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

Visit snhu.edu/spacerex to see what the current average annual salary for a computer scientist is and request free information about the program. Thanks to SNHU for sponsoring this video!
This tutorial goes over how to setup an OpenVPN server on a Synology NAS to get secure remote access back into your network using a VPN tunnel. This allows you to access your Synology NAS as well as any other devices on the local network security, from where ever you are in the world.
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Other Videos Mentioned:
Unifi Port Forwarding: • Setup Port Forwarding ...
Complete Remote Access Guide: • The Complete Guide to ...
Forum post on VPN hostnames: forums.spacerex.co/t/openvpn-...
OpenVPN Client for windows / Mac / Linux: openvpn.net/client/
Best Synology Line up*:
DS923+ : amzn.to/3IFQb79
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DS1821+: amzn.to/3IhBaXr
RS1221+: amzn.to/3SiOL5I
#vpn #tutorial #selfhosted
TOC
00:00 Introduction
01:35 VPN vs VPN Server
02:38 Thanks to SNHU for sponsoring this video!
03:56 Who can't use OpenVPN
05:25 OpenVPN Setup
10:44 Open port on firewall
12:15 Port forwarding on your router
15:06 Enable DDNS
16:34 Export and edit VPN configuration
18:29 OpenVPN Connect
19:31 Accessing files from anywhere using SMB
22:35 Additional configuration options
23:56 Conclusion
*These are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting my channel!

[@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.

[@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.

[@juliapinski8996]

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

[@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👍

[@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

[@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!!

[@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

[@joeyragonacoach]

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

[@dave-xe6pc]

Thanks for the video, Will! Content is easy to understand and to follow along. Very helpful.

[@kantropus08]

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

[@user-tw4jx9lv7v]

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

[@zimluc]

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

[@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.

[@peebola]

thanks - worked perfectly. your instructions and video guide are top notch

[@Turtle_1976]

Exactly the help I needed. Thank you very much!

[@vfre46m6m82]

you just saved my life. huge thanks. really really appreciate your work!!

[@bretzelman]

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

[@ozricus]

Beautiful! I got it to work. thanks!

[@billyjoe3309]

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

[@pimmiecreeper4459]

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

[@superbaggio87]

super useful and detailed explanation and video, this is very useful especially when I'm abroad for work/vacation

[@ms070965]

Thx a LOT. Woked perfectly

[@grigoryankaren]

Thanks for detailed tutorial

[@maxmeinert6264]

Great work. Thanks for the good explanation.

[@capybara_27]

11:40 helped a lot, thx mate!

[@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?

[@m.j.6956]

love it. i just think about how can i config my own nas and your video just popup on my feed 2h after you uploaded 🎉 thanks a lot :)

[@mattdagangsta]

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

[@snopkovgv]

Thx! Good tutorial!) This and others)

[@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!!

[@youling1997]

You are the man! Thanks

[@walterart4910]

Thank you for your work! my like

[@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.

[@Hindsight101]

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

Very good instruction! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@SmallBoxCentral]

Very helpful, thanks

[@stanislavbozhikov9046]

Supper I made it and it works just like charm

[@petersoderstrom857]

Thank you!

[@petermarin]

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

[@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

[@romelulukaku7304]

thank you!

[@michaelmurphy2584]

Thanks!

[@jottwDE]

Hi Will, big fan of your tutorials! What's your POV on running OpenVPN on NAS vs capable router (e.g. rt6600ax)? Assume router would be preferred? (more secure, easier to configure as no port forwarding required) but NAS would not get its 10.x.x.x direct IP?

[@b00cho]

thank you! That helped me to restore my VPN after it broke for some reason.

[@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?

[@PeterHonig.]

Awesome presentation!! Thank you!! I always wanted to learn more about VPNs, and I certainly learned a great deal from your tutorial. Would you consider doing a presentation on Synology's RADIUS server, as I have had only moderate success with setting them up? The only way I got it to work is by forcing my laptop to ignore certificates (not a good idea).

[@undermygarage]

Thank you sir

[@lesdanks3828]

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.

[@VarunPilankar]

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

[@johnteng3339]

Thanks heaps.

[@Alex-mp4kl]

Nice!

[@Mopsie]

Thanks SpaceRex! I was wondering if you could do a video on synology routers? I have a very old router from 2013 and want a new one. But I have no idea where to start! Thank you for your great content!

[@PrinceLX]

I’d strongly recommend an Eero or Ubiquiti Dream Router over Synology’s routers from experience. Synology don’t support mesh, or at least didn’t when I last checked for one thing.

[@claudebeazley]

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

[@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 !

[@Luke_R171]

Hi. Thanks so much for this setup. I installed it for some months now and have been using it to access the server remotely but the only problem I have is slow speeds. The most I'm getting from it is 10mbs but I have a gigabit switch and internet line of 100mbs for on both sides. Can you please advise what I can do to optimize my speeds. And I even looked into an option you recently mentioned for cloudfare but apparently it has a limit of 100mb.

[@GeekendZone]

I need to check this out, thanks🎉

[@PatrickBijvoet]

Great video again. However I will stick with Tailscale you showed some time ago. It is perfect for me. I do use quickconnect too because I have some people uploading foto's to a very specific folder. However I wanted a good tutorial on Open VPN and now I have it.

[@mohamedelyoussoufi9690]

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

[@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!

[@nixxblikka]

Will you make quite good tutorials, hope you crack the 100k subs this year.

[@patricklejarre576]

Excellent presentation and tutorial ! Has anyone managed to configure a Synology DSM OpenVPN server and client using a Netgear Nightawk M2 (MR2100) mobile router ?

[@umittopoglu8972]

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?

[@MisterTomney]

great tutorial, is it safe to use an admin account to connect to OpenVPN or should I only use a normal account?

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@matayr4350]

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👋👋👋

[@visualizer2k]

Thank you for brilliant easy to understand video. Do you know a way to connect a vpn connection together with vpn server running on my Synology? I want to use a vpn to hide my synology traffic.

[@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

[@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.

[@Li.Siyuan]

Hi Will, this is all very good but how do I setup my laptop to log into my servers and have the same drive mappings as I do at home on, say, my desktops? This is something I can do with my work laptop, so it must be possible somehow. This would make for a really interesting and useful video. Thanks.

[@daysiewaysie]

Hey Will, the greeting is so quickly delivered in your part of the world, i took a breath and almost missed it. a very good day to you too 😃 thanks for the video... love your content

[@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.

[@robertweintraub5418]

Question, can my son remotely backup his MacBook Pro while at College to a NAS at our home? Also, can he backup his iPhone as well? Thanks and love the videos!

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@victorbalta1402]

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

[@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

[@dbess1]

@spacerexwill Is OpenVpn more secure and easier than Tailscale? Or do they provide different services? The video was good but at the end I wondered what the diff was between the 2.

[@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!

[@MrLargo85]

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

[@MagDag_]

you can setup with dynamic IP using DDNS in external access on your NAS

[@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..

[@tongjiejie]

Hi! I have been watching many videos of yours and appreciate the detailed information, very well done! Is there a way to let windows only use the VPN for some programs? I have a PC at location A, what should do regular backups to the Nas at location B, but the PC at location A should still be visible on the LAN A and access the internet at WAN A. Appreciate your suggestion! Alternatively I thought of connecting the NAS via a VPN to the LAN of location A, but don't know how to do that. Thanks!

[@SpaceRexWill]

Yes! By default this is just how it works. Local traffic will only flow through the vpn

[@tongjiejie]

@@SpaceRexWill thanks for the reply. A laptop or PC I can connect to a VPN, is there a way the Synology NAS acts like a client not a server?

[@borodach6789]

Thanks! I followed this video and it didn’t work, had to disable compression and comment out comp-lzo and it works now!

[@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)

[@djepodjepo]

Great video SpaceRex! Love it. Just one problem: my connection stopped working after a few days. I changed nothing.... What could that be?

[@SpaceRexWill]

There was an update to OpenVPN connect for windows. Here is the fix: www.spacerex.co/how-to-fix-synology-openvpn-server-windows-unknown-unsupported-options/

[@djepodjepo]

@@SpaceRexWill but I have a Mac 😂

[@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?

[@image969]

Have you noticed any remote connection trouble with 7.2? I can no longer connect to the remote Nas with hyper back up and hyper Backup. Volt. It continues to say the remote location is off-line when I definitely have the right IP, port, etc entered in. Both servers were Juat updated to 7.2

[@BradGrow]

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

[@ashleyjtaylor8737]

Can you do a Synology tutorial for FTP access

[@user-wr9om8xh5k]

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"

[@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?

[@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?

[@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?

[@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?