Learn how to connect L2TP/IPsec VPN on Windows 10

Estimated reading time: 1 min

Introduction

This article will describe how to connect L2TP/IPsec VPN on Windows 10

Prerequisites

  • Windows 10
  • Access to your Windows 10 as Administrator or a user with administrator permissions

Step 1 – Log in to Windows 10

Click on the search icon in the Windows menu bar and search for control panel. You should see the Control Panel icon and click on it.

windows 10 searchbar

Open Network and Internet

windows 10 network

Open Network and Sharing Center

windows 10 networkcenter

Step 2 – Configure VPN

Click on Set up a new connection on a network

windows 10 connection

Select Connect to a workplace and click on Next

windows 10 workplace

Click Use my Internet connection (VPN)

windows 10 workplace vpn

Enter your IP address in the Internet Address field. In our example, we use this IP, 193.33.61.185, click on Create

windows 10 create vpn

After you have clicked on Create the set up wizard will be closed.

Click Change adapter settings on the left side menu.

windows 10 network adapter

You will now see all available interfaces. Open Properties of the VPN connection interface

vpn properties

Open Security tab

vpn security properties

Open dropdown of Type of VPN and select Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol with IPsec (L2TP/IPsec)

vpn l2tp properties

Click on Advanced settings. Select Use preshared key for authentication and fill in the preshared key which you created on the Windows Server. Apply it by clicking on OK.

win10 vpn presharedkey

Return back to the Security tab. Select Allow these protocols and check the following values:

  • Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
  • Microsoft CHAP Version 2 (MS-CHAP v2)

vpn allow protocols

Apply the changes by clicking on OK.

vpn apply

Step 3 – Connect to VPN server

Open Network icon in the right bottom and click on VPN Connection

windows 10 networkicon

After you have clicked on VPN Connection a Connect button will be visible. Click on Connect

windows 10 make connection

You will be asked to enter a User name and Password

windows 10 vpn security

Trying to connect.

windows 10 try

Your VPN connection is established.

windows 10 l2tp/ipsec

Step 4 – Check IP address

If you are routing all the traffic through VPN you see the VPN IP address of your VPN server. You can find your IP address by visiting whatismyip.com .

macos ip

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have configured a VPN client on a Windows 10. You now know how to connect L2TP/IPsec VPN on Windows 10

Please see our knowledgebase for other articles on how to connect with VPN.

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Comments

  1. nick says

    Hello, what needs to be changed at the end of step 2, it says "click Change Adapter Settings" but does not list settings… i went through the whole instruction set, and i can connect with a Mac OS client, but not windows… not sure why…

  2. Bryan says

    Keep getting the error 'LT2P Connection attempt failed because the security layer encountered a processing error during intial negotiations with the remote computer'.

  3. tony bonn says

    after i connected to the vpn from my windows 10 machine, i could no longer use the internet – i cannot browse or access my email. how do allow access? i will probably find an answer searching around, but showing a solution to this problem would be a nice bonus.

      • Haven Skys says

        trouble with your network setup with this article is that you appear to have created a VPN network connection on a local network. Not entirely useless but less useful (not many people are trying to hide from other people on their own network). Incredible article though.

        You must be young, please consider that the purpose of this type of VPN is to give access to a remote user (not on the same network) access to your network resources. That would mean the server is behind an internet-facing router. I'm sure the firewall settings for any router is easy and your reservation is unnecessary to simply say UDP 1701, 500, and 4500 need to be directed to the 2019 VPN server. But those aren't right either. maybe with all your article writing wisdom you can get your spirit to look a tiny bit deeper and answer the question so this impressive couple of articles can be useful to more than people testing this out.
        🙂 said with love

        • Yavuz Aydin says

          > trouble with your network setup with this article is that you appear to have created a VPN network connection on a local network

          This is not true, this connection has been made to a public IPv4 address (see screenshot).

          > your reservation is unnecessary to simply say UDP 1701, 500, and 4500 need to be directed to the 2019 VPN server.

          This article is not about Windows Server 2019.

          Are you sure you're replying to the correct article?

  4. james says

    Keep getting the error 'LT2P Connection attempt failed because the security layer encountered a processing error during intial negotiations with the remote computer'

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