How to setup a VPN into your home network!

And a proper VPN too, a VPN that lets you view all your shared content in a way that makes it look like you're actually at home!

I have an Asus RT-AC68U which I bought to replace the waste of time efforts being churned out by the Virgin Media "Super" Hub.. Seriously, what is the point of superfast fibre optic up to my house.. and then giving me a crappy router?

Anyway's the internet actually works in my house now which is nice. The router is fast and easy to setup and has many little extra's (probably standard on most routers these days in fairness). One of the options is VPN! Exciting stuff. VPN's are great for securing your connection to the internet, especially if you're using public WIFI but I wanted a VPN to be really useful and connect me to my home network.

So, login to your router

This is what I'm greeted with, don't worry about the white boxes, that's where I've removed data relating to me. As you can see, on the left had side is a tab referring to VPN.

Then select OpenVPN - this is a free program that you'll use with your laptop/phone etc to connect to your VPN. Then, switch on the VPN server and then select Advance Settings.

Here you can see extra options. The important one is the Interface Type, TUN means that the VPN will just route your internet traffic over your home connection. TAP is the interface that will allow you to connect to your home network as if you're at home! 

Go back to General settings and create your user accounts. 

As you can see above, the Asus gives you links to the OpenVPN website and provides instructions on how to setup your Client (laptop/phone) using the key that you can export (see button below VPN Details).

I've used it from work on my laptop and it works brilliantly. The only glitch I've noticed is that mapped network drives don't tend to work so you end up going to your shared drives via the Network link in File Explorer. A minor issue in something that is otherwise really handy!

Oh and Android's version of OpenVPN doesn't like the TAP interface yet. So, if you set it to TAP you can use your home VPN on your laptop etc but not your Android. Changing the interface to TUN will allow you to connect your Android however then you'd lose access to all your shared drives when away from home.