VPN for your router

Connect the router itself to VanyaVPN and everything on your home Wi-Fi uses the VPN, the smart TV and the game console included. Nothing gets installed on the router. It only needs a VPN client in its menu that speaks OpenVPN, or at least PPTP.

Take an .ovpn file or PPTP

  • Keenetic Your account has a file made for it, login included
  • ASUS The VPN section, called VPN Fusion on newer firmware
  • TP-Link Only some Archer models have the client, devices are picked from a list

PPTP only

  • Xiaomi MiWiFi firmware, auto-connect is a separate switch
  • Tenda A PPTP/L2TP client, tucked away deeper on newer models

Depends on the model

  • Zyxel Older Zyxel Keenetic routers connect over PPTP
  • D-Link Usually no client, but there are other options

Steps for any brand

  1. Get a login in your account

    Log in to your account, open the Router section and press “Get router settings”. The login and password cover every server on the list and both protocols. They become active in about two minutes.

    Router section of the VanyaVPN account with the Get router settings button

  2. Find the client in the router

    In the router’s web interface, look for something like “VPN”, “VPN Client” or “Other connections”. Make sure it’s a client. A VPN server in the same menu does the opposite and opens your home network to connections from outside.

  3. Connect over OpenVPN or PPTP

    If the router can import an .ovpn file, download one next to a server in the country you want and upload it, that’s OpenVPN. If it can’t, create a PPTP connection with the server’s IP address, your login and password, and MPPE 128-bit encryption. PPTP is old and less secure, so use it only when there’s nothing better on offer.

If your brand isn’t listed

Other brands work the same way, as long as the menu has a client. On Huawei 4G routers it sits under “Advanced” → “Router” → “VPN”, with PPTP as the type. On MikroTik’s RouterOS it’s the PPTP Client interface, and the general steps above apply.

If the menu has no OpenVPN or PPTP client, the router isn’t suitable. That’s usually the case with routers supplied by Russian providers such as Rostelecom, Beeline and MegaFon. In that case install VanyaVPN on the devices themselves, there are apps for computers and phones, and one for Android TV.

Router questions

My provider blocks PPTP and OpenVPN. What can I do?

It happens, and the account page warns about it. Try OpenVPN over TCP, the .ovpn file lists it as the second address. If that fails too, use the app. It runs on different protocols, ones designed to get past blocking.

Can I connect two routers, one in the city and one at a country house?

Only one at a time. A login serves a single connection, and a new one drops the previous. For the second place it’s easier to put VanyaVPN on the phones and laptops there, since the subscription has no device limit.

Which countries are the servers in?

Routers have their own server list, which differs from the countries in the app and changes now and then. The current one is always in your account, with a flag next to each server.