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Windows Installer should set IPEnableRouter registry flag

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:14 pm
by drueter
When installing OpenVPN on Windows to run as a server, often the user wants to use OpenVPN to route packets from remote VPN clients to the network.

However, Windows by default has packet forwarding disabled.

This means that the user must manually make a somewhat obscure registry change before a OpenVPN server on Windows can be used to allow remote VPN clients to access the network (which again, seems to be to be a common use case).

Please consider having the Windows installer set this registry flag by default...or at least as an option. Alternatively, if there are good reasons not to do so, there should be more prominent documentation about this flag often needing to be set.

Here is Microsoft information on this flag: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previo ... echnet.10)

Mention of this is made to this in the Wiki, but it is not prominent. (At least not prominent enough to have prevented me for getting stuck for several hours yesterday ;) )

https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... forwarding
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... ote-subnet

Re: Windows Installer should set IPEnableRouter registry flag

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:20 pm
by TinCanTech
If you want it then join the developers and write a patch for it.

Your patch will be discussed and, if it is deemed to be appropriate, it will be added.

But .. I tried the same idea once for Linux and was told that it is not appropriate.