Setup UK VPNDo you need a UK VPN to get access to restricted sites, watch BBC iPlayer, play UK online games? Learn how to set up UK VPN.

There are plenty of commercial services that offer UK VPN, but you can also set up your own UK VPN using a VPS (Virtual Private Server). The advantages of having your own VPN servers are that you are no sharing the bandwidth with anyone, getting good browsing speed, and, very important, you can manage the logs as you like (delete them anytime you want).

The following steps guide you on how to set up a UK VPN server using the PPTP protocol, on a VPS located in the UK.

1. Buy a VPS

To start off, you need to buy a VPS and choose to install a CentOS 5.x operating system. It is important to get CentOS as the script you are going to run is suitable for this operating system.

In order to get a UK VPN, you need a VPS from a hosting company located in the UK. I personally recommend UK2.NET, but you can surely find others by searching on Google. 

After you order the VPS you will get the root password that you need for the rest of the process.

2. Connect to your VPS

Install an SSH client (Putty) in order to connect to the VPS. Start Putty, and enter the following command:

ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Replace “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” with your VPS’ IP, such as “68.19.16.213”.

Then you will see the following message:

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Enter “yes” and press the “Return” key, then, enter your password and press the “Return” key.

3. Run the installation script

Next, run the installation script (pptpd.sh is hosted on how-to-hide-ip but it was created by Diahosting.com):

wget pptpd.sh

Hit “Enter”. The file will be downloaded on your server. Next, run it:

sh pptpd.sh

The installation will be run and completed automatically, and when it’s done, the VPN username and password will be displayed on your console screen.

4. Change the VPN password

The PPTP VPN account information is stored in the file located at “etc/ppp/chap-secrets”, you can use the command line to edit this file directly:

nano etc/ppp/chap-secrets

All you need to do is to type in the username you want to use, then space and type in “pptpd”, and then space and the password (as VPN password).

You will need restart PPTPD server when changes are made to the following command line:

/etc/init.d/pptpd restart

5. Connect your computer to the UK VPN server

Finally, you need to create a PPTP connection from your computer to the VPN server. The info you are going to use is the IP address of the VPS, the username and the password you set up earlier.

And … voila! You have your own setup UK VPN server. Enjoy!