PersonalVPN-SSL FAQ
From Witopiawiki
Welcome to the personalVPN™-SSL Frequently Asked Questions
For openVPN-based service it will often be useful to view a connection log. You can do this by Right-Clicking on VPN icon (Windows) or Choosing "Details..." through Tunnelblick or Viscosity Client (Macintosh). If you cannot find answer below, send the log with details of your Operating System (Example: Windows XP SP3) to support@witopia.net.
If you are a PPTP VPN customer with connection problems, try our personalVPN-PPTP FAQ
Q1. I want to reinstall personalVPN OR my hard drive crashed OR I have reformatted and do *NOT* have a backup of WiTopia files, where do I start?
Make certain you do not have a copy of your custom Windows Installer or Mac Installer saved on your computer, a backup drive, or archived in your e-mail or elsewhere.
If you have access to your custom installer, you should be able to simply reinstall openVPN-based personalVPN™ by running the installer package.
If you do not, follow the instructions below for generating a new custom installer package.
If you do not have a copy of your ORD# and the e-mail address you signed up with (both required to generate a new installer), send e-mail (with any order details you may have) to support@witopia.net.
A. Visit https://support.witopia.net/pvpn_redoer.php and follow the instructions found on the website. After either downloading or being emailed your new installer, further installation instruction are found here for your Operating System.
Q2. My hard drive crashed, but I have a backup. How do I restore VPN service?
A. If you have access to your custom installer, you should be able to simply reinstall openVPN-based personalVPN™ by running the installer package.
If you do not have an installer package, but have a backup of your WiTopia files, Windows customers can restore by doing the below.
Macintosh users without an installer package follow the steps in Q1 above.
Windows users:
1. Download and Reinstall personalVPN™ software. You can download the latest personalVPN software from here
2. Copy the files from My Computer ->C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config folder that start with "First Name_Last Name" over to the same directory on your new computer that was created when you installed the software.
It should be a total of 3 files: First Name_Last Name.key First name_Last Name.crt First Name_Last Name.ovpn (in newer installs, the config file is named personalVPN.ovpn)
You should now be able to use your personalVPN™ on the new computer. If it does not connect, RESTART your machine and try again.
Q3. I use Hotmail, MSN, or AOL and I haven't received my receipt, new files, or my Macintosh installer package...what can I do?
A. Sadly, many free e-mail services are less than reliable with the attachments we send and despite our efforts, this continues. We are moving to a system that does not rely on e-mail. Until then, please e-mail support@witopia.net with an alternative e-mail address, your ORD#, and brief description of what we owe you. If you desire a free e-mail service, Gmail and Yahoo Mail have been most reliable.
Q4. Can I install personalVPN on a 2nd computer I own?
A. Yes, however, remember the license allows for 1 active VPN tunnel at a time and doesn't allow for simultaneous use.
If you purchased personalVPN-SSL for Mac and want to install on Windows or vice verse, you can find instructions on how to switch from Mac OS X to Windows here.
For openVPN-based personalVPN, simply run your WiTopia custom Mac or Windows installer program on the second machine.
Mac openVPN users who have lost their Installer, may request an archived copy from WiTopia Support.
Windows customers (July 2008 and after) should have also bookmarked a link during activation to download a new windows installer at anytime.
You can also manually transfer your working openVPN SSL VPN from one Windows machine to another by doing this:
1. Download and Reinstall personalVPN™ software on the second computer. You can download the latest personalVPN software from here
2. Copy the files from My Computer ->C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config folder that start with "First Name_Last Name" over to the same directory on your new computer that was created when you installed the software.
It should be a total of 3 files: First Name_Last Name.key First name_Last Name.crt First Name_Last Name.ovpn (in newer installs, the config file is named personalVPN.ovpn)
3. You should now be able to use your personalVPN™ on the new Windows computer. If it does not connect, RESTART your machine and try again.
If you purchased the personalVPN-SSL/PPTP Combo, another very easy option is to use the PPTP account on a 2nd computer.
To set up your PPTP username and password, follow these steps (if you have already, skip to #3):
1. Click on this link: https://register.witopia.net/personalVPN/ and enter your account information. 2. Check box to configure PPTP account and set up username/password. 3. Then follow instructions here
Q5. Where can I find the latest version of your software?
A. PLEASE NOTE: Installing the below copy of personalVPN will erase your security credentials if you don't follow these instructions:
1. Go to C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config and move all of the files to your desktop.
2. Download personalVPN from here for XP and Vista or from here for Windows 2000.
3. Before installing, right-click on the gui icon, select "Exit"
4. Move the files on your desktop (from step #1) back to C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config
The goal is to have your files look like this:
ca.crt README First name_Last name.ovpn (or personalVPN.ovpn) First name_Last name.key First name_Last name.crt
5. That's it. You should now be able to use the updated version of personalVPN™ on your computer.
Q6. I'm seeing HOST NOT FOUND errors in my log or HAVING SLOW PERFORMANCE :
A. Your ISP may be blocking or throttling your VPN because you are using their DNS DNS (Domain Name system) server. Or, there is some other DNS failure. WiTopia provides DNS service for its customers at no extra charge and we recommend you take advantage of it to maintain complete privacy and for best performance.
If your PC is set to use DHCP (Macs should have "Location" set to Automatic in their Network settings) this **should** happen automatically so if you are still seeing HOST NOT FOUND errors you may need to adjust your computer's settings manually.
Macintosh Users NOTE: You may also need to click on VPN icon in upper toolbar and Click on "Details..." then Click on box that says "Set Nameserver" and DNS should set automatically. If not, you may also need to change your computer's settings. Again, it is best for your computer computer to use and accept DNS and IP address info from WiTopia automatically.
Although Automatic assignment using DHCP should work best, you can also try setting our DNS server IP address manually.
The IP addresses of our customer DNS servers are: 38.119.98.220 and 216.93.191.228
BELOW ARE ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR MANUALLY SETTING YOUR COMPUTER/DEVICE TO USE WITOPIA'S DNS SERVER:
Windows Users:
Microsoft has an article here on "How to configure TCP/IP to use DNS in Windows XP".
Or, here is a simplified version:
1. Click Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2. Generally, Right-click Local Area Connection.
3. On the General tab (for a local area connection), or the Networking tab (for all other connections), click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
4. Enter 38.119.98.220 in DNS Server field and save.
Vista Users:
Microsoft has an article here called "Windows Vista Help: Change TCP/IP settings"
Macintosh Users:
TIGER users open "System Preferences" then "Network" then "TCP/IP" LEOPARD users open "Network Preferences", click "Advanced" button, then "DNS"
Q7. My account is about to expire, how do I renew?
A. You can learn about here.
Q8. Do you have a maintenance window or regularly reboot your servers?
A. Yes, check out our Maintenance page for details.
Q9. I've upgraded to, or I'm a new customer running, WINDOWS VISTA and I keep getting an error when I connect OR I do not have a connect option when I click on VPN icon.
A. Right-click on OpenVPN GUI and Choose "Exit"
B. Go to My Computer -> C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\bin and right-click on openvpn-gui.exe and select "Run as administrator"
C. Try connecting again.
If this works, you need to make this change permanent. Do this by:
A. Right-click on OpenVPN GUI and Choose "Exit"
B. Go to My Computer -> C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\bin and right-click on openvpn-gui.exe and select "Properties", then the "Compatibility" tab and select under "Privilege Level" "Run this program as an administrator". Click "OK" and double-click openvpn-gui.exe and try connecting again.
If none of that works... Vista, by its nature, limits your administrator privileges so you might try turning User Account Control (UAC) OFF. This should restore administrator privileges but you will receive warning messages. UAC is located here:
Control Panel > User Accounts > Turn User Account Control on or off
Q10. I'm having problems with e-mail since I starting running personalVPN™
A. WiTopia's SMTP relay should activate automatically and require zero configuration. If this is not the case, read PersonalVPN-Mail-WorkArounds
Q11. "HELP, I CAN'T CONNECT" and receive a Connection Failed error.
A. If you are running Windows, right-click on the gui icon and select "View Log". If you see something along the lines of this:
Wed Mar 21 22:37:36 2007 Cannot load certificate file C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config\First_Last.crt: error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory: error:20074002:BIO routines:FILE_CTRL:system lib: error:140AD002:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_certificate_file:system lib Wed Mar 21 22:37:36 2007 Exiting
It means you didn't save your signed certificate to the right location or it didn't download properly. Try performing a Search/Find on your computer (including desktop) for your firstname_lastname.crt (using your name, of course) file. or you can try a general *.crt search.
If found, move/drag it to My Computer ->C:\Program Files->WiTopia.Net->config, Restart your computer and Connect.
If you can't find your "firstname_lastname.crt" file:
1. Go to My Computer -> C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config
2. DELETE/TRASH the files containing your name, BUT leave ca.crt and README files in folder.
3. Use our new tool found here. It's a bit raw, but it will create for you shiny new security credentials. All of which need to be SAVED in C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\config if you are running Windows or in ~User/Library/openvpn if you are a Macintosh user.
NOTE: Remember, if you don't get option to SAVE them there, you can open the config folder (Click on "My Computer", then C Drive, then "Program Files", then "WiTopia.Net", then "config) and DRAG and DROP them in there.
The goal (in Windows) is to have your files look like this:
ca.crt README First name_Last name.ovpn First name_Last name.key First name_Last name.crt
Q12. personalVPN™ seems to connect, but I cannot browse websites. How do I fix?
A. Try a "Detect Settings" in your browser's Proxy Settings AND turning off any use of proxies.
In MS Explorer (for example), here is where to find:
1. From the Tools mention select 'Internet Options'
2. Select the 'Connections' tab
3. Click the 'LAN Settings' button
You may need to restart your browser or machine for changes to take hold.
NOTE: It is also possible your ISP is filtering/blocking you using DNS so try solution in Q6 above.
Q13. My VPN Icon has disappeared. Help!
A. Macintosh users should relaunch Tunnelblick application from their Applications Folder and be careful to only DISCONNECT and not QUIT.
A. XP Windows Users may occasionally experience a well-known Windows bug:
This usually works to repair: START menu->My Network Places->Show Icons for Networked UPnP Devices->Show UPnP Device icons->NO
Or, for more detailed explanation, here is a good article: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/01/04/system-tray-icon-missing-from-system-tray-in-windows-xp/
A. Vista Users, here's a good step-by-step how to that should fix it for you: http://www.colincochrane.com/post/2007/10/Windows-Vista-Disappearing-System-Tray-Icons-Fix.aspx
Q14. Can my Firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware interfere with VPN?
A. YES. You will often see TLS errors like this in the log when this is occurring:
TLS Error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds TLS Error: TLS handshake failed
If you're sure you have solid Internet connectivity and no firewall (on your local network or router) is blocking, then the culprit is likely third party security software on your computer. Here is what we have captured as of now, but PLEASE feel free to contribute: Conflicting Software
Q15. During installation on WINDOWS VISTA, I get an error message along the lines of: "An error occurred installing the Tap 32 device driver", is there anything I can do?
A. Yes, try re-installing personalVPN by right-clicking on the personalVPN installer package and select "Run as administrator"
Q16. Looking at the log file, I see "All TAP-Win32 adapters on this system are currently in use" or "There are no TAP-Win32 adapters on this system." How do I fix this?
A1. If you have the original personalVPN™ Installer, try reinstalling the program (after right-clicking on the gui icon and selecting "Exit").
A2. If you don't have the personalVPN™ Installer, go to C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\bin and if running Windows XP double-click on "addtap" or if running Windows Vista right-click on "addtap" and select "Run as administrator".
A3. A customer has reported that disabling, then enabling the TAP adapter also solved this for them.
Q17. I'm a Mac user and having problems finding the log file, what should I do?
A. Go to your Utilities folder (within the Applications folder) and open "Console". Look under "LOG FILES" and click on "system.log". In the search field (may say "String Matching"), type "openvpn" (without the quotes) - next, copy & paste the log results into in an email to support@witopia.net along with your ORD#, product, and a description of your problem.
Q18. I'm running Windows XP, SP3 and having problems connecting to the VPN
A. Many customers using Service Pack 3 (SP3) have reported this to us. We've found 3 different solutions that appear to work, however, please try them in the following order:
1. Click Start -> Connect to -> Show all Connections 2. Right-click on the TAP-Win32 connection icon and select "Properties" from the menu 3. Click on the "Advanced" tab and disable NetBios over TCP/IP 4. Click "OK" and try connecting again.
A. Another solution to try is to add the following to your configuration file.
1. Right-click on the gui icon in your taskbar and select "Edit Config" 2. When the config file opens, add "ip-win32 netsh" on a line by itself 3. Save and Close the config file and try connecting again.
A. If neither of the above solutions work try this solution:
1. Click Start -> Run -> then type "cmd" and hit enter 2. Type "netsh int ip reset logfile.txt", hit enter, and 3. Type "netsh winsock reset catalog" and hit enter 4. Reboot your computer and try connecting again.
Q19. On my Mac, can I set up personalVPN for Multiple User Accounts?
A. Yes. If you want to allow your wife, or kids to use personalVPN under their own separate user account do this:
From the administrator account copy the openvpn folder from ~user/Library, and the Tunnelblick application from the Applications folder onto a USB drive since the copy - paste functions do not work between user accounts
After copying the files, go to the respective user account and copy from the USB drive "openvpn" into the ~user/Library folder, and copy "Tunnelblick" to the Applications folder. After the installation just open Tunnelblick and click connect.
Voilà! You should be surfing in a safe way...
Q20. Do I need any special wireless network adapter for your personalVPN?
A. No, it should work with all connection types, however, we discourage dial-up as it may be unbearably slow.
Q21. Do I need to download any special software to use your service? If so, is it resource intensive? How difficult is it to setup and maintain?
A. Upon purchase, we provide a link to download our software. The software uses very little memory and few CPU cycles. When the VPN is up and running, there is some overhead associated with the encrypting/decrypting the traffic, and sometimes you may notice a slowdown in performance, but in general there is very little noticeable slowdown.
As for setup and maintenance, there are a few steps to get up and running. We have links to instructions on the Main_Page of our wiki.
Q22. Can I use your personalVPN service with any type of internet connection?
A. Yes, it should work with any type of internet connection. We have seen a few cases where ISPs are blocking VPN traffic from their networks, but this is rare. There are also rare cases in which a wifi provider only wants to allow Web surfing -- so port 80 and a handful of other ports are open, but the rest are blocked. By default personalVPN currently uses UDP 1194, however, at the end of 2008 we put up an Alternate Port server using TCP 443.
Q23. Do I need to change different network settings when connecting to different networks?
A. No, there is an icon in your toolbar that you use to enable and disable the VPN connection.
Q24. How do I know personalVPN is working?
A. Whether using a Mac or PC, the toolbar icon should indicate when the VPN is active or inactive. To TEST that you are fully secured and anonymized, go to http://www.ipchicken.com (or any IP address tester) and you should see a WiTopia IP address displayed instead of your ISP’s. You should also see "vpn.witopia.net" (or something very similar) under “Name Address” in Advanced section. If not, and none of the questions on this FAQ help, you can send a copy of the log to us at support@witopia.net to open a trouble ticket.
Q25. What WON'T work with a personalVPN connection?
A. Any type of service that requires a 'listening' socket at the remote end will not work.
For example: 1) ftp in non-passive mode 2) remote access to your computer (via ssh, telnet, ...) 3) any web services you offer from your computer 4) p2p clients which benefit from incoming connection availability Such services may still be provided by your computer - just not while using the VPN
Q26. On my Mac, I chose the "Quit" from the tunnel icon instead of "Disconnect" now the tunnel icon is gone! How do I get it back?
A. Use the finder to run the "Tunnelblick" application in the "Applications" folder. Double click on Tunnelblick to run it. The tunnel icon will re-appear.
Q27. Can I configure personalVPN so it automatically connects upon login/reboot?
A. Yes, when using Windows. Here's what you need to do.
1. Make a copy of the personalVPN desktop icon/shortcut 2. Move the copy into your "Startup" folder 3. Right-click on the personalVPN shortcut you just moved to "Startup" folder and select "Properties" 4. Under the "Shortcut" tab under "Target:" it should say "C:\Program Files\WiTopia.Net\bin\openvpn-gui-1.0.3.exe" --connect personalVPN.ovpn (you need to add "--connect personalVPN.ovpn") 5. Click "Apply", then "OK" 6. Next time you reboot, personalVPN should startup automatically.
Q. None of this addresses the problem I'm having, what next?
A. E-mail support@witopia.net. Be sure it include your ORD#, product, Operating System, and a description of the problem.
