How to set up L2TP VPN on Windows 8

In this tutorial we will show you how to set up L2TP VPN on Windows 8 but first let’s see what are our requirements and recommendations.

Requirements

In order to set up the L2TP VPN you will need:

A CactusVPN account. If you don’t have one you can try our services for free.
Your VPN username, password and VPN server address. You can find them in your account on our website, by going to Settings.

Recommendations

To skip the manual setup and for more features we recommend to use the CactusVPN App for Windows.
L2TP is not the best option for online security and privacy. We recommend using OpenVPN, IKEv2 or SoftEther.

If you still want to set up L2TP VPN manually, go step-by-step through following instructions:

L2TP VPN Setup Instructions

Click on Open Network and Sharing Center from the network icon from the taskbar (1) or click on Network and Sharing center from Control Panel.
Click on Set up a new connection or network (2).
Select Connect to a workplace (3) and click Next (4).
Choose Use my Internet Connection (VPN) (5).
In the Internet Address (6) field type IP address of the CactusVPN server you want to connect to.

You can find IP addresses of all our servers in your account on our website, by going to Settings.

In the Destination name field (7) type CactusVPN (L2TP).

Click Create (8).
Click on the monitor icon (9) on the bottom right-hand corner.
Right–click on the CactusVPN (L2TP) connection (10), and choose Properties (11) from the menu.
Select Security tab (12) and for Type of VPN select Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol with IPsec (L2TP/IPsec) (13).

Click on Advanced Settings (14).
Enter preshared key: cactusvpn (15) and click OK (16) for both windows.
Click again on the monitor icon on the bottom right-hand corner, and click Connect (17) to CactusVPN (L2TP).
In the next fields type your VPN username (18) and password (19) and click OK (20).

You can find your VPN username and password in your account on our website, by going to Settings -> VPN Username & Password. Make sure you use your VPN username and password and NOT the website account credentials (What is the difference?).
When next to CactusVPN (L2TP) is written Connected (21) your connection has been created.