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Show OpenVPN (or generic network) status icons on Windows 7

Hi Experts,

in the past I have started OpenVPN GUI and connected automatically through a link in the startup group. Sometimes - not always - the connection "completed with errors", i.e. it was unusable, still the GUI icon showed green - all ok.

I have now switched to using the OpenVPN service instead of the gui, but how can I display some sort of status icon in the system tray? (The GUI appears to show the status only when I also connect through the GUI, but not if the connection is made through the OpenVPN service.)

Alternatively, in XP there used to be separate icons for each network connection. Here I was able to see the status, too, by looking at the icon of my TAP connector. In Windows 7 this has all been merged into that general network status icon and I have to mouse over it to see details. Is there a way to get these separate icons back? Maybe some freeware utility?

Thanks a lot for any (reasonable) response.

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jimmyray7

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Staudte

ASKER

Thanks for the hint, jimmyray7. I have looked into that particular utility and it was of no use, as it didn't offer the TAP connector in the relevant selection box.

However, I have taken up the idea and wrote a small tool myself using a couple of dozen lines of vb.net code. Now I have my own network status icon in the system tray - it's a green house if my VPN server can be ping'ed or red if not. This tests the whole link, end-to-end.

Just sad that this is apparently not possible with the built-in tools of Windows 7 - at least noone has answered to that point.