Virtual private network (VPN)

Before you connect

1. Click Start/Windows key.
2. Search for “VPN Settings”.
3. In the top right hand corner click “Add VPN”.
4. Leave “VNP Provider” as “Windows (built-in)”.
5. Set “Connection name” as “Imperial VPN”.
6. Set “Server name or address” to “vpn.ic.ac.uk”.
7. Leave “VPN type” on “Automatic”.
8. Leave “Type of sign-in info” as “Username and password”.
9. Set “Username (optional)” as Imperial username (abc123 NOT IC\abc123 or abc123@ic.ac.uk).
10. Set “Password (optional)” as Imperial password.

To connect

Method 1

1. Click Start/Windows key.
2. Search for “VPN Settings”.
3. In the top right hand corner, next to your VPN connection click “Connect”.

Method 2

1. Click on your internet icon in the taskbar by the clock.
2. On the popup menu click “VPN”.
3. Then click on your connection.

Follow these instructions to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection on your Windows 10 or Windows 8 machine:

1. Click on the Start button in the toolbar.
2. Type "Network Status" in the Search field and press Enter.
3. Choose VPN from the left-hand-side menu.
4. Select "Add a VPN connection".
5. In Connection Name type "Imperial VPN". 
6. Enter "vpn.ic.ac.uk" in the Server Name or Address field.
7. Enter "Automatic" in the VPN Type field.
8. Select User Name & Password in the Type of Sign-in info field. 
9. Enter your Imperial username (without the IC\ prefix).
10. Enter your Imperial password.
11. Tick Remember by sign-in info & click Save.

The connection has now been created and can be accessed and connected to by clicking the Wi-Fi symbol in the bottom right-hand corner.  

Alternative method

1. Download and install the latest OpenVPN client.
2. Download the OpenVPN configuration file.
3. Click the start button, type "OpenVPN" and click on the OpenVPN icon to open the client.
4. Under Import Profile click "File" and browse to the location of the OpenVPN configuration file downloaded in step 2.
5. Open the file.
6. Enter your Imperial username.
7. Tick Save Password and enter your Imperial password.
8. Click Add.
9. Click on the Open VPN Profile to connect to the VPN.

Follow these instructions to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection on your Windows 7 machine:

1. Click on the Start button in the toolbar.
2. Type "Network and Sharing Center" in the Search field and press Enter.
3. Choose "Set up a new connection or network" under the heading Change your network settings on the main page.
4. Choose "Connect to a workplace" from the new dialog box and click Next.
5. Select "Use my Internet connection".
6. Type "vpn.ic.ac.uk" in the Internet address field.
7. Type "Imperial College VPN" in the Destination name field and click Next.
8. Enter your Imperial username and password in the relevant fields on the next screen and click Connect.

The connection has now been created and will be saved and displayed in your connection list.

To set up a VPN using the NetworkManager-pptp package on a Linux system, you'll need to install the package, and then configure your VPN connection through the NetworkManager GUI or command line.

Step 1: Install the NetworkManager-pptp package

Open a terminal and use the package manager to install the PPTP plugin for NetworkManager. The command you use will depend on the Linux distribution you are running.

Ubuntu or Debian-based distributions

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp
• sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp-gnome  # If you're using GNOME

Fedora or Red Hat-based distributions

• sudo dnf install NetworkManager-pptp
• sudo dnf install NetworkManager-pptp-gnome  # If you're using GNOME

Arch Linux or Manjaro

• sudo pacman -S networkmanager-pptp

After installing, you may need to restart the NetworkManager service: sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.

Step 2: Configure the VPN connection

You can configure the VPN connection through the NetworkManager GUI, which is the easiest way if you are using a desktop environment.

Using the GUI

1. Click on the NetworkManager icon in your system tray.
2. Select VPN Connections > Configure VPN.
3. In the Network Connections window, click Add.
4. Choose Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) from the Choose a VPN Connection Type dialog box and click Create.
5. In the "Adding VPN connection" window, enter the following information:

• • Type Imperial College VPN in the Connection name field.
  • Enter vpn.ic.ac.uk in the Gateway field of the VPN tab.
  • Enter your Imperial username and password in the User name and Password fields.
  • Click the Advanced button.
  • Tick MSCHAPv2 under Allow the following authentication methods.
  • Tick Use Point to Point encryption (MPPE) under Security and Compression.
  • Click OK to return to the previous dialog box.
  • Click Apply to save your settings.

The Network Connections dialog box should now show your new VPN connection. To connect in future, click on the Network Manager icon again, select VPN Connections and choose Imperial College VPN.

Using the command line

If you prefer using the command line or if you don't have a desktop environment, you can use nmcli, the command-line interface to NetworkManager.

1. Add a new VPN connection - nmcli con add type pptp con-name "Imperial VPN" ifname -- auto ipv4.method auto
2. Set the VPN properties - nmcli con modify "Imperial VPN" vpn.data "gateway=vpn.ic.ac.uk, user=YourCollegeUsername, refuse-eap=yes"
   Replace YourCollegeUsername with your Imperial Username.
3. Start the VPN connection - nmcli con up id "Imperial VPN"

Step 1: Install OpenVPN and the NetworkManager plugin

First, you need to install OpenVPN and the NetworkManager plugin for OpenVPN. The commands will vary depending on your Linux distribution.

Ubuntu or Debian-based distributions

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install openvpn network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome

Fedora or Red Hat-based distributions

• sudo dnf install openvpn NetworkManager-openvpn NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome

For Arch Linux or Manjaro

• sudo pacman -S openvpn networkmanager-openvpn

After installing, you might need to restart the NetworkManager service, sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.

Step 2: Import the VPN configuration file

Download the config file from the Imperial OpenVPN website using curl (curl -o ic.ovpn https://openvpn.ic.ac.uk/ic.ovpn) or wget (wget -O ic.ovpn https://openvpn.ic.ac.uk/ic.ovpn).

Using the GUI

1. Click on the NetworkManager icon in your system tray.
2. Select "VPN Connections" > "Add a VPN connection..." or "Configure VPN..."
3. In the Network Connections window, click "Import from file...".
4. Navigate to the location of your .ovpn file, select it, and click "Open".
5. The details from the configuration file should be automatically imported. Enter any additional required information such as username and password if they are not included in the .ovpn file.
6. Click "Add" or "Save" to save the configuration.

Using the command line

You can also use the nmcli command-line tool to import the .ovpn file directly.

• nmcli connection import type openvpn file /path/to/your/config.ovpn.
• Replace /path/to/your/config.ovpn with the actual path to your .ovpn configuration file.

Step 3: Start the VPN connection

Using the GUI

1. Click on the NetworkManager icon again.
2. Go to "VPN Connections" and select the VPN you've just configured.
3. The VPN should now start connecting. Once connected, you should see a notification or a VPN icon indicating that the connection is active.

Using the command line

To start the VPN connection using the command line, use the following command:

• nmcli con up id "YourConnectionName".
• Replace YourConnectionName with the name of the VPN connection you imported or created.

To connect to the Imperial VPN using an Android device, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings on your Android device.
2. Select Wireless & networks.
3. Select VPN settings.
4. Tap on Add VPN.
5. Select Add PPTP VPN.
6. Edit the VPN name, type Imperial and click OK.
7. Set the VPN server to vpn.ic.ac.uk and click OK.

The connection is now set up. To use it, go back to the VPN settings screen and tap on Imperial.