VPN connections serve many purposes. The main one is to help us hide our identity when we connect to the Internet so that we can surf anonymously and privately, without revealing our data, and evade censorship. And, thanks to its encryption, it can also be used as a security measure to prevent nothing and no one from capturing and modifying our traffic. But they can also be necessary to be able to connect to a company’s network safely from outside, something that has gained much popularity with the rise of teleworking.
There are many ways to connect to a VPN from a computer or from a mobile. Many of the servers that we can hire have their own clients that simplify the connection process as much as possible and, incidentally, control the use we make of the connection. In addition, operating systems are compatible with some of the most common protocols to be able to connect to these networks without the need for additional software.
Next, we are going to explain how we can easily connect to a VPN directly from Windows 10, without additional programs or tools.
VPN protocols supported by Windows 10
If we are going to connect to a virtual private network from Windows 10, without using other programs, the protocols that we will be able to configure directly from Windows are the following:
- PPTP
- L2TP / IPSec
- SSTP
- IKEv2
If we install some VPN software we will be able to use it without problems to configure our own connection. We can do it from the program itself or from here, changing the provider option as we will see later.
Connect to a VPN from Windows 10
The process of configuring a VPN in Windows can be found in the Windows 10 Configuration panel. Specifically, in the ” Network and Internet ” section.
Here, the next step will be to select, in the left panel, the option “VPN”.
Before entering the configuration process as such, we are going to see the two main options that we can find. Basically what they allow us is to choose if we want the VPN to work also when we use a measured data network, or if we want to be able to use it when Windows detects roaming on the network.
If we do not have special needs, it will not matter to have them activated or deactivated. But if we have limited connections, or a data network, we are still interested in deactivating them to avoid surprises.
Next, we click on the ” Add a VPN connection ” button, and we can see a wizard like the one below.
The data that we must fill in here are:
- VPN provider : who will create the connection. It can be Windows itself, or a virtual private network client that we have installed on the PC.
- Connection name: the name with which we want it to be saved on the PC. Useful to identify the connection.
- Server name or address : the IP, or domain, of the server to which we want to connect.
- Type: the protocol that we are going to use. We can leave it in automatic, so that it is detected automatically, or choose ourselves the one we want to use (if we know it).
- Login information type : the login form. We can choose if we want to use the username and password, a smart card, a unique password or a digital certificate.
- User: the user to log in.
- Password: the key with which we want to log in.
We fill in the data, click on “Save” and that’s it. We already have the VPN created. Now let’s see how it works.
Configure and connect to a virtual network
Once we have configured the new connection, it will appear just below the button to create a new connection that we have seen before.
As we will see, when we click on the connection we will have three buttons that will allow us to work with it. The first one, “Connect”, we know very well what to do: it will allow us to start the connection with the server.
The second, ” Advanced options “, allows us to access the advanced options of the connection.
Here we will be able to see a summary of all of it, with its information and all the parameters that we have entered. We can also edit the data, if necessary, from the corresponding edit button. The ” Delete login information ” button will allow us to delete all login records, useful for solving problems when we cannot connect to this network.
Finally, we will also be able to configure a proxy connection associated with the VPN.
Tip: connect to a network quickly
Every time we want to connect to this network we will not have to go to the Settings menu, since it is a very impractical process. Windows 10 will add an access to all the VPNs created in the network icon on the operating system taskbar.
If we click on the network icon, or Wi-Fi, we can see how this connection appears. In this way, we will simply have to choose the connection we want to establish and that’s it. Windows 10 will connect directly to it from there without having to go to other menus.
Remove a VPN
If what we want is for the VPN to disappear, because we no longer need it, all we have to do is, from the previous window, select the connection that will appear in the list and choose the third button that appears: Remove.
We will simply have to confirm the removal of the VPN from there and the function will automatically disappear from the list. In case we want to reconnect later, we will have to re-create the connection from scratch following the steps we have seen in the previous points.