Window 10 VPN Woes

grefa · February 1, 2016

So I have a question I couldn't find the answer to on google. I've setup a VPN on my computer, following guides on youtube. My question is can my host computer also connect to the network? Essentially, do I need to have a second computer in order to run the VPN?

I'm getting the error : The connection was closed by the remote computer.

I have assigned ip addressed to IPV4 on the incoming connection and have port forwarded on my modem.

Thanks for your time

ShadowForce · February 1, 2016

What a VPN generally does is create a "tunnel" between your computer (client) and an other computer (host). One way a VPN can be used to allow your client PC to act like it is on the local network of the host. This would allow you to access on your client at home your network shared files at work though the VPN connection to the host which is on the office network, which in this case could be your work PC or a server.

The other common use for a VPN is to tunnel your connection to the internet though a host so that to web services (netflix, facebook, etc) it appears as if you are located where ever the host is located. This is also useful for securing your internet connection when you are on an untrusted network like a coffeeshop's wifi.

To answer your question, it depends on what you are trying to do. Are you wanting to get around region blocking for media content or otherwise re-route all of your internet traffic for privacy, or are you wanting to be able to access a local network remotely?

In general, if you just want to get around region blocking or make sure your internet connection is private, you should use a VPN provider. (For coffeshop privacy example, you could use your home router as the host, but that can be tricky to set up depending on router, slow, and not secure if not properly set up.) If you want to access a local network remotely, you would need something on the local network that you want to connect to running a VPN host which could be a PC, router, or dedicated VPN device.

TL;DR: yes, you need something on the other side to connect to.