To set up L2TP VPN on macOS, you will need:

• A macOS device that supports the L2TP protocol. L2TP is not supported on macOS Sierra and higher.
  
• A secure FastVPN connection (Don’t have one? Sign up here!);
• Access to your FastVPN Account Panel.
  
  

L2TP VPN Setup instructions

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen and choose the System Preferences... option.

2. Within the System Preferences menu, locate the Network icon and click on it:

3. Create a new connection profile by clicking the square '+' (Plus) button on the lower end of the box on the left side.

       
Note: Administrative privileges will be required to proceed further. To get administrative privileges, follow these steps: Locate the Lock icon in the lower-left corner of the panel labeled Click the lock to make changes and click on it to continue. When the login dialog appears, enter your Mac login username and password in the corresponding fields (if you are unable to proceed with this step and you do not have access to an administrator account, you may need to contact Apple support). Once you have entered your login details, click the OK button to continue.

After you enable administrative privileges, the Lock icon in the bottom left corner will be unlocked:

4. When the dialog box appears, enter the details as given below and click the Create button to continue:

• Interface: select VPN from the drop-down
  
• VPN Type: L2TP over IPSec        
• Service name: any name you prefer that helps you easily identify the VPN connection
  
  

Click on Authentication Settings and proceed to the next step:

6. In the resulting dialog, enter your FastVPN account password from the FastVPN Account Panel. In the Machine Authentication category, click the Shared Secret radio button and enter vpn in the Shared Secret field. Click the OK button to continue:

7. You will be returned to the previous menu. Click on the Advanced... button in the lower-right corner next to the question mark icon:

8. In the Advanced settings panel, locate the Options tab. Put the check mark next to Send all traffic over VPN connection and click the OK button in the lower-right corner to continue:

9. Put the check mark next to Show VPN status in menu bar located on the left from the "Advanced..." button. Once done, save the changes by clicking the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the panel:

10. Test your newly created connection by clicking on Connect just below the "Authentication Settings..." button:

11. After the VPN connection is established, check the Status indicator at the top of the window for any error or warning messages.

12. Once the VPN client is successfully connected, look for the Status: Connected message with the Connection Time and IP Address details as shown below.

 13. For a quick way to access your VPN connection, locate the VPN indicator on the top of the screen. Look for the Connect VPN (L2TP) option and click to open a context menu. From this menu, you can quickly start and stop your VPN session without navigating through the System Preferences menu:

Quick fixes