In this tutorial IT Block will assist you to set up a PPTP VPN access to your Synology NAS server
In this tutorial, we lay out in detail how you can set up and connect to a PPTP or Point-to-point tunnelling protocol VPN server.
Pre-requisites:
You need to have a static IP address for this to work. If you do not, a great workaround would be to set an account at no-ip.com. Allowing you to more affordably point your PPTP request to a hosted domain name that can follow the changes to your non-static IP, preserving the integrity of your remote connections. In all honesty, it is much less troublesome to get a static IP. It can also be helpful to have a router that is no-ip.com compatible.
Step 1: Launch VPN server in Synology
Easily create and connect to Synology PPTP VPN
Run "Package Center" and search the 'VPN server' and install it. Once the installation is complete, run 'VPN server', and you see the window above.
In Overview, all of the VPN server options here and today, we focus on setting up your PPTP VPN server.
Step 2: Set up and launch PPTP VPN server in Synology
Easily create and connect to Synology PPTP VPN
To start, click on 'PPTP' on the left-hand column and click 'Enable PPTP VPN server' to initiate. You could keep the settings as is, but for security reasons, you might want to change the Dynamic IP address to something less conventional. Changing it from '10.0.0~' to '10.22.0~' is much more secure, the idea is to stay away from default settings, to make it slightly more secure.
You can leave the rest of the settings as is, make sure the authentication set to 'MS-CHAP v2'. You can also improve security by controlling the number of maximum connections with the same user account.
Click 'Apply'. You have now successfully launched a VPN server in your Synology NAS!
Step 3: Connecting to your Synology PPTP VPN server on Windows
Easily create and connect to Synology PPTP VPN
In the Windows search bar type 'VPN' and click on 'VPN settings' as shown in the image above.
Next thing you would do is to click 'Add a VPN connection', this brings out a blue window where you input the required fields, enabling a direct connection to your PPTP VPN server in your Synology NAS.
Reminder: The purpose of this tutorial is to allow connection to your already mapped drives. Which means if you did not have any drives mapped in the first place, the point of this tutorial is not relevant.
Refer to this tutorial if you have not done so: Easy way to connect to Synology NAS on Windows
Once you see the blue window here, set the VPN provider to 'Windows (built-in)'. Connection name can be any name of your preference.
Server name or address has to be the exact static IP or domain name of your local environment—the same local environment where your NAS lives.
VPN type has to set to 'Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)' for this to work.
Type of sign-in info has to be user name and password.
Your username and password are the very same you have set for yourself to access Synology NAS. Your PPTP server uses the same credentials to authenticate your connection request.
And finally, to connect to your PPTP VPN server, click on the 'WIFI' icon at the bottom left of your screen. In the case of an ethernet connection, you can also click on the same icon. And at the very top of the list of connections available, you see the Windows VPN icon.
Click on the name of the VPN connection you named earlier to reveal the 'connect' button. And click on it. If everything is working as it should, you are now able to open your NAS drives from virtually anywhere. Congratulations!
troubleshooting:
If you have set up two-factor authentication, you may have first to connect and authenticate there. After which you can attempt to connect.
If you are doing this on behalf of a large organization, and the connections are not stable, you may need to upgrade the RAM of your Synology NAS.
Please love and share this if you have learned something. And thank you for reading 'Easily create and connect to Synology PPTP VPN'.
