How to set up NordVPN on your router?
The procedure of setting up NordVPN on your router will depend on your router’s firmware or manufacturer. If you can’t find the VPN router setup tutorial for your router’s firmware on the following list, continue scrolling down for further instructions. You may also check out our list of router recommendations .
Setup tutorials for supported routers and firmware:
Not sure if your router is supported and/or can’t find it on the list above?
First, see if you can find your router on our list of unsupported routers.
If it’s not on there, check the user manual that came with your router (usually manuals are available for download on the manufacturer’s website). Search the manual for any mentions of OpenVPN support. Your router must support the OpenVPN client in order to potentially support a NordVPN configuration. If you can’t find this information in the manual, consider contacting your router’s manufacturer.
Note: If your router was issued by your ISP, it probably does not support VPN configurations. If that is the case, there are routers that come pre-configured with NordVPN. Our partner FlashRouters offers a selection of powerful routers that come with NordVPN out of the box.
If none of the tips mentioned above have helped you set up a connection, feel free to contact our support team!
How to Set Up VPN on Asus Router
How to set up an OpenVPN connection with NordVPN on your Asus router:
- First, you need to log in to the control panel of your Asus VPN router. You can do that by typing 192.168.1.1 (in case this IP address does not work, you can type 192.168.50.1) in the address bar of your browser. You may also enter router.asus.comor asusrouter.cominstead of the IP address into the WEB GUI. A window will pop up, asking you to enter your username and password. Unless you have changed your credentials, the default username is admin, and the default password is admin (or no password).
Once you have logged in to the Control Panel, select VPN in the left sidebar menu.
Click on the VPN Client tab at the top of the page.
Click on the Add profile button at the bottom of the page.
In the pop-up window, select the OpenVPN tab and fill in the fields:
Description: you can give the connection any name you like
Username: your NordVPN service username
Password: your NordVPN service password
Auto reconnection: yes
- Click Set up NordVPN manually.
You will receive a verification code in your email that you use for NordVPN services. Type the code in:
Copy the credentials using the “Copy” buttons on the right:
Now you need to download the OpenVPN client configuration files. We suggest using our server utility.
Once you have downloaded the files, go back to the control panel of your router and click Choose File in the pop-up window.
Navigate to the configuration file you have just downloaded and click Open.
Click Upload. You should see the message Complete! when the file has been uploaded successfully.
Leave the box next to “Import the CA file or edit the .ovpn file manually” unchecked and click OK.
In the VPN Client tab, you will see the created connection. Click Activate to connect your router to NordVPN. Please note that you can create only one OpenVPN connection.
A blue checkmark should appear in the Connection Status column, indicating that you are now connected to VPN on Asus router.
Your IP address and protection status will be visible at the top of the nordvpn.com page. Please make sure to refresh the webpage, as it might be loaded from the cache.
To disconnect from NordVPN, click on the Deactivate button, which appears instead of the Activate button in the Connection column.
DD-WRT setup with NordVPN
DD-WRT is custom firmware for routers which support the OpenVPN protocol and is available on a wide variety of routers. You can check if your router supports DD-WRT firmware here and learn how to install DD-WRT firmware on a router here.
This tutorial will show you how to set up a DD-WRT VPN using an OpenVPN connection on your DD-WRT router using theDD-WRT OpenVPN client UI.
1. In the DD-WRT Administrative Interface, navigate to Setup > Basic Setup. Under Network Address Server Settings (DHCP), set these NordVPN DNS addresses:
Static DNS 1: 103.86.96.100
Static DNS 2: 103.86.99.100
Static DNS 3: 0.0.0.0 (default)
Use DNSMasq for DHCP: Checked
Use DNSMasq for DNS: Checked
DHCP-Authoritative: Checked
Then, Save and Apply settings.
If you’re setting up two routers, you should change the second router’s local IP address to a different one from the main router’s. (In this case, the main router’s IP is 192.168.1.1, while the one you’re connecting to a NordVPN server is accessible via 192.168.2.1)
2. Navigate to Setup > IPV6. Set IPv6 to Disable, click Save, and then Apply Settings.
(this is a recommended step to make sure your IP doesn’t leak)
3. Navigate to Service > VPN. Under OpenVPN Client, set Start OpenVPN Client to Enable in order to see the options necessary for this configuration. Then set the following:
Server IP/Name: For the sake of this tutorial, we used us936.nordvpn.com, but you should connect to a server suggested to you at https://nordvpn.com/servers/tools/. You can find the server hostname right under the server title. Next, click on «Show available protocols» and download the UDP or TCP configuration file, which you will need later (steps 6-9).
Port: 1194 (or 443 for the TCP protocol)
Tunnel Device: TUN
Tunnel Protocol: UDP (or TCP)
Encryption Cipher: AES-256-CBC
Hash Algorithm: SHA-512
User Pass Authentication: Enable
Username, Password: Your NordVPN service credentials
First Data Cipher: Not set
Second Data Cipher: Not set
Third Data Cipher: Not set
Note: If the Username and Password fields are missing, fill in the remaining fields and proceed to step 3.1
You can find your NordVPN service credentials (service username and service password) in the Nord Account dashboard:
- Click Set up NordVPN manually.
You will receive a verification code in your email that you use for NordVPN services. Type the code in:
Copy the credentials using the “Copy” buttons on the right:
Advanced Options: Enable (this will enable additional options)
TLS Cipher: None
LZO Compression: Disable
NAT: Enable
The options not mentioned in this guide should be left with default values.
3.1. (Optional, depending on step 3.) If the Username and Password fields are missing, go to Administration > Commands and enter this code:
echo «YOURUSERNAME
YOURPASSWORD» > /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
Replace YOURUSERNAME and YOURPASSWORD with your respective NordVPN service credentials. Click Save Startup and return to the previous VPN tab.
4. In the Additional Config box either enter or copy/paste 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
#log /tmp/vpn.log
#Delete `#` in the line below if your router does not have credentials fields and you followed the 3.1 step
#auth-user-pass /tmp/openvpncl/user.conf
5. Open the OpenVPN configuration file you downloaded in Step 3 in any text editor of your preference (preferably WordPad or Notepad++, as regular notepad does not have the correct formatting).
6. When you open the .ovpn file of the server you chose (in our case, us936_nordvpn_com.udp.ovpn) in a text editor, you should see the part of the file (do NOT copy the and tags):
7. Copy its contents into the CA Cert field. Make sure the entire text gets pasted, including the
——BEGIN CERTIFICATE—— and ——END CERTIFICATE—— lines.
8. Now go back to the configuration file and scroll down to the part. Copy the contents of the TLS Key:
9. Paste the contents into the TLS Auth Key field. Make sure the entire text gets pasted in, including the
——BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1—— and ——END OpenVPN Static key V1—— lines.
10. After entering the data, click Save, and then Apply Settings.
11. To verify that the VPN is working, navigate to Status > OpenVPN
Under State, you should see the message «Client: CONNECTED SUCCESS».
Optional Kill Switch setup (for advanced users):
To create a kill switch, go to Administration > Commands and enter this script:
WAN_IF=`nvram get wan_iface`
iptables -I FORWARD -i br0 -o $WAN_IF -j REJECT —reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
iptables -I FORWARD -i br0 -p tcp -o $WAN_IF -j REJECT —reject-with tcp-reset
iptables -I FORWARD -i br0 -p udp -o $WAN_IF -j REJECT —reject-with udp-reset
Select Save Firewall, go to Administration > Management > Reboot router.
For other options check out our list of routers compatible with NordVPN.
Router
These tutorials will explain how to setup your routers with a NordVPN connection. Click here to learn more and secure your router.
- Setting up a router with NordVPN
- How to configure your Asus router running original firmware (AsusWRT)
- Setting up TP-Link with NordVPN
- Routers that do not support NordVPN
- GL.iNet setup with NordVPN
- Which router should I use with NordVPN?
- DD-WRT setup with NordVPN
- AsusWRT Merlin setup with NordVPN
- Netgear setup with NordVPN
- OpenWrt CI setup with NordVPN
- How to set up NordVPN on the latest Asus WRT firmware
- EdgeRouter and Ubiquiti setup with NordVPN
- MikroTik IKEv2 setup with NordVPN
- pfSense 2.5 Setup with NordVPN
- How to check the version of OpenVPN on an AsusWRT-running router
- DD-WRT setup with FlashRouters Privacy app
- OPNsense 19.1 setup with NordVPN
- pfSense 2.4.4 setup with NordVPN
- Tomato setup with NordVPN
- DrayTek Vigor IKEv2 setup with NordVPN
- Netduma setup with NordVPN
- NordVPN and pfSense
- Peplink / Pepwave setup with NordVPN
- Padavan setup with NordVPN
- pfSense 2.4.4 selective Routing
- Sabai setup with NordVPN
- pfSense 2.4.5 setup with NordVPN
Download the NordVPN mobile app for iOS or Android.