VPN Connection Indication on Windows

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As of tomorrow I’m going to be switching to working remotely. Same job, just
from the comfort of my home office (and without 2-3 hours of commute daily!).
With this change I figure I’ll have about 8-10 hours of extra time per week to
work on things.

So I’ve got a couple of posts lined up for my blog, and some big plans for UX of
VR.

As to the technical side of working from home, I find myself predominantly using
Windows 10 for this, and connecting to work over VPN.

Windows lacks a nice way to manage VPN connections and indicate VPN connection
status – it’s all click 10 times and then cross your fingers. I’ve been digging
around for a solution to this, and have settled on a couple of oldish Windows
apps to make this nicer:

1. VPN Connection Indicator (http://www.weseman.net/vpnconnectionindicator/)
2. Tray Tools 2000 (http://www.gregorybraun.com/TrayTool.html)

The first simply indicates if you’re connected to a VPN or not, the second
allows you to make custom command icons for the system tray.

I’ve got two commands set up in Tray Tools:

First, single-click connect to VPN. This uses the built-in rasdial.exe that
comes as part of Windows since forever. You simply run that along with the name
of the VPN to connect to, and it connects:

C:\Windows\System32\rasdial.exe "Name Of Your VPN"

Second, single-click disconnect from VPN. This uses the built-in rasphone.exe
that also comes as part of Windwos since forever. Again you just run this with
the name of the VPN to disconnect from, and the -h flag:

C:\Windows\System32\rasphone.exe -h "Name Of Your VPN"

Right now I’m using some of the 90s-esque icons that come bundled with Tray
Tools, but I think I’m going to make something a bit nicer if I get bored.

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Published August 19, 2017

Generated from the original post:
https://blog.omgmog.net/post/vpn-connection-indication-windows/


Max Glenister is an interface designer and senior full-stack developer from
Oxfordshire. He writes mostly about front-end development and technology.

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