Shrew Soft VPN: Set up a connection to the FritzBox - how it works

The Shrew Soft VPN is a client with which you can easily establish a secure VPN connection to your Fritzbox. This program is very advantageous, because then all connected devices with the Fritzbox use the secure Internet connection.

Shrew Soft VPN - so the connection to the Fritzbox works

The standard version of the Shrew Soft VPN program is available free of charge. The systems Windows, Linux and BSD are supported. The following steps establish a secure VPN connection to your Fritzbox.

• First you have to install the Shrew Soft VPN Client on your computer and your "MyFritz!" must be set up.
• Also check that your Fritzbox has a public IPv4 address. However, this is almost always the case.
• For the further processes, the IP network of the Fritzbox must be changed, since all are delivered with the same as standard.
• To do this, go to the Fritzbox user interface in your browser with the following link: //fritz.box
• On the page, press "Home Network" and then "Network" or "Home Network Overview".
• Then open the "Network settings" and then "IPv4 addresses". If this is not displayed directly, you have to switch on the "Advanced view".
• Now enter your IP address and subnet mask and save it.
• If required, the software also wants physical confirmation on the Fritzbox. To do this, press any key on your Fritzbox. The LEDs light up once to confirm.

Shrew Soft VPN - Set up the Fritzbox's VPN connection

• Now return to the user interface of the Fritzbox and go to "System".
• Navigate there to the "FRITZ! Box User" item.
• Now press the edit icon next to the user who should establish the VPN connection.
• If no users are set yet, you must click on "Add user" and create a new one by entering a name and password.
• Now you can activate the "VPN" option and press "OK" to save. If necessary, confirm the new setting on your Fritzbox.
• A new window with the VPN settings for the respective user is then automatically opened.
• You can display them again at any time under the user's settings under "Show VPN settings".

Shrew Soft VPN - Connect to the client

• Before the next points, write down the "MyFRITZ! Domain name" of your Fritzbox and also the "Shared Secret" of the user, which you can find in the VPN settings.
• Now start the "Shrew Soft VPN Access Manager" program and go to "Add".
• The "VPN Site Configuration" window opens automatically.
• Go to "General" and enter the MyFRITZ! Domain name in the "Host Name or IP Address" input field.
• Then navigate to the "Authentication" tab and select the "Mutual PSK + XAuth" entry under "Authentication Method".
• In the next step you have to select the "Local Identity" tab and open the "Key Identifier" item under "Identification Type".
• Enter the user name of the Fritzbox user under "Key String ID".
• Now go to "Identification Type" under the "Remote Identity" tab and select "IP Address".
• You can then enter the user's shared secret in the "Pre Shared Key" field under the "Credentials" tab.
• Now click "Save" to save the customized settings to complete the setup.
• From now on, all data traffic will be forwarded via the VPN connection of the Shrew Soft Client.

In the next practical tip we will compare all Fritzbox models for you.