Setup Synology OpenVPN Server (easy, secure, remote access)

[@SpaceRexWill]

UPADTE: OpenVPN connect for Windows recently updated, and broke this config. This is the fix: www.spacerex.co/how-to-fix-synology-openvpn-server-windows-unknown-unsupported-options/

[@marcodergias676]

Thanks for this Information! I`ve tried it the whole day but it didnt work. As soon i disabled the "pull Phrase" it worked instantly

[@SpaceRexWill]

I am glad! Yeah this has been annoying for me as I had a bunch of clients emailing me about this all of the sudden!

[@djepodjepo]

And what about the MacOs version? I setup the OpenVPN 2 weeks ago, with your video. Worked perfect. Now it stopped working. I tried the windows fix # pull but it still doesn't work. Super strange... Any idea @spacerex?

[@hpedrocorreia]

I tried this and that error doesn’t show anymore, however I still cannot connect it gives a timeout error. Do you know what could be the issue ? How can I verify that the port forwarding was done correctly?

[@ErikKai]

Still doesn't work. Error message: option_error: Neither 'client' nor both 'tls-client' and 'pull' options declared.Openvpn3 client only supports --client mode.

[@Gjini99]

I've watched about a dozen of your Synology Nas tutorials and never had a single issue with anything. you explain everything in detail but not in a too techy type of way. Also when you mentioned people might have a router and an other router (which i have) i was relieved, because you explained it very well! Thanks alot for your help and keep it up👍

[@crazzp]

A million thanks for this video! I was struggling to connect on the OpenVPN connect app then realised I was still on WIFI. Changed to mobile hotspot and boom it works. My gratitude to you!

[@xabriel-pr]

Great tutorial! I followed along with modifications to get my Synology router's VPN Plus Server setup. Thanks!

[@jamzdotnet]

I have it all setup but for some reason my Remote Desktop Connection isn't connecting to a computer on the local LAN. The connection works, when on the same network. Once VPN is running on this machine, I try to connect (on internet off cell to test) and it won't. Any thoughts? I get it can't find the computer. On the PC I am using on open VPN, connecting to the RDP computer, I get error code 0x104

[@jamzdotnet]

Ok .. strange enough, here is what I've discovered. If I try to connect via "computer name" it doesn't work. If I connect to the local IP, it works -- VPN configured and working, on my laptop, start it up. Open remote desktop, try to connect to local LAN machine via computer name, no luck. Connect via local IP it works. Any thoughts on this?

[@JaYvInJB]

I followed SpaceRex's instructions from his first video a couple of years ago on setting up OpenVPN on my Synology 920+ NAS. OpenVPN has been working flawlessly ever since 👍! I can access everything from watching my movies on PLEX, to playing my Playstation 5 remotely, to making small configurations and retrieving files from my Windows and MAC machines remotely with OpenVPN and my Synology 920+ NAS. SpaceRex's tutorials are awesome 👌!

[@Chupchahao]

This is the best video on this topic. It just covers everything, even a multi-router setup. No more questions, no additional research! Will recommend.

[@StevesGarage]

I've been pulling my hair out trying to connect MultCloud to my NAS. You mentioned needing to do port forwarding on both devices (in my case the router and the modem), and that's what did it. Between trying to decide on a NAS, to setting it up, and now accessing and transferring files, I've watched a ton of your videos! Thanks for your level of detail, keep up the excellent work!

[@jimcarbone4914]

Thanks!

[@SpaceRexWill]

Thank you!

[@predatorjoutube]

10:41 It is worth to mention that many of hotels blocks all ports except 80, 433. So, if you set port 7854 you will be not able to reach/use your vpn.

[@jamessalkind]

Running into this exact scenario. What's the workaround?

[@MagicBoterham]

That's port 443 for https.

[@gaggel14b65]

@spaceRexWill I have a question. I cant connect on public wifi on the train. The solution to this has been said to open port 443 and have a tcp connection. My question is it safe to do so on my nas with openVPN? By the way great tutorials. Learning al lot.

[@ToshTownsend-o7d]

Absolutely brilliant, I've always set up my VPN access via the router in the past, but this super easy explanation spells it out in such easy to understand detail I will be able toset up VPN access for my clients much more easily in future Thank you so much!

[@markashpole9480]

Hi SpaceRex. I finished implementing port forwarding using OpenVPN after watching your general video on the five different ways to do port forwarding and then this video which goes into detail. Networking is not my friend, but you provided sufficient detail for me to get it done!! Thank you and good luck with your business.

[@NormalsOverrated1987]

I LOVE YOU, you saved me so much trouble with noip renewal every month and old TLS version on my provider router that new Open VPN do not support. Thank you

[@running4fun74]

You mentioned having two routers. What's the reason for that? I got my own mesh router but I replaced the ISP router with it as opposed to adding it.

[@rickyswamber7141]

Excellent ! I have researched quite a lot of documentation & You Tube tutorials on this subject but no one has come close to this finite step by step guide. Wonderful ! Thank you very much

[@WalrusRiderEntertainment]

I have 2 routers from the same ISP. The oldest one had NAT loopback and worked fine for external access but then I upgraded to the newer version to get better wifi and I have always had issues as the new one doesn't have NAT loopback. I resonated with your comment about having 2 routers. Let's say my primary (old one with NAT loopback) router connected to the internet is 192.168.1.1 and my newer router is 192.168.1.2. With your example port forwarding 7854 would I put the destination IP address as 192.168.1.2?

[@SteveBylo]

Thank you! This works v well. However, I turned off my Sybnolgy NAS for 5 days as we had workers in the house. After turning on the NAS after 5 days the VPN stopped working. I saw certificate errors in the VPN client log (see below). I had to delete the VPNServer package, including the database and start again. Now it's working ok. Any ideas why it failed, please? Error: "VERIFY ERROR: depth=0, error=certificate signature failure: C=TW, L=Taipel, O=Synology Inc., CN=synology"

[@VarunPilankar]

Need to know more on Static Route Guide for Remote to Home usage of network mapped drives

[@MO-ss7qt]

Well watching this video took a bit longer than the 24:23 it shows for me to get through. Been meaning to accomplish this for quite some time now. Finally walked through it step by step with you and I'm now running OpenVPN on the NAS and connected via my iphone. Made sure Plex worked on the iphone and no problem. The next thing I tried to do was connect over the VPN using the Marantz remote app to see if I could crank the volume on my wife when I'm not home. No joy. Probably for the best. ;) Anyway, thanks so much for walking me through this. Just need to get my laptops connected. Although not sure how I'd test it without taking them away from my home network. In due time, but before I'm on the road again.

[@jeremyglover]

I've got OpenVPN working and connected, but my external IP isn't what it should be as if I'm home. What am I missing?

[@jeremyglover]

Any helpful thoughts? @SpaceRex

[@jordykroeze]

Did you edit (uncomment) the redirect-gateway part in the file? Seems like you WANT to redirect all your traffic.

[@danielabary]

I got to the last step at 18:30 and the open vpn has a connection timeout. Any ideas on what to check to fix?

[@zerrro844]

Need to know more details on Static Route Guide how exactly we can set if we try to access VPN from inside the local network

[@mohamedelyoussoufi9690]

Thanks for this video. How I can use this setup with router RT6600ax?

[@capybara_27]

11:40 helped a lot, thx mate!

[@cyberwasp461]

I use open vpn to connect to my nas from my phone when I'm away. However, I go through my DDNS is that not correct?

[@HTCxVanny]

Since VPN server doesn't support WireGuard, is there a way to use Container Manager to setup WireGuard tunnels?

[@SpaceRexWill]

You can, but it is a pain. wireguard only supports certificate auth, so its a bit limited compared to openvpn. Though if you need really low latency then wireguard can be better.

[@HTCxVanny]

@@SpaceRexWill Thanks for the response! I set up WireGuard at work and wrote some scripts to automate the user creation for new tunnel authentication, but I'm planning on setting up a synology homelab with WireGuard and was hoping there would be an easier solution than getting a pi to be a VPN host. Would you recommend a pi, or a container in DSM?

[@SpaceRexWill]

I would do it on the Synology in that case!

[@alancaldwell8192]

Thanks Will, really easy to follow.

[@Hindsight101]

Awesome tutorial, for some reason tailscale didnt work for me some I needed another option, this worked great

[@VinceM797]

Can you go through the process for Wireguard as another option?

[@Toch18]

Great job on the tutorial!! I was stuck for a few days on this. Editing the openvpn export file did the trick for me! Thank you!!

[@ckenisell]

@0:54 you mentioned that the OpenVPN restricts others from accessing the files on the NAS unless they also have OpenVPN installed and configured. Does this affect sharing using Synology Drive?

[@HVG67]

How about wireguard? Way faster and less overhead. Any way to use that on DSM?

[@DavidM2002]

I've been trying to learn to setup Docker / Container Manager apps on my DS920+. Part of my use case is being able to connect to the NAS via a VPN. However, the newly released DSM 7.2 no longer supports desktop shortcuts to the container apps; you have to connect to them from your desktop browser directly using the NAS's IP address and the app's port number. So, how would you run those Docker / CM apps when you are connecting remotely ?

[@SpaceRexWill]

With this you would just do the exact same thing! Just use the NAS IP or 10.8.0.1 and the port number and you are in!

[@DavidM2002]

@@SpaceRexWill Thanks Will. I sort of wondered if I was over thinking this a bit. As to Docker / CM, would you consider doing a Docker / CM Step By Step Guide ? I've searched everywhere and it seems that no such resource exists. What is out there is either for those who are far more tech savvy or, important steps are glossed over. We need something that explains not only what to do, but why we should do it. My first NAS purchase opened up huge doors to me and I suspect to other NAS owners. Containers are that next huge door to open but there is a massive gap in educational resources for those of us who are just tech savvy enough to get into trouble but not back out again.

[@huntermcgraphics]

It worked to connect to my synology and mount it in the finder, but the streaming you were mentioning isnt working (i did remove the "#" in the text edit document) any ideas?

[@billyjoe3309]

Thank you for doing these tutorials. Synology should pay you handsomly!

[@reginaldoake5245]

Excellent...clear, complete and easy to understand. Thanks for doing this.

[@naim7859]

Hi, very nice video, i was able to setup everything from A to Z thanks to you. However, i can't connect to Synology Drive, Synology Photos, etc with 10.8.0.1, any idea why ? I'm not using Synology's firewall

[@binhassan3191]

Wonderful ! Thank you very much

[@clementwoo8011]

I followed your tutorial on my new DS423+ to setup VPN connection from the OpenVPN client in my MBP. The 1st problem was option error message, I common out the "PULL" in the *.OVPN file and the problem is resolved. My new problem is OpenVPN client auto discoonect with an "AUTH_FAILED" error after the session is established. Not able to identify the root cause. Any suggestion is appreciated.

[@SpaceRexWill]

Check the username, password, and permission to that account. Auth failed is authentication failed

[@clementwoo8011]

@@SpaceRexWill I am able to use the same username and password to access the server via quickconnect (without going through the OpenVPN) over the internet. Not sure this method help to confirm the account's details is correct, hope you able to confirm.

[@clementwoo8011]

@@SpaceRexWill No worries, solved the problem by using Tunnelblick, no need to modify anything in the .ovpn file except the server name on top. Able to connect to Synology server using the dynamic ip address that configured in the Synology's OpenVPN. I guess there are bugs in the OPENVPN client for Mac OS, that is the only explanation because all the config in Synology VPN Server and the same .ovpn file is used. Only different is the vpn client that I use in my MacBook.

[@joeyragonacoach]

I really appreciate your in-depth instructions to set up Synology -

[@jackmtang]

Hey man... your video was amazing... I recently moved to a new location and your video help me trouble shoot why my NAS was no longer working... turns out my port forwarding wasn't active. Thanks so much!!

[@JasonOFlaherty]

Thank you! I've been trying to figure this out for a year off and on and could never get all of the little things just right to get the connection working. Your video explained exactly what needed to be done. Thank you for being thorough

[@johnzenoakiladan]

Hi, I have 2 ISP > Load Balancer > Switch > Synology. how to configure it, to access my synology from other places or other network? thank you

[@lightsonwalden7780]

Is there a way to connect to my NAS using it's IP when I connect with my OpenVPN? I can get the smb drive to connect, but can't get to the NAS through it's IP. When I had the VPN setup as L2TP/IPSec I could access the Synology web gui. Great video, I appreciate all you do!

[@Squeaksquatch]

I have this working now, thanks very much for the video - I did have to enable UPNP however because standard port forwarding on my router didn't appear to be working. Allowing the synology to create the upnp ports does. One problem...the vpn is also allowing access to other internal ip addresses (such as the router itself) - have I missed a step somewhere? I really just wanted the vpn for access to the nas.

[@julietrnavsky8952]

I've had 2 problems - port forwarding and CA certificate for Proton OpenVpn. Port forwarding issue was answered - Starlink so it will not work. The CA Certificate seems to be a non-issue...Great coverage. Thanks

[@alexwaynemiller]

Great video! Referenced several times now for troubleshooting.

[@BlackbirdEx]

Hi, I followed your instruction and it worked well. However on the client side (my laptop), the ovpn sometimes asking the client certificate. Is it something important? Or the client will work just fine without the certificate? And if it is something that adding another authenticating level, how am I create the certificate? I am hoping that anyone can answer my question as I cannot stop thinking to be curious about it. Thanks

[@ozricus]

Beautiful! I got it to work. thanks!

[@nsuinteger-au]

Silly question... If you use open vpn with your nas, does anyone else using a service hosted on your nas such as web service through docker still need to have vpn or they're all good just as before? (I've enabled some of my services through reverse proxy that my friends use, they just use the services and are not needing to log into the nas)

[@ThisIsNotNPR]

Fully appreciate all you've shared with your channel. A lot of great info. Something also to be said about weighing using an openvpn via your router or NAS.

[@timbarker4189]

Love these tutorials! Thank you. However, could you please please please create tutorial on how to set up OpenVPN for use with Plex for remote access? Or possibly, a better way to do think somewhat securely. I'm in process of researching "secure" remote access options and getting lost in rabbit hole of possible solution. I just want to be able to remotely watch my Plex content in somewhat secure manner but can't quite figure out how that works, i.e. how do I connect my TV up with VPN to connect to my NAS over secure connection? Thank you

I followed the steps on the Synology router RT6600ax. I can access my two Synology NAS and local TV set-top box (running linux) via VPN from outside, but no Win 10 computer is accessible. I can see them, but cannot access their shared drives. However, I can connect to remote desktop of those Win 10 PCs. Any idea? Note: when in local network, the WIn 10 computers' shared drives are accessible.

[@SpaceRexWill]

You probably have the drives mapped with a host name (\\computer_name) You want to use the local IP to map instead

[@David-qr2dk]

Hello, I have an issue using this configuration. I cannot play videos on Synology Drive and Photos due to invalid certificate. It require to play video through HTTP, but since this port is close, it doesn't work neither. Do you know how to generate a working certificate (Let's Encrypt), so I can still use Drive and Photo as usual, over HTTPS? Thank you!

[@mrhevia]

I'm going to take a look!!! I'm using cloudlfare tunnels (ZeroTrust) (free) to access my NAS and all my local services from internet. Works awesome because it encrypts the whole connection and also hide all my ports. No port forwarding in my router. It also works flawlessly when sharing files through Synology with others. The link NAS creates when sharing a files, goes through the tunnel too. No port on the link either. You should do a cloud flare tunnel tutorial. The other good thing about cloudflare is it doesn’t matter if your IP changes and also it doesn’t matter if you are behind a CGNat. Also, you don’t have to install a client software to others to be able to access it (you only have to install ONE client inside your network) 🙏. Hey man, thanks for your videos, I’ve learn a lot watching all your videos

[@younisashour9635]

Hi guys I have problem in vpn server in my synology Nas after I change ssl certificate the vpn server stopped why Note the certificate from no-ip website I bought the certificate with my own domain

[@Umittopoglu]

Hi Will, Thanks for this impressive video.👏 I followed it and did the same thing a few times, but I couldn't get it to work. It gives "Connection Timeout" error every time. Do you have any suggestions for this?

[@TheJaderiles]

I am having the same issue

[@nielsack]

Amazing video. Clear and detailed. Worked perfectly for me.

[@stephanecaron7203]

Great tutorial ! I had 1 problem though, I wanted a different external port from the internal port (I know overkill) and it did not work at first. I figured out that the port put in the ovpn file was the internal port but needed to be the external port. Most people wont have that problem, but if you redo this video later Id give a warning when editing the ovpn file or make an example with different ports. I though Id mention it hoping its could help. Thanks for sharing your knowledge !

[@jd3047]

that was a fantastic explanation, thank you! (I use it on android, paired with cx explorer)

[@harry-eto]

Worked flawlessly, thanks, man. Only thing is, the android App won't let you check the "missing external certificate" i need to confirm every connection. not a problem.

[@DemonEyes23]

you can add client-cert-not-required to your VPN config file

[@sprlvbconcept4215]

Hi , thanks for your video ! I trying to use a windows RDP connection with openvpn but I cannot reach the distant computer by Name or DDNS , always need to use IP 10..... ( dyn IP) . When connected with VPN , we don t see other Lan connected . Probably some settings but impossible to set static ip to VPN client so difficult ro reach RDP connection. Thanks in advance for your support

[@caglarsanli1806]

If you have a VPN connection you can try ping other devices on the network, if this is not possible but you can connect successfully to the Synology VPN, you need to check the VPN settings for allowing clients to LAN option.

[@Chrissian81]

Hello! Thanks for the tutorial. I've followed the guide in full. However, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I thought that I would be able acces my server as I was on my local network. basically, when connected to my server via openVPN, I'am still required to download a file (i.e: docx file) before I can exploit it. It does the same thing as if I was connecting via quickConnect. It is a total pain on the bum to having to download every time a file before using it whilst I'm away. I would love to directly not having to download it while not on my local network. Please can you help me?

[@casualspectator1950]

Just stumbled across this now. Great video. Thanks! Here´s my problem: We have a Synology NAS in our small office. Years ago, somebody set up Open VPN on it, the config file is in my OpenVPN directory. mNow I got a Synology NAS for my home. Can I service two separate NASs through OpenVPN on the same Windown computer? Thanks in advance!

[@kimfella4770]

Which sharing protocol would allow me to share only ONE of my volumes? Or, specific folders? It seems I have to share all, or nothing.

[@SpaceRexWill]

On the options you auth based on the shared folder

[@priteshtechark4380]

OpenVPN not connect outside of home network when I used port other than 1194. I can only connect out side of home netwrok if I use port 1194. Can you suggest?

[@victorbalta1402]

If I have a Synology router would you recommend doing the vpn set there and not on DSM?

[@Michael_Peters]

I used your video to set up OpenVPN and it worked fine for about 1 year. About 2 weeks ago, I received an Error Message: Peer certificate verification failure. Can you make a video on how to fix this? thanks!

[@caglarsanli1806]

You need to renew the certificate on your synology. Go To Settings > Security > Certificates > select the certificate you are using for the VPN server > Click on renew certificate.

[@Meme4frogs]

It worked, this is really cool. ty.

[@BradGrow]

Is it possible to have synology/openvpn provide the access for URL configuration in the clients?

[@mattdagangsta]

Dude i fricking love your intro. Calms my nerves. Hope you are doing well!

[@ScottPayne-i9q]

Thanks mate. Well explained and easy to follow. much appreciated

[@MrLargo85]

It would be nice to have explanation how to authenticate using certificate.

[@matay.J4350]

Very well explained thank you. I have the VPNsec function in my AVM router and the new version VPN Wireguard with Wireguard can be created with 1 click. My question is what is the difference? if I have VPN directly in the router. Greetings from Germany👋👋👋

[@Zeest898]

I don't have a public IP and so of course, ports too, how, in this case, can I make use of my Synology NAS and OpenVPN to configure a network so I can access my services from the outside?

[@PsychoPod]

instead of tailscale, could we use some VPS provider to get a similar functionality? I just don't want to use my SSO identity for tailscale..

[@KarlheinzKuhn]

I could perfectly follow until the SMB connection. I do not have any program called Finder on my PC. Is there any other way to connect to SMB or how can I get this program?

[@JM-sz3to]

This was a great video. Thank you! I have set up my first VPN, can't believe it. Does anyone know if it is possible to access the mapped drives as if I were on my LAN while working remotely?

[@philldonn705]

What happens if the local network in the coffee shop has the same subnet 10.8.0.0? Can a rogue SMB server with an IP address of 10.8.0.1 steal my SMB/NAS credentials and potentially use them through the synology quickconnect? Is this possible or am I going too far?

[@claudebeazley]

I’ve got openvpn up and running. Works beautifully. I can’t get it to work using a reverse proxy though.

[@doctorcowboy-j5p]

Great video - followed the instructions and everything just worked! Thanks!

[@RandomRichard2022]

Hi, I live in Canada. If I go to the Bahamas and need to access my Synology drive to upload pictures on it (with synology Drive). Will I be able to do that? Or do I need to do the special configurations in this video?

[@ManifestingMindset_333]

AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! This was so detailed, with lots of incredible information. Thank you so much for taking the time to create this video!

[@kantropus08]

OH! So great! Thanks so much. We`ve been months trying to connect from external networks and now we could. Really gratefull man

[@FischiPiSti]

My OpenVPN server is on a TP Link router, and the setup is the same, the VPN client connection works, I can see everything on the LAN (assuming firewall is turned off on the target machine), but I can't access my NAS (Zyxel NAS326). That NAS doesn't have a firewall either, or at least it's not configurable. Any tips?

[@excellenttwo]

Thanks for the video....I'm not sure if this is a client server VPN or a peer to peer vpn. I like to know what limitations might someone might have like using hyper backup, does this use ports, or can use quick connect

[@kennethmaultsby452]

I just want make sure I understand correctly if I setup my OpenVPN on my NAS and for example using Synology Photos and setup link were they can download a group of photos they will not be able to do it correct?

[@MikePierce-o4y]

How do I edit the ovpn file in windows? I used word and notepad, but it change the file to txt. I have try to change it back with properties with no luck. Any Ideas for me?

[@geertwanten1841]

I wasn’t able to connect with openVPN until I’ve added following rule in the config file (under my remote IP) client-cert-not-required

[@petermarin]

Might be cool to do a video on Synology and tailscale, your a good teacher!

[@pimmiecreeper4459]

Really good video! Helped me a lot! Very clear and useful!

[@cheerlin]

Hi I am wondering about transfer bandwidth when under VPN, always seems slow n bottlenecks, eg video transfer at 50mbps on a 400 mbps ISP. Any thing I can check n adjust?

[@ScottieIUFan]

I wish you didn't skip over enabling of IPV6. That is one thing that I am having the hardest time trying to setup to get around my ISPs CGNAT config.

[@andrewlink6498]

I've completed all the steps all the way up to connecting to the VPN successfully but cant connect to my files on the NAS via windows device. Do i map a network drive? If so, how do i do so? Please help!

[@ia5213]

This did not work with OpenVPN Connect on MacOS; I had to use Tunnelblick as the VPN client instead... not sure why; I was getting some kind of certificate error with OpenVPN Connect; also I running version 6 of DSM, so maybe that's why... idk, maybe I should upgrade to DSM 7

[@terrencejustice4543]

Followed every step except for Port Forwarding already set up and was getting SO FRUSTRATED. Been having problems with router VPN as well. Discovered that my Port Forwards all had TCP rather than UDP. Such a simple fix! I think quite some time ago I tested and got much better throughput with TCP. I don't remember the details any more, but that's what i get for knowing just a little about a lot of things. Enough to be dangerous.

[@gmezhang]

Hi I followed all the steps but connection timeout at the end. Can anyone tell me what goes wrong?

[@zimluc]

Kudos!!! Thank you so much for this in-depth walkthrough tutorial!!!!

[@bohemianfx2573]

When creating the connection with open VPN it says connection timed out?