How to configure OpenVPN for OpenELEC 6 on a Raspberry Pi

Please note:

This instruction covers Kodi installations with OpenELEC 5 and 7 as well as LibreELEC 7 final, LibreELEC 8 Alpha and LibreELEC 9 with the 'VPN Manager for OpenVPN'. OpenELEC 6 doesn't support OpenVPN and will be covered in a separate article.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that, although the technical process is as thoroughly documented as possible, you need to have at least some technical understanding. There's always a chance for an overseen mistake and/or things have changed and the article is not updated yet. 

Step 1: Create the VPN Configuration files

Visit your CyberGhost VPN online account and login with your Premium Username and Password

Click on section 'VPN' from the left-side menu, scroll down the page and click 'Configure Device'.

Choose your desired protocol, in our example: OpenVPN and your preferred country and server group, as described below.

Also, type in a Device name to assign to your device, then configure the parameters for the new device.

• Country: Since native protocol connections may only be used with exactly one server you now have to choose the country you want to surf from; the server to be used in this country will be chosen by CyberGhost automatically.
• Server group: Choose the server group and the OpenVPN protocol (UDP or TCP) you want to use:
  UDP allows higher speed than the TCP version, but can result in broken downloads in some cases. This is the default setting.
  TCP allows more stable connections than the UDP version, but is a bit slower. Choose this version, if you have recurrent connection issues such as sudden disconnections.

Once the desired parameters are chosen, save them with « Save Configuration »

To view the OpenVPN credentials that are generated for you on the configuration dashboard, press 'View'. 

Once the new page is opened, your connection credentials are generated for you but make note of the following information:

• Server group: This is the address of the country (server) you want to be connected with, e.g. '12345-1-ca.cg-dialup.net'. Note: This address changes with every country you have chosen in the step before. The actual single server to be used will be chosen automatically by CyberGhost.
• User name: A solely for this protocol generated user name. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account user name, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
• Password (you need to check the "Show Password" option in order to see it): A solely for protocol usage generated password. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account Password, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
• Pre-Shared Key

Please download the configuration file. For that please click on 'Download Configuration' and download the config file to your computer (it's recommended that you create a special folder for the config, somewhere accessible like your Desktop and Extract/Copy the contents of the .zip file there). 

Now, the saved config is a ZIP file, which contains the following single files:

Once configured (as detailed above), please download the configuration file. Click on 'Download Configuration' and save the file on your computer. It's a ZIP file, which contains the following single configuration files:

• client.crt: This is the user certification file 
• client.key: This is your private key file
• openvpn.ovpn: This is your OpenVPN configuration which can be deleted (the VPN Manager creates it's own)
• ca.crt: This is the certificate of the certification authority (not needed, later on, can also be deleted)

Unzip the files 'client.crt' and 'client.key' from the zipped configuration file to a folder on your desktop. 

If you need to change the country you connect to, you must re-configure the location to use in your account management and download the new zipped config file.

Step 2: Get and install OpenVPN

Since OpenELEC 6 doesn't include OpenVPN you first need to download and install the 'Unofficial addon repository': For that start OpenELEC and click on 'System > Addons > Search':

Type 'Unofficial' in the search field and click on 'Done':

Open the repository entry either via a double click or the context menu ...

... and install it:

 

After the installation move back to the add-on's root ('Myadd‐ons') and click on 'Install from repository':

Choose 'Unofficial OpenELEC Add‐ons':

Move to 'Program add‐ons' and install 'openvpn' by Stefan Saraev.

Optional: Test the OpenVPN installation

To test your installation of OpenVPN, you need an SSH connection provided by the program 'Putty'. Download its Windows installer, install the program, and start it. In the first window enter the IP address of your Kodi device, press 'Open', and enter login ('root') and password ('openelec', resp. 'libreelec'). 

Type 'openvpn' at the prompt. You should get a bunch of options displayed. 

Step 3: Get VPN Manager for OpenVPN and copy files

To make sure, the VPN Manager gets updated properly, download the complete repository, as opposed to just the single add-on and copy the unzipped file to the folder with the certificate and the key. 

Now copy all files to your device. For that, you need access to the file system on your OpenELEC/LibreELEC device. The easiest way is by using a FTP client like Filezilla:

1. First check for the OpenELEC/LibreELEC network IP address, usually something like '192.168.178.XXX' and note it. If you don't know how to find it, have a look at 'System > System info > Summary > IP address' in your Kodi media center.
2. Start Filezilla, click on 'File > Server manager' and configure a new connection to your OpenELEC/LibreELEC device:
   • Enter the 'Server' address (this is the network address of your OpenELEC/LibreELEC device), e. g. '192.168.178.25'
   • Choose 'SFTP' as the 'Protocol'
   • Choose 'Normal' as 'Connection type'
   • Enter the 'User name' of OpenELEC/LibreELEC, usually 'root'
   • Enter 'Password' for OpenELEC (usually 'openelec'), resp LibreELEC (usually 'libreelec')
   • Click on 'Connect'
3. Filezilla opens the file system of your Kodi installation right inside the folder 'storage'. Create a new folder called 'downloads' or 'VPN' or whatever you want to call it.
4. Open the newly created download folder and copy all files into it (namely the files 'client.crt' and 'client.key' and the zipped repository file). 

Step 4: Install VPN Manager for OpenVPN 

As before click on 'Install from zip file' and move to the folder, where you copied the three files from the last step to. Mark the repository and click on 'OK'.

After the repository got installed, click on 'Install from repository', choose the 'Zomboided Add-on Repository', click on 'Services', then on 'VPN Manager for OpenVPN' and at last on 'Install'.

Step 5: Configure VPN Manager for OpenVPN

 After installation move to 'My add-ons' and open the entry 'Services':

 

Open 'VPN Manager for OpenVPN' and click on 'Configure'. You can use the Wizard or do it manually as we do it here (although the steps are the same). In the tab 'VPN Configuration' choose 'CyberGhost' as the 'VPN Provider' and enter the user name and the password you noted in step 1. DO NOT use your regular CyberGhost credentials.

Click on 'OK' and select the connection profile, which fits your subscription: 'Premium and Premium Plus Account' or 'Promo Account':

The next step is about the two files you saved from the downloaded configuration file.

Click on 'OK' and then select the user certificate ('client.crt') and the user key ('client.key'). Once done, the VPN Manager will connect to your first VPN.

 

For any additional information or concerns - it is best to approach the Support Department:

via e-mail: support@cyberghost.ro
via on-line request: https://support.cyberghostvpn.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
via 24/7 Live! Chat Sessions on our website