How to set up pfSense 2.4.4 with Surfshark – Surfshark Customer Support

This tutorial will show you how to configure a Surfshark VPN tunnel on your pfSense 2.4.4 router.

You will learn how to:

Find your login details
Choose a Surfshark server
Configure the OpenVPN client

To proceed, you need to have a router with pfSense firmware version 2.4.4 or higher and an active Surfshark subscription.

If you don’t have a subscription yet, you can get one here.

Find your login details

You’ll need Surfshark service credentials to connect to the VPN using the manual OpenVPN configuration method explained below.

Here is how you can get your Surfshark service credentials:

Go to this page. This is the page where you can find all the details required for a manual connection.

You may need to log in before proceeding to this page. In that case, enter your email address and your password, then click Log in.
Click on the Credentials tab on top. You will find the Surfshark service username and password there.

It is a good idea to keep this page open for now. You will need these credentials a bit later.

Choose a Surfshark server

Every server location has a hostname that you need to use on the router to connect to a particular server.

Please switch to the Files section to find the list of all servers and their hostnames. Copy the hostname of your preferred location - you will use it a bit later.

You will need the hostname of the VPN server. You can find the hostname below the flag icon of each location.

Configure the OpenVPN client

To set up pfSense 2.4.4 with OpenVPN, access your pfSense admin panel via a browser.

Then navigate to System > Cert. Manager > CAs.

Press on the + Add button. Then fill the fields out like this:

Descriptive Name: Surfshark_VPN;
Method: Import an existing Certificate Authority;
Certificate data:

Press Save at the bottom of the page.

Afterwards, navigate to VPN > OpenVPN > Clients and press +Add.
Fill in the fields as so:

General Information:

Disable this client: leave unchecked;
Server mode: Peer to Peer (SSL/TLS);
Protocol: UDP on IPv4 only (you can also use TCP);
Device mode: tun – Layer 3 Tunnel Mode;
Interface: WAN;
Local port: leave blank;
Server host or address: The server hostname that you wish to connect to (from the Choose a Surfshark server step);
Server port: 1194 (use 1443 if you use TCP);
Proxy host or address: leave blank;
Proxy port: leave blank;
Proxy Authentication: None;
Description: Any name you like.

User Authentication Settings:

Username and Password: Surfshark service credentials from the Find your login details step.

Authentication Retry: leave unchecked

Cryptographic Settings:

TLS Configuration: Check;
Automatically generate a TLS Key: Uncheck;
TLS Key:
```
-----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-----
```
TLS Key Usage Mode: TLS Authentication;
Peer certificate authority: Surfshark_VPN;
Peer Certificate Revocation list: do not define;

Client certificate: webConfigurator default (59f92214095d8)(Server: Yes, In Use) (please note that the numbers on your machine could be different);
Encryption Algorithm: AES-256-GCM;
Enable NCP: Check;
NCP Algorithms: AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CBC;
Auth digest algorithm: SHA512 (512-bit);
Hardware Crypto: No hardware crypto acceleration.

Tunnel Settings:

IPv4 tunnel network: leave blank;
IPv6 tunnel network: leave blank;
IPv4 remote network(s): leave blank;
IPv6 remote network(s): leave blank;
Limit outgoing bandwidth: leave blank;
Compression: Omit Preference (Use OpenVPN Default);
Topology: Subnet – One IP address per client in a common subnet
Type-of-service: leave unchecked;
Don’t pull routes: uncheck;
Don’t add/remove routes: leave unchecked.

Advanced Configuration:

Custom options: paste the contents below
```
tls-client;
remote-random;
tun-mtu 1500;
tun-mtu-extra 32;
mssfix 1450;
persist-key;
persist-tun;
reneg-sec 0;
remote-cert-tls server;
```
UDP FAST I/O: leave unchecked;
Send/Receive Buffer: Default;
Gateway creation: IPv4 only;
Verbosity level: 3 (recommended).

Press Save at the bottom of the page and Apply changes at the top of the page.
Navigate to Interfaces > Interface Assignments and add Surfshark VPN interface.
Press on OPT1 on the left of your assigned interface and fill in the following information:

Enable: check;
Description: Surfshark VPN;
MAC Address: leave blank;
MTU: leave blank;
MSS: leave blank.

Do not change anything else. Just scroll down to the bottom and press Save and Apply Changes.
Navigate to Services > DNS Resolver > General Settings

Enable: check;
Listen port: leave as it already is;
Enable SSL/TLS Service: uncheck;
SSL/TLS Certificate: webConfigurator default (59f92214095d8) (Server: Yes, In Use) (please note that the numbers on your machine could be different);
SSL/TLS Listen Port: leave as it already is;
Network Interfaces: All;
Outgoing Network Interfaces: Surfshark VPN;
System Domains Local Zone Type: Transparent;
DNSSEC: uncheck;
DNS Query Forwarding: check;
DHCP Registration: check;
Static DHCP: check.

Click Save and Apply Changes.
While in DNS Resolver, select Advanced Settings at the top and then fill in the following:

ADVANCED PRIVACY OPTIONS:

Hide Identity: check;
Hide Version: check;

ADVANCED RESOLVER OPTIONS:

Prefetch Support: check;
Prefetch DNS Key Support: check;

Click Save and Apply changes.
Navigate to Firewall > NAT > Outbound and select Manual Outbound NAT rule generation.

Press Save and Apply Changes. Then four rules will appear. Leave all rules untouched and add a new one.

1. Select SurfsharkVPN as an Interface.
2. Source: your LAN subnet.
3. Click Save.
Navigate to Firewall > Rules > LAN and delete the IPv6 rule. Also, edit the IPv4 rule:

1. Press on Display Advanced.
2. Change Gateway to Surfshark VPN.
3. Click Save and Apply Changes.
Go to System > General Setup > DNS Server Settings and fill in:

DNS Server 1: 162.252.172.57; Gateway: SURFSHARKVPN_VPNV4
DNS Server 2: 149.154.159.92; Gateway: SURFSHARKVPN_VPNV4

Click Save.
Now you can navigate to Status > OpenVPN, and it should state that the service is up.

Congratulations - you have successfully installed and configured Surfshark VPN on your router! As long as you’re connected, your location is private, and your sensitive data is secure.