OpenVPN Support Forum

I use the provider http://strongvpn.com which uses both PPTP/L2TP and OpenVPN; I'm running OpenVPN 2.2.1 from http://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/r ... nstall.exe

A) StrongVPN - VPN works
---------------------------------
I download and installed the OpenVPN software on my Windows 7 laptop and set up the configuration to use port 443 over TCP. Everything is working great, I right-click on the OpenVPN system tray icon and choose "Connect" - after a few seconds I'm connected and I get a US IP - I can access all services and sites from my laptop without problems.

Now - I disconnect from OpenVPN -

B) Ad Hoc wireless network bridged to LAN connection works
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections I have setup a bridge between my 'Local Area Connection' and my 'Wireless Network Connection' as described here - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind … ork-bridge

I also setup an ad hoc network as described here - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind … oc-network
Now I can connect my phone to the ad hoc network and use the Windows 7 lan connection from my laptop to access web sites and services.

I can for example open Safari on my iPhone and browse the Internet. This is very useful, since sometimes the places I go to do not have a wireless network, so my laptop acts as a 'wifi hotspot' for my other devices.

C) The issue
----------------
My problem is that I can't get A and B working at the same time. I can right-click on OpenVPN and choose 'Connect' - but when I connect my phone to the ad hoc wireless network - it connects, but when I open Safari I cannot access any pages.

Under "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections", I have three adapters -

'Local Area Connection' (my ethernet adapter)
'Local Area Connection (2)' (the OpenVPN Tap adapter)
'Wireless Network' (my wireless adapter)

I have tried -
1) Creating a bridge between the 'Local Area Connection' (my ethernet card) and the 'Wireless Network'.
2) Creating a bridge between the 'Local Area Connection (2)' (the OpenVPN Tap adapter) and the 'Wireless Network'.
3) Creating a bridge between the 'Local Area Connection' (my ethernet card), the 'Local Area Connection (2)' (the OpenVPN Tap adapter), and the 'Wireless Network'.

Unfortunately nothing has worked - as soon as I right-click on OpenVPN and choose 'Connect', when I connect my phone to the ad hoc wireless network - it connects, but when I open Safari I cannot access any pages.

Is there a way to get this working?
What am I missing?

Can someone help?
Am I the first one to ask this question?

I'm sure someone from the community has an idea on how make a bridge between a wireless adapter and the TAP adapter from OpenVPN - so it works on Windows 7.

Ok, I figured it out - I gave up on the bridging and found another way. Here are my notes if anyone is looking to do the same -

Making your Windows 7 Laptop a Wifi hotspot
that uses the VPN outbound connection
-------------------------------------------

Your Windows 7 machines can become a wifi access-point, routing the connections over Ethernet or even over a client station connection on the same wifi adapter. Here is simple guide on how to create/setup Virtual Wifi on Windows 7 -

start > cmd > right-click > 'run as administrator'
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=hostedwifi key=MakeUpYourOwnKey123
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
(to stop 'netsh wlan stop hostednetwork')

To give devices connected to the 'hostedwifi' access to the internet through the OpenVPN TAP adapter -

Start the OpenVPN client, right-click > connect - open a browser to http://www.whatismyip.com/, verify you have a VPN IP
Start > Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center
"Open VPN Tap Adapter" (or whatever it's called 'Local Area Connection (2)' sometimes by default) > properties > sharing > Internet Connection Sharing - check "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" > Home network connection: "Wireless Network Connection"

Now on your iPhone (or any other device) > Settings > Wi-Fi > hostedwifi (enter key MakeUpYourOwnKey123) - that's it! Your mobile device is now connecting to the Internet through the VPN.

Similarly, you could just share your through your "Local Area Connection" (LAN/ethernet) connection or your existing "Wireless Adapter" connection (instead of sharing the VPN connection).

Found part of the solution here - http://www.blogsdna.com/5506/how-to-set ... ftware.htm

Good times!
http://twitter.com/ehuna

ehuna wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:06 am

Ok, I figured it out - I gave up on the bridging and found another way. Here are my notes if anyone is looking to do the same -

Making your Windows 7 Laptop a Wifi hotspot
that uses the VPN outbound connection
-------------------------------------------

Your Windows 7 machines can become a wifi access-point, routing the connections over Ethernet or even over a client station connection on the same wifi adapter. Here is simple guide on how to create/setup Virtual Wifi on Windows 7 -

start > cmd > right-click > 'run as administrator'
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=hostedwifi key=MakeUpYourOwnKey123
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
(to stop 'netsh wlan stop hostednetwork')

To give devices connected to the 'hostedwifi' access to the internet through the OpenVPN TAP adapter -

Start the OpenVPN client, right-click > connect - open a browser to http://www.whatstatus.co/, verify you have a VPN IP
Start > Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center
"Open VPN Tap Adapter" (or whatever it's called 'Local Area Connection (2)' sometimes by default) > properties > sharing > Internet Connection Sharing - check "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" > Home network connection: "Wireless Network Connection"

Now on your iPhone (or any other device) > Settings > Wi-Fi > hostedwifi (enter key MakeUpYourOwnKey123) - that's it! Your mobile device is now connecting to the Internet through the VPN.

Similarly, you could just share your through your "Local Area Connection" (LAN/ethernet) connection or your existing "Wireless Adapter" connection (instead of sharing the VPN connection).

Found part of the solution here - http://www.blogsdna.com/5506/how-to-set ... ftware.htm

Good times!
http://twitter.com/ehuna

Thank you sharing this. Such an awesome answer. Solved my problem. I am in terrible mood but this post make me happy.