I’ve setup the VPN server and can remotely connect to my Synology NAS using OpenVPN. My goal was to access a PC on the same network using Windows Remote Desktop. Unfortunately while Remote Desktop works locally it can’t detect the remote computer if I connect remotely using the VPN on the NAS… I can’t see the shared folders either. I’m guessing some kind of firewall issue maybe?
I’m desperate to get this working since I’m going away tomorrow… I had tried trailscale earlier and had the same issue. I though the Synology route would solve it.
You need to add the vpn subnet route to the subnet your PC is on into the firewall. Or put the static route in your Synology might work too.
First of all, make sure that you allowed access to your LAN through the VPN, by default this is off.
If you configured the DSM firewall, turn it off momentarily to check if this is causing the issue.
Finally, you need to connect using IP addresses, not the host names.
Tailscale is much easier, I am using it on my 1621+ and then route it to my other devices on the network, nothing can be easier than that!
It’s a bit over my head. Is there a resource you could point me to? I don’t seem to be able to access anything outside of the NAS. I did check the OpenVPN setup box to allow clients to access server’s LAN. I feel I’m close…
I’ve looked into my router and cannot find a setting for static route. I do see one on the NAS but I’m not sure that’s where this would need to be setup and how. I wish I knew setting up the VPN would take longer than the YouTube video I watched made me believe… I was told that using the Synology as a VPN server was the way to go…. And now I’m heading to the airport in a few hours and I’m starting to think I’ll be unable to Remote Desktop remotely. I’m still hoping to get this sorted out… should be able to use teamviewer if needed.
I’ve tried these already and had no luck. All I seem to be able to access is the NAS.
Thanks to you all. The funny part here is that I had done some reading before trying to set this up and had actually gone the tailscale way first. Tailscale was so easy, I had no issues connecting… but I spent a 1/2 day trying to get RDP working with no luck. Tailscale connected but Remote Desktop would never find the host. RDP works great on local network but couldn’t find the computer name (or IP) of the host with tailscale even though all devices show as connected. I can’t remember what made me give up… maybe that could not even ping the host when I tried?… perhaps my ISP router was messing something up. I then watched a few of the OpenVPN/Synology videos and it looked easy enough… steps were the same for all videos… so decided that would be the way for now… and here I am.
All this makes me wonder what might be the best resource out there that could teach me enough about networking to be able to have what would feel like an intelligent conversation with almost anyone here… I know some basics, I can easily follow along YouTube videos or step by step guides without screwing up…. But when something breaks…. I’m way over my head. I’ve learned a bunch here… but it is certainly not enough yet. This time I’m starting to think I’ll have to start from scratch… one day… and should probably forget about remote RDP for now.
I still appreciate everyone’s comments here, thanks for taking the time.
YouTube has a number of videos covering most Synology topics. I would search “Synology VPN” and check out a few videos on VPN setup.
Thanks, I must have watched 30 already and haven’t found a solution. I have followed along two of them for setting things up and it works for accessing the NAS. I just can’t seem to reach anything else