Cannot connect TP-Link OpenVPN client to another router

Cannot connect TP-Link OpenVPN client to another router

Cannot connect TP-Link OpenVPN client to another router
Cannot connect TP-Link OpenVPN client to another router
Friday
Tags: #VPN
Model: TL-WR1502X  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.1.1 Build 20250808 rel.68172(5553)

I have a different router running DD-WRT and hosting an OpenVPN server. I am able to connect to it from a laptop using OpenVPN Connect. When I apply the same OpenVPN client config (.ovpn file) to my TP-Link router, it stalls on "Connecting". I cannot find any logs from the TP-Link to assist in debugging, and the server shows no record of it attempting to connect. The TP-Link router definitely has internet access because I can connect to it and browse the web (it is running on my phone's hotspot, and will ultimately be my travel router).

 

My OpenVPN server is running OpenVPN version 2.6.10. I found this TP-Link FAQ but it seems to be too old to work with this server version: https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/3317/

What version of OpenVPN does TP-Link use?

Do you have an example OpenVPN config file that I could copy?

 

OpenVPN Client shows "Connecting"

 

The client has no username or password and the client connection (.ovpn file) looks like this:

 

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote REDACTED 1194
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
resolv-retry infinite
remote-cert-tls server
auth-nocache
verb 4
float
tun-mtu 1500
auth SHA256
comp-lzo adaptive
data-ciphers aes-128-cbc
<ca>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
REDACTED
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
</ca>
<cert>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
REDACTED
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
</cert>
<key>
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
REDACTED
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
</key>

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Re:Cannot connect TP-Link OpenVPN client to another router
Yesterday - last edited Yesterday

  @castlenugget 

 

Hi,

 

From the GPL code that TP-Link posted on their webpage your router appears to use OpenVPN 2.4.11.

 

The "data-ciphers" option was supposedly introduced in OpenVPN 2.5.

 

I suggest you comment-out or remove the "data-ciphers aes-128-cbc" line from the *.ovpn file and then try again. This works for my Archer AX53 router.

 

However, it is weird that your server shows nothing at all. Even if server and client were to use two incompatible versions of OpenVPN, the connection attempt should still be visible in the server logs.
When you tested with the laptop running OpenVPN Connect, were you also connected to that same phone's hotspot?
 

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