How to manually setup and use ExpressVPN on Windows Vista, 7, and 8.

If you cannot use the ExpressVPN application on Windows Vista/7/8, you can manually setup an ExpressVPN connection on your computer.

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Download the Windows dialer
Configure the Windows dialer

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Download the Windows dialer

Open the Welcome Email you received when you signed up for ExpressVPN. Click thelink in the email.

If you can’t find the link, log in to our website.

Once you’ve clicked the link in the welcome email or logged in to the website, click onSet Up ExpressVPN on the Active Subscriptions page.

Click on the section called Manual Configuration (PPTP and L2TP-IPSec). You will find the IPSec pre-shared key, your username, your password, and a list of server addresses around the world. You will use the username and password for connecting to a server location later.

Click the Download Windows Dialers button at the bottom of the Manual Configuration section. This will download a ZIP file called expressvpn_dialers.zip

Keep this browser window open. You will need this information for the setup.

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Configure the Windows dialer

Right-click on the zip file which should be found in your downloads folder by default then click on Extract All.

Click Extract on the subsequent pop-up window. This will not work if you are just viewing the contents of the ZIP file. The ZIP file needs to be extracted.

Double-click or right-click on the unzipped ExpressVPN Dialers folder and click Open.

Double-click or right-click on ExpressVPN Windows L2TP and click Open.

Click on Properties.

Click on the Security tab on top.

Make sure Microsoft CHAP Version 2 (MS-Chap v2) is checked. This ensures the connection will be encrypted. When this is done, Data encryption can be set to “Optional encryption”, “Require encryption”, or “Maximum strength encryption” and the connection will still be encrypted.

Click on Advanced Settings.

Click on Use preshared key for authentication and type in 12345678 into the Key box.

Click on OK.

Click on OK.

Select a server location and click Connect.

Input the username and password found earlier and click Connect.

Congratulations! You can now begin surfing with freedom and security!

To check if you are connected to our server, hover your mouse cursor over your active network connection indicator at the bottom right corner of your computer screen.

To disconnect from the VPN, double-click the dialer file again, and then click Hang Up:

Note: These steps can also be used to connect using the PPTP or SSTP protocols. To change to these protocols, just select the corresponding dialer file.ExpressVPN recommends trying L2TP first, then SSTP, and PPTP only as a last resort. This is because PPTP offers only minimal security.

NOTE: If you have trouble opening the pbk file, please use this tutorial to fix the issue.