This is a tutorial on how to set up a WD My Cloud EX2 NAS with a NordVPN connection.
The following changes have to be made in the web configuration panel of your router, which you can access by entering the local IP of your router in your web browser. The local IPs are 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 by default on most routers. You can access these by opening http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1 in your browser. The default IP, username, and password can also be found in the user manual of your router.
To connect your WD My Cloud device to NordVPN, enable SSH on your device and perform the steps below while connected via SSH.
The instructions were made using WD My Cloud EX2 FW Version 2.30.165
1. Connect to the device by typing its IP address in your browser.
2. Navigate to Settings, click Network in the left sidebar, and enable SSH under Network Services:
3. A new SSH window will pop up. Select I accept, click OK, and enter your SSH password. Once done, SSH should be enabled:
4. Use an SSH application such as Bitvise SSH Client if you are on Windows. Specify your WD IP address in the Host field under the Server section. Under Authentication, fill in your router’s SSH credentials in the Username and Password fields. Click Login:
5. Once you have connected to your device, two new windows will open: the SFTP window where you can upload files to your device and the terminal.
6. Download the OpenVPN configuration files, which you can find here by clicking on Show available protocols under the server recommended for you.
Once you have downloaded the files, go back to the control panel of your router and click Browse.
Drag and drop the OpenVPN configuration files into the SFTP window. In the terminal, type openvpn.bin filename. In case the openvpn.bin command doesn’t work, use the openvpn filename command. For example:
openvpn.bin uk180.nordvpn.com.udp1194.ovpn
or
openvpn uk180.nordvpn.com.udp1194.ovpn
6. Press Enter in the terminal. You will be asked to enter your NordVPN service username and password.
You can find your NordVPN service credentials in the Nord Account dashboard. Copy the credentials using the “Copy” buttons on the right.
Once you see Initialization Sequence Completed, your device is connected to NordVPN.
