How to make the VPN client connect automatically at logon Print

Automatic OpenVPN Client Connection at Windows Startup

Many users want their OpenVPN connection to start automatically when the computer boots. Although OpenVPN for Windows does not have a built-in option for this, it can be configured manually.

Startup command

Use the following startup command to automatically connect to a specific .ovpn configuration file:

• Windows 32 bit: "C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe" --connect xxxxx.ovpn
• Windows 64 bit: "C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe" --connect xxxxx.ovpn

Replace xxxxx.ovpn with the actual configuration file name located in the OpenVPN/config folder.

Registry configuration

1. Open regedit.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Add a new string entry (e.g., openvpn).
4. Paste the startup command as its value.

Important notes

• If Windows is not installed on C: or OpenVPN is installed in a different folder, update the path accordingly.
• On Windows Vista, 7, and 8, OpenVPN-GUI must be run as Administrator. You can set this under Properties → Compatibility → Run as administrator.

Automatic login with username and password

By default, OpenVPN will prompt for credentials at startup. To automate this, you can save your login details in a text file (note: this is insecure). Recent versions of OpenVPN allow secure credential storage within the app; use this manual method only for older versions.

1. Create a password.txt file in the OpenVPN/config folder with:
   Line 1 → username
   Line 2 → password
2. Edit your .ovpn file and change auth-user-pass to auth-user-pass password.txt.
3. Install OpenVPN version 2.3 or later if your build does not support this feature.