How to Setup a VPN on Home Network Router?

VPNs allow us to browse the web anonymously and help us in accessing restricted websites which are block or not available for our country.

Usually, VPNs are installed on individual devices but if we are connected to our home router and want to use VPN service on all our devices connected to the same router. Instead of installing a VPN on each device, we can set a VPN on our Router, and it will cover all our devices connected to our home network.      

Switching the VPN On and Off isn’t an easy task, we’ll need to log into our router settings to control it. Here I am using an ASUS RT-AC51U router for explaining the complete step-by-step process for setting a VPN to a router.

Connect ASUS Router to NordVPN:

Step 1: First, we have to open our browser and go to nordvpn.com/servers and scroll down to the server-recommended section.

There we can see the server that will offer us the best possible experience. We can also change the country preference from the given options. 

Step 2: Click on ‘Show available protocols‘ under the suggested server.

Step 3: In the options that show up, download both VPN UDP and TCP configuration and make sure to note the location of the download as we will need it later.

Step 4: Now we will need to log into the Control Panel of our ASUS router, usually it is 192.168.1.1. We have to type this address in the address bar of our browser.

Step 5: The login window will appear asking for the username and password to access the Control Panel.

Note: If you have never changed the router’s credentials, they will be ‘admin’
      for username and ‘admin’ for password. Otherwise, use the credentials you have set. 

Step 6: After we log into the Control Panel, navigate to VPN configuration in the Advanced Settings menu. Click on the VPN client tab and select Add profile.

Step 7: In the open window, select the OpenVPN tab and fill in the name for the connection, our NordVPN credentials, and click Choose File. 

Step 8: Select the UDP or TCP (.ovpn file) configuration file from the destination which we have downloaded previously and click Open.

Step 9: Click Upload to load the configuration. We will see the complete message when it successfully completed and click OK. 

Step 10: We now need to change our router’s DNS servers to use those of NordVPN (at the time of writing, these were 103.86.96.100 and 103.86.99.100 for up-to-date servers).

In the left-hand menu, select WAN. Under WAN DNS Setting, set ‘Connect to DNS Servers in the two fields below. Finally, click Apply.  

Step 11: In the VPN client tab, we will see the created connection. Click on the Activate button to connect our router to NordVPN. We are done.  

Please note that only one OpenVPN connection can be created. If we would like to have another connection configured, we must remove edit the existing one. The blue checkmark should appear in the Connection Status column. That means we are connected to NordVPN.

To disconnect from NordVPN simply click on the Deactivate button next to the connection configuration.    

Once we’ve got the VPN set up on our router, it’s a good idea to make sure it’s working correctly by visiting a site that is not available for our country.