How to Set Up L2TP on macOS

This tutorial provides instructions on how to establish a manual L2TP VPN connection on your Mac.

Important : L2TP/IPsec has low-security advantages and should only be used for anonymity or to change location.

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Get your Account Credentials

Set Up the VPN Configuration

Your first VPN Connection

Get your Account Credentials

1. Visit your online account and login with your CyberGhost Username and Password.

2. Click on 'My Devices' and in the 'Add a new device' section > click 'Other'.

Click 'Configure New Device'.

Select L2TP and 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.

NOTE: The Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) allows operations of multiple tunnels and can be considered as very safe. For authentication, it uses PAP/CHAP, but it lacks its own encryption, which is why CyberGhost uses L2TP in connection with the encryption technology IPSec as 'L2TP/IPSec'

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: Depending on the chosen country as well as the availability of different server types as an attribute of your current plan you can also define a server group to use:

After setting up your preferred settings, save them with 'Save Configuration'

To view the L2TP credentials that are generated for you on the configuration dashboard, press View Configuration.

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

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.

Set up the VPN configuration

1. Start your Mac OS X L2TP/IPSec configuration by first moving to 'System Preferences' and then 'Network'.

2. In the next window click on the '+' sign in the lower-left corner.

3. In the pop-up window, enter the following details:

Interface : VPN
VPN Type : L2TP over IPSec
Service Name : Fill in a description that will help you identify your VPN connection

Lastly, click on 'Create'.

4. Enter the following information in the Network window :

Configuration : Default
Server Address : Enter the server address from Step 1
Account Name : Enter the Username from Step 1

NOTE : DO NOT use your regular CyberGhost username and password, which you use to login to the client and your account management!

Next, click on Authentication Settings and Enter the following information:

Password : Enter the Password from Step 1

Shared Secret : Enter the Pre-Shared from Step 1

Then click OK.

5. Now open the 'Advanced' section on the lower right side of the settings window.

On the 'Options' tab, make sure that all three options under 'Session Options' are activated. The first ones already are, the third one, 'Send all traffic over VPN', needs to be checked by you.

Click on 'OK' to leave the dialog.