.
A console came up, showing the connection coming up, until the final line, where it crashed and burned, saying that windows couldn’t find the tap device.
A google search quickly showed that to be a very common issue, and many different proposed solutions, but nothing working 100%.
Edit: SOLVED. The vpn connection is now working, after deleting the tap device, reinstalling it, and renaming it to match the entry in the config file.
I’m not a windows guy, but I’d hoped it would be a slam dunk to set this up. If anyone has gotten openvpn client working on windows 10, could you share the secret of your success?
At risk is stating something you already know, the “tap device” is just a virtual network adapter that OpenVPN uses on Windows. (I personally find the name of this thing as little confusing since it is used for both tun and tap… but whatever)
At any rate, when you look at Window’s network adapters, the tap device should be there. If it isn’t, you typically just need to install it. It should be obtainable via the OpenVPN client install file.
If it is already listed in the network adapters, I’d uninstall and reinstall it.
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We use OVPN in our orginization… All of our clients are Windows 10 and I can’t say I’ve seen this issue… Just confirming, which version of the client are you currently on? I assume it’s the latest but build numbers help.
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[SOLVED]
Removed tap device, reinstalled, and renamed it’s entry from “local connection 3” to “MyTap” to match the example entry in the config file:
dev-node MyTap
Just out of curiosity, what was the name of your tsp adapter? I looked in the device properties, and tried every name I saw there.
I’m not in front of the computer now, but one of the names was tap091, another was something like \NET\0000, and there was another name, none of them worked.
openvpn-install-2.4.8-I602-Win10.exe
I installed openvpn-install-2.4.8-I602-Win10.exe
I installed the client.ovpn file, as well as the ca.crt, ta.key and client.key (If they aren’t all required, that’s fine, but they’re all there.
(Setting up this server was my first time trying the new way of doing things, so I erred on the side of including too much. Up to now, I’d done everything the old way, using tun and a different port for each client. That said, the Linux clients I set up to test all worked perfectly, with the same setup, so it looks like everything is right, all except for the issue with the tap device.)
In any case, all the steps went fine, and the console window appeared, with messages about the connection status. Then it crashed with a complaint that windows could not find the tap device,
I tried every name I could find for the tap device in the device manager, but none of them worked.
Just out of curiosity, what was the name of your tsp adapter?
https://imgur.com/a/xW5Bao5
I tried every name I saw there.
What do you mean by this? Where are you making this change? It’s name should have no affect on your config files. Regardless of it’s name, you’re still going to use “dev tun0” in the config file.
What I mean is, what dev name to put in the config file.
“dev tun0” would be the linux entry, for a tun based vpn.
For windows, the docs indicate that one would use “dev-node” and the default entry in the config file says “dev-node MyTap”
I use “dev tun0” in my Windows, Linux, and Android OpenVPN configs without issue. I’ve never made a connection using TAP so I cannot speak to that. Are you trying to connect using TAP, or no?
of course, following the guide, I specified tap.
This is the first I’ve heard of anyone using tun in windows.
I’ll give it a shot, anything is worth a try at this point.
I’m not familiar with the guide you used. But again, I find it confusing myself since the “TAP device” on Windows is used for TUN or TAP connections. I really wish they would just name it something without using the words TUN or TAP. There might actually be a reason for this, but I am not aware of it. Anyway, I’ve digressed…
I’m pretty sure the guide was something I got to by following links from openvpn.net. In any case, tun and tap are 2 very different things on Linux.
But, I got it working on windows, after trying one of the fixes I’ve seen mentioned more than once: i deleted the tap device, and reinstalled it.
Then I searched for it in the control panel and it was named something like “local connection 3”. I re-named it to “MyTap” for drill, just to match the examples, and then vpn connection then came up successfully when started.
I’ll try it with tun on another windows box, just for kicks.