OpenVPN Support Forum

Hello,
evrytime I start OpenVPN GUI I get error "There already exists a config file named xxxx.ovpn. You cannot have multiple config files with the..."
This error shows up repeatedly for each config file, so I must click OK 6 times to start program.
My config files are in config folder in location where OpenVPN is installed (not in user profile). There are no files with the same name in other sub-directories. I am running Win 10 x64.
Any suggestion what can cause the problem? It's annoying.

Thanks!

julob wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:41 pm

My config files are in config folder in location where OpenVPN is installed (not in user profile). There are no files with the same name in other sub-directories. I am running Win 10 x64.

The GUI reads all file names in the entire directory tree, including

• subdirectories of \Program Files\OpenVPN\config
• and subdirectories of \Users\$username\OpenVPN\config

You probably have duplicates somewhere there.

Please see:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... ui-prepare

I have no duplicates and no "\Users\$username\OpenVPN\config" directory.
Additional info: openvpn is NOT installed under default (program files) path. I am member of administrators group. I am facing the same problem on another machine (Win7x64)
Any other suggestion?

TinCanTech wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:54 pm

julob wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:41 pm

My config files are in config folder in location where OpenVPN is installed (not in user profile). There are no files with the same name in other sub-directories. I am running Win 10 x64.

The GUI reads all file names in the entire directory tree, including

• subdirectories of \Program Files\OpenVPN\config
• and subdirectories of \Users\$username\OpenVPN\config

You probably have duplicates somewhere there.

Please see:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... ui-prepare

Do you consider this search result (screenshot) as sufficient proof of not having duplicates of config files? https://ibb.co/MGRrc6M

julob wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:00 pm

Any other suggestion?

If you are convinced that you have not made a mistake then report it as a bug.

Encountered the same issue when I was running openvpn-gui as administrator on my Windows 10 Home. There were no real duplications. The only configuration file was placed in Program Files folder.

I'm having the same issue running OpenVPN GUI for Windows 11.20.0.0 64-bit. It seems to be Windows User specific. One User launches the GUI and the error pops up. A different User on the same machine, no error. Same OpenVPN config for both users in c:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config. If/when I click through the error pop-up, no problem connecting to the OpenVPN server.

Same here:

100% NO duplicates (checked twice...)
Win10 Pro
Administrative User
5 .ovpn files -> 5 messages

OpenVPN 2.5.0 (2.5.019 amd64)

Is there already a suitable bug report?

greysun wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:43 pm

100% NO duplicates (checked twice...)

check again ..

greysun wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:43 pm

Is there already a suitable bug report?

Nope .. everybody either found the duplicate or gave up.

Checked it a third time, there is NO duplicate.
There are 5 config files in C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config and of course the sample-configs (sample, client, server).

It worked for years. I did not copy/move any config file.

Updated to 2.5.1, still the same bug.

I saved my config-folder, than I removed OpenVPN completely, I also deleted C:\Program Files\OpenVPN and C:\Users\<myuser>\OpenVPN manually.
After a clean install (2.5.1), OpenVPN told me that there are NO config files.

So I copied one subfolder from my config-backup containing the following files:
xxx.ca.crt
xxx.user.crt
xxx.user.key
xxx.ovpn

I started OpenVPN and it told me, that there are duplicate config-files

Openvpn-GUI for Windows has been thoroughly tested for this problem:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/ticket/1376

Unless and until you can prove otherwise, it is assumed that you have made a mistake.

Wow, this link solved my problem.

I had no duplicate configs.
The user config-dir in the GUI was pointing to the global config-dir.
I'm pretty sure that I did not change it manually, because the warnings appeared immediately after updating OpenVPN (to 2.5.0 iirc).

Even though it should be fixed in v2.5.1 (duplicate config-dirs -> no duplicate configs -> no warnings), I think it is not fixed.

Nevertheless, changing the user config-dir solves the problem.
So, thank you.