How to set up OpenVPN on DD-WRT router – Surfshark Customer Support

In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up a DD-WRT VPN using the DD-WRT OpenVPN client interface.

To begin with, you need an active Surfshark subscription, which you can find on Surfshark’s pricing page.

NOTE: Your router must have at least 8 MB of flash memory to maintain the VPN connection.

Get your credentials

NOTE: These are not your regular credentials, such as your email and password.

Enter the Surfshark login page and log in. Then, click on VPN > Manual Setup > Router > OpenVPN to generate your credentials.
Once there, make sure that you are in the Credentials tab and click on Generate credentials.

NOTE: Keep this tab open as we'll need it later.

Choose a Surfshark server

Open the same page on another browser tab, go to the Locations tab, and locate the server that you wish to connect to.
Click on the download icon to the right of the server name and click on Download UDP.

Configure the OpenVPN client

Open your router’s control panel by entering your router's IP address in the URL bar in your browser. By default, the IP address usually is 192.168.1.1

If it doesn't work, try the following:

192.168.2.1 (Linksys/ Asus routers)
192.168.10.1 (Buffalo routers)
192.168.11.1 / 192.168.30.1 (Motorola and some others)
Set up Surfshark’s DNS servers. In the DD-WRT control panel, open the Setup tab, scroll down to the Network Address Server Settings (DHCP) and enter the following information:

Static DNS 1 — 162.252.172.57
Static DNS 2 — 149.154.159.92
Static DNS 3 — 0.0.0.0 (default)
Use DNSMasq for DHCP — Checked
Use DNSMasq for DNS — Checked
DHCP-Authoritative — Checked

Then, click Save and Apply Settings.
Click on the Service tab, select VPN, and find the OpenVPN client. Make sure that it is Enabled.

Enter the following information:

Server IP/Name — Enter the server hostname from the configuration file you downloaded (refer to Choose Surfshark server section of this tutorial)
Port — 1194
Tunnel Device — TUN
Tunnel Protocol — UDP
Encryption Cipher — None
Hash Algorithm — SHA-512
User Pass Authentication — Enable
Username — Your Surfshark service username (refer to Get your credentials section of this guide)
Password — Your Surfshark service password (refer to Get your credentials section of this guide)

NOTE: If there are no Username and Password fields, fill in the other fields as specified in this tutorial and proceed to step 3.1.

Advanced Options – Enable (this will enable additional options);
TLS Cipher – None
LZO Compression – Disabled
NAT – Enable

We recommend that you avoid changing any other fields.

4.1 (OPTIONAL, depending on step 4.)

If you do not see any fields to enter your credentials, please advance to Administration > Commands, and enter these commands:

echo "USERNAME
PASSWORD" > /tmp/openvpncl/user.conf
/usr/bin/killall openvpn
/usr/sbin/openvpn --config /tmp/openvpncl/openvpn.conf --route-up /tmp/openvpncl/route-up.sh --down-pre /tmp/openvpncl/route-down.sh --daemon

Please make sure to replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Surfshark service credentials (refer to the Get your credentials section of this article)

4.2 Click Save Startup, and return to the previous VPN tab.

4.3 Add this line to the field of Additional Config:

auth-user-pass /tmp/openvpncl/user.conf

In Additional Config field enter these commands:

remote-cert-tls server
remote-random
nobind
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
persist-key
persist-tun
ping-timer-rem
reneg-sec 0
cipher AES-256-GCM
auth SHA512
log /tmp/vpn.log

Copy the Certificate from here and paste it into CA Cert field.

Copy the Static key from here and paste it to the TLS Auth Key field.

-----BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1-----
b02cb1d7c6fee5d4f89b8de72b51a8d0
c7b282631d6fc19be1df6ebae9e2779e
6d9f097058a31c97f57f0c35526a44ae
09a01d1284b50b954d9246725a1ead1f
f224a102ed9ab3da0152a15525643b2e
ee226c37041dc55539d475183b889a10
e18bb94f079a4a49888da566b9978346
0ece01daaf93548beea6c827d9674897
e7279ff1a19cb092659e8c1860fbad0d
b4ad0ad5732f1af4655dbd66214e552f
04ed8fd0104e1d4bf99c249ac229ce16
9d9ba22068c6c0ab742424760911d463
6aafb4b85f0c952a9ce4275bc821391a
a65fcd0d2394f006e3fba0fd34c4bc4a
b260f4b45dec3285875589c97d3087c9
134d3a3aa2f904512e85aa2dc2202498
-----END OpenVPN Static key V1-----

Make sure you have entered everything correctly, click Save, and Apply Settings.

Connect to the VPN

Once you click the Apply Settings after configuring your OpenVPN client, your DD-WRT VPN router connects to the VPN automatically.

To disconnect from the VPN, go to Services > VPN > OpenVPN client and disable the OpenVPN Client. To reconnect, enable it again.
To make sure you have connected to the VPN, go to Status > OpenVPN. If the connection was successful, you should see this:

Ensure the connection is successful

We always recommend checking if Surfshark VPN is working after setting it up for the first time. You can easily do it by performing Surfshark IP leak test and a DNS leak test. For your convenience, both are available on our website.

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