How to connect to Tomato VPN in Windows 7 and Vista

I have recently upgrade my main laptop from XP to windows 7, I was updating my Tomato OpenVPN setup as well.  My recent blog entry shows instructions on how to setup OpenVPN server from the tomato router.  A lot has changed since then.  For me now it's Windows 7 and OpenVPN windows installer now comes with a GUI, you don't have to install it yourself.  The installation went well, however after I set everything up and I tried to connect I got this error message.

The requested operation requires elevation.

ERROR: Windows route add command failed [adaptive]: system() returned 

I can connect to my server, however I can't add the route to my Tomato router, therefore my traffic does not route through the Tomato VPN server.  


For those who are experiencing the same error, I found it on requires a simple fix.  First you have to configure the GUI such that it works with your ovpn and your static.key file.  Instead of using the connect.ovpn file from anywhere, you can connect by using the GUI which came with the installer.  The trick is to run the GUI as administrator, this can fix this error and I can connect to the VPN server.  


One trick is to run OpenVPN as a service and run as administrator, you can also make your computer connect automatically each time you logon. 

How to use your Iphone and Tomato to turn on your computer remotely without going to the app store

So you think you know all the uses of an Iphone? Well try this, making an adhoc version of a remote computer switch with your Iphone without visiting the Apple app store. So here is what you need

• A Router with Tomato Firmware installed
• A computer with a LAN card that supports Wake-On-Lan
• Iphone/Ipod Touch or any phone with Wifi and a web browser ( I haven't tested others yet)

     Ok, since you have landed on this blog, I assume that you are already familiar with the Tomato firmware. It is a free custom Linux based firmware written especially for most Boardcom chipset based routers. It can easily turn your $30 router to a $300 router if you know how to install it. You can easily search Google to find out if your router supports it, and you can also Google instructions on how to install it. There is a large community on custom firmwares that try to make it do different things everyday. Ok so after you have installed the Tomato firmware, you would automatically notice that tomato supports WOL automatically. Basically it is the use of a network card to turn on the computer when you have access to the network. When you want to turn on a computer, a magic packet is broadcast on the network to reach your target computer. However it is mostly a pain to enable that feature on your computer. I am using Asrock M3A790GXH/128M for this exercise. So here are the steps.

1. Install and configure tomato to work properly

2. Enable WOL on your computer. In my case, you have to goto BIOS and enable "PCI device Power On" in the power menu. This might be different for your setup, but the principle is the same. Try to Google your specific motherboard/LAN card for instructions.

3. Boot into windows/Mac/Linux and note down the Mac address of your network card. Also note the name of the computer you want to turn on, in my case it is "server". Then turn it off.

4.If you have used this computer extensively on your tomato router, it should remember the Mac address of your computer.

5.Now here is the fun part, use your iphone on the same network on your computer and goto the Safari browser. Goto the IP address of the Tomato router and goto the admin menu. In there you can see the WOL option which looks something like below.

6. Click on the target computer with the name "server" or the one with your target computer name. If it is not on the list, then you can enter it manually in the space below.

Wait for your computer to Beep and turn on right in front of you.  Now you can turn on your computer from the comfort of your sofa simply because you don't want to walk that extra distance or if you want to brag about it(I know I will) or just because you know that you can.  Now image what you can do with DDNS, VPN setup on the tomato, you can go anywhere and turn on your computer with the tip of your finger.

How to Setup Openvpn in Tomato

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DD-WRT vs. Tomato

DD-WRT vs. Tomato

I am sure you know know what DD-WRT or Tomato is, otherwise you wouldn't have stumbled upon this page. I have been a long fan of DD-WRT, I think it is the best firmware out there. But that was because I was using the Linksys WRT54GL router. I loved DD-WRT so much such that I had to promote it everywhere, I went to get more routers to get this installed everywhere. However, I want to be cheap and try to save some costs, so I looked up the DD-WRT compatible list and found that the Buffalo WHR-G54S, however I could tell you this is no router for the DD-WRT. Installation was painful, I had to use tftp and I feel like I could brick the router anytime. I had previous brick a wrt54gl with the use of a so-called "Psp version" of the firmware, which according to the description, would allow me to connect to the xlink kai network without the use of a computer and an extra wifi card.

I am a moderate Bittorrent user, and when the traffic shots up the DD-WRT version of the router freezes. The BT traffic will keep going in a slow manner, but the normal traffic will not work anymore. I tried to setup QoS, but it doesn't seem to work even when I have 8M/2M. And during that time you can't even login to the administrator menu, it would just time out. Even if you could, when you try to hit the reboot button, it would time out right there. You have to physically reset it each time the BT kills the router.
I previously read an article about the comparison between tomato and DD-WRT , I thought why not give tomato a try. I know there are a few more 3rd party firmwares out there, but I know the more flash you do, the more risky your router might become an expensive paper weight. I read online everywhere and found that you could flash it within the DD-WRT menu, but you need to type a few commands to reset the administrator password. Installation was relatively easy, however, not as easy as flashing a brand new wrt54gl to DD-WRT.

When I log onto the administrator menu, I fell in love immediately. Everything was quick, and simple. The traffic counter is working flawlessly with a bit of flashy ajax, and I appear to get faster throughput than my old dd-wrt firmware. Plus UPnP actually works right out of the box. I could see computers login and use uPnP. I must say I was surprised by the speed I was getting from the Tomato firmware. DynDNS was setup easily, and it wouldn't jam up every once in a while. I used to have to reboot my router more than once per week, now it is probably once every month?

The verdict is I prefer Tomato over Dd-WRT, however, that is for my Buffalo WHR-G54Srouter in this very moment. DD-WRT runs fairly smoothly at my wrt54gl.