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I have an OpenVPN network with a pretty much standard configuration:

  • auth.txt file with user and password
  • ca.crt file with the certificate
  • my-nat.pem file with the identity for my VPC

and the OpenVPN config:

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote some-ip-here some-port-here
ca /etc/openvpn/keys/ca.crt
auth-user-pass /etc/openvpn/keys/auth.txt
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
ns-cert-type server
cipher AES-128-CBC
comp-lzo
status /var/log/openvpn-status.log
log /var/log/openvpn.log
log-append /var/log/openvpn.log
verb 3

And connect command: ssh -i "my-nat.pem" Ubuntu@machine-ip-here

How can I translate these files/config so I can use it with the built-in VPN connection on Windows 10?

villasv
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    The Windows built-in VPN client supports only [IKEv2, L2TP, PPTP and SSTP](https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/keep-secure/vpn-connection-type) tunneling protocols. OpenVPN uses a custom protocol, it is not compatible with the Windows built-in client. – jscott Feb 06 '17 at 19:53
  • Huh, that's a problem. So if the VPN was setup on AWS's side using OpenVPN, I'm stuck with it? Well, "impossible" is still an answer. I'd accept it. – villasv Feb 06 '17 at 19:59
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    Amazon's own VPN connections use IPsec, which is perfectly well supported in Windows without any additional software. It appears you've set up your own custom software VPN and chosen something else, OpenVPN. You could try setting up, e.g. StrongSwan instead. – Michael Hampton Feb 06 '17 at 21:24
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    as far as I understand the question is not related to AWS. you have just Open VPN server hosted on AWS, you don't use AWS VPN, right? then I recommend to remove 'AWS' from the question title or replace it with OpenVPN because it's misleading and click-bites from search results. – Stanislav Mar 13 '18 at 14:10

3 Answers3

19

VPNs do have multiple protocols and for different protocols, different type of configurations are needed.

Here are the top 5 VPN protocols are explained: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/major-vpn-protocols-explained/

As per this document, Windows 10 VPN supports L2TP, PPTP, SSTP and IKEv2 protocols and there is no support for OpenVPN protocol.

In these cases, you need to download the OpenVPN software which will eventually register a Virtual Network driver and your VPN will work over that virtual driver.

Ashutosh Kumar
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The OpenVPN protocol is not one that is built into Windows. Therefore a client program is required that can handle capturing the traffic you wish to send through the OpenVPN tunnel, and encrypting it and passing it to the OpenVPN server.

Reference:
https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resources/connecting-to-access-server-with-windows/

Stefan B. Christensen
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The OpenVPN protocol is not built-in to Windows. OpenVPN is released under the GPLv2 license, which Microsoft won't use.

The Windows 10 built-in VPN support is not limited to only the protocols shipped by Microsoft (PPTP, L2TP, IPsec, SSTP, IKEv2). It can be extended using 3rd-party VPN provider plug-ins, but to my knowledge this is rare and there are none for OpenVPN, although there is an open issue requesting it. Instead, you should use the official OpenVPN Connect Client or one of the many 3rd-party OpenVPN clients.

Nate
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