Leaving for China.. want to set up VPN at home first!

[Yakisoba]

Hey guys,

Hope you can help me out a bit here... I'm leaving for China in September and will likely be there for quite some time... I have a PC at home (Canada) that's pretty much always online. I want to set up a VPN on it so that when I'm in China, I can login with my laptop and still access gmail, google, etc.

The catch is that I am not really a big techie person, but I can follow instructions pretty well... would openVPN be my best option to get this sorted out?

Or is there something else you would recommend I do to get the same result?

Thank you kindly!

[Bebop]

The catch is that I am not really a big techie person

.

Example of a working OpenVPN setup here: topic7806.html

It's for a Windows 7 PC. The Windows XP example is not much different.

This might be your best option so long as China is allowing access to the OpenVPN port / protocol.

I can only imagine your other options might be to install: Proxy server, VNC, or IPSEC vpn. All would have their + and - points.

Since you said the PC is online 'most' of the time, the challenge you might need to tackle first is to get OpenVPN server to come up automatically after a PC restart. That piece of info is not included in the example.

Read over the example I provided and see if it's not too techie for you (I think you can do it :] ).

ps.

I just thought of another caveat with this solution. At the moment the example above is relying on Google DNS being pushed to the client. So, effectively it will work only so far as Google DNS is available in China. The easy solution is just to replace Google DNS with a DNS that does indeed work in China (research required on your part).

[Yakisoba]

Hey Bebop,

Thanks for your reply. I tried to read the guide but I must say I am still confused... haha

So the PC at home is on WinXP, and my laptop is Win7. I need to go and install/configure OpenVPN on the PC at home first right?

I don't need to worry about reboots and stuff as my family members will still be at home. As long as the PC is on, I want to just connect to it anytime I want.

Will I need to sort out anything with the router we have? Oh boy I'm terrified I wish there was a simpler method that is noob-friendly

Any basic steps to get going are much appreciated!!

[Bebop]

PC at home is on WinXP

topic7815.html <-- the XP guide is there.

I need to go and install/configure OpenVPN on the PC at home first right?

Yes indeed.

Will I need to sort out anything with the router we have?

Open/forward port 1194 (UDP)

I wish there was a simpler method that is noob-friendly

Windows Remote Assistance or UltraVNC might be two simple alternatives worth investigating further. Both may be simpler / more successful for you.

PS.

If your home PC doesn't have a static IP (eg: if the IP changes from time to time), you might want to install DynDNS on your home PC, so you can avoid relying on family to tell you if/when the IP changes.

[g725s]

I'm a newbie but I'd suggest that you look over these tutorials for ideas on basic OpenVPN setup.


http://www.howtogeek.com/60774/connect- ... nd-tomato/
or
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/ar ... Part-1.htm
and
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/ar ... Part-2.htm