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Personal VPN - OpenVPN and Windows Vista 32 and 64

 

OpenVPN will run properly on Windows Vista, with a few tweaks. There is a difference between the 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista. Older versions of OpenVPN that run on Windows XP will usually work on Vista 32. However, for maximum compatibility, the latest version of OpenVPN (currently version 2.1) should be used. In addition to being fully compatible with both Windows 32 and Windows 64, it also includes several new features that are worth having.

 

The biggest problem with Vista and OpenVPN is one of administrator rights. In trying to protect Vista from malicious software, a new feature called 'UAC' has been added. It prevents software from launching with administrator privileges even if you are logged in as the administrator. This feature can affect your ability to successfully run OpenVPN, in a few ways. Upon installation of the software, it can prevent proper installation of the TAP driver -- which is essential to OpenVPN. Even if installed with administrator rights, it can prevent the software from obtaining enough rights to create a connection. A typical error often seen in the OpenVPN log when using Vista often looks something like this:

 

Tue May 19 18:44:45 2015 Route addition via IPAPI failed [adaptive]
Tue May 19 18:44:45 2015 Route addition fallback to route.exe

The requested operation requires elevation.

 

This error is telling the user that the application does not have enough rights to add the route.

 

The solution to all problems regarding OpenVPN and Vista can be resolved by following the steps below:

 

1) Use OpenVPN version 2.1 or later

 

2) When installing OpenVPN on Vista, always right click on the file and use the 'install as admin' option

 

3) Always right click and run OpenVPN as administrator

 

Different versions of Vista sometimes behave differently and, with the installation of updates, sometimes change. In some cases, OpenVPN works fine for a while and then stops working due to a change in Vista. In cases where right clicking does not solve the issue, you can set the UAC to allow software to run as administrator by default.

 

--Open the 'Control Panel'

 

--Under 'User Account and Family' settings click 'Add or remove user account'

 

--Click on your user account

 

--Click on 'Go to the main User Account page'

 

--Under 'Make changes to your user account' click on 'Change security settings'

 

--Under 'Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure' click to unselect the 'Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer'

 

--Click on the Ok button

 

--You will be prompted to reboot your computer - do so when ready