Look, playing Minecraft alone is fine for a while, but it gets lonely in those procedurally generated hills. You want your friends there. You want to build a massive, semi-functional iron farm together or just burn each other's wooden houses down. But setting up a "real" server? That costs money. Port forwarding? That requires access to a router password your parents probably forgot three years ago. This is exactly why we’re talking about how to use Hamachi Minecraft style. It’s the old-school, slightly janky, but ultimately reliable way to trick your computers into thinking they’re in the same room.
LogMeIn Hamachi is basically a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Not the kind you use to watch Netflix from another country, but a "LAN over the internet" kind. It creates a private tunnel. When it works, it’s magic. When it doesn't, it’s usually because of a Windows Firewall setting that hates fun.
The Basic Setup: Getting the Tunnel Running
First things first. You and every single friend who wants to play must download Hamachi. You can find it on the official VPN.net site. Don't get it from some random mirror site; that’s how you end up with malware and a very sad GPU.
Once you’ve installed it, power it on. That big blue button is your best friend. You'll be assigned a virtual IP address—something like 25.x.x.x. This is your new identity.
One person needs to be the "Host." If that's you, click "Create a new network." Give it a name—something original like Steve’s Super Secret Server—and a password. Please, use a password. If you leave it open, random people scanning Hamachi networks might actually find their way into your game. It happens more often than you'd think. Your friends then click "Join an existing network" and type in those credentials. If you see green dots next to everyone's names, you’re halfway there. If you see a relayed tunnel (cyan dot) or a yellow triangle, your connection is going to be laggy as heck, or it won't work at all.
👉 See also: Final Trump Card Dokkan: Why This Category Refuses to Die
Making Minecraft Talk to Hamachi
This is where people usually mess up. They think once Hamachi is on, they can just open Minecraft and it'll work. Not quite.
The host needs to launch their Minecraft world. Once you’re standing in your dirt hut, hit Esc and click Open to LAN. You’ll see some options for game mode and cheats. Hit "Start LAN World." Look at the chat box. It will say something like Local game hosted on port 54321. Write that number down. It changes every single time you open the world.
Now, your friends don't just look in the "LAN" tab of their multiplayer menu. It rarely shows up there because Windows is picky. Instead, they need to use Direct Connection.
They need two things:
- Your Hamachi IP address (the 25.x.x.x one).
- The Port number from your chat box.
They should type it in like this: 25.123.45.67:54321. The colon is mandatory. No spaces. If they hit "Join Server" and it works, celebrate. If it says "Connection Timed Out," it's time to fight the boss: The Firewall.
📖 Related: Nintendo Switch Stock Tracker: How to Actually Find One Today
Why Your Connection Probably Failed (The Firewall Problem)
Windows Defender is a jealous guardian. It sees an incoming connection from Hamachi and thinks it’s a cyberattack. Honestly, it’s just doing its job, but it’s annoying.
To fix this, the host (and sometimes the guests) needs to go into "Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security." Find "Inbound Rules." You’re looking for "javaw.exe" or "OpenJDK Platform binary." There are usually several of them. Make sure they are all allowed.
Still not working? Check your Network Adapter priority. Windows sometimes tries to send Minecraft data through your actual Wi-Fi instead of the Hamachi tunnel. You can fix this in the "Network and Sharing Center" by changing the interface metric of the Hamachi adapter to 1. This tells your PC, "Hey, use this one first for this specific stuff." It sounds technical, but it's basically just giving Hamachi a VIP pass to your processor.
A Quick Note on Version Matching
You cannot join a 1.20.1 server with a 1.12.2 client. It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many "tech support" sessions end with someone realizing they forgot to update their Forge profile. Everyone must be on the exact same version. If you're using mods, the mod list must be identical. If you have JourneyMap and your friend doesn't, that's usually fine. If you have Twilight Forest and they don't? The game will crash before they even see a pixel of grass.
💡 You might also like: Euro Truck Simulator 2 Games: Why You’re Still Driving Across Europe After 13 Years
Performance Realities
Hamachi is free. Because it's free, it’s not always fast. You are limited to 5 people per network on the free tier. If you have 6 friends, someone is getting left out or you’re starting a second network, which gets messy fast.
Also, the host's computer is doing all the heavy lifting. If you’re playing on a laptop that struggles to run Chrome, hosting a Hamachi server for four friends is going to turn your computer into a space heater. Your ping will be higher than a dedicated server. You'll see "ghost blocks" where you mine something and it reappears. This is the "Hamachi Tax." We pay it so we don't have to pay $15 a month to a hosting company.
Moving Beyond Hamachi
If you find yourself learning how to use Hamachi Minecraft methods every single day, you might eventually get tired of the 5-person limit or the lag. There are alternatives like Radmin VPN, which functions almost identically but doesn't have the 5-user cap. Or, if you’re feeling brave, you can learn to port forward port 25565 on your router.
But for a quick Friday night session? Hamachi is the old reliable. It’s been around since the early days of Minecraft for a reason. It bypasses the headache of router configurations and just gets you into the game.
Actionable Steps for a Flawless Connection
- Sync your versions: Ensure everyone is launching the same Minecraft version from the launcher.
- Static IP Check: Right-click your friend's name in Hamachi and copy their IPv4 address. That’s the only one that matters.
- Firewall Exception: Add "javaw.exe" to your allowed apps list in Windows Security settings immediately after installing a new Java version.
- The Port is Key: Remember that the LAN port changes every time you restart the session. Never reuse the old port.
- Ping Test: Right-click your friend in the Hamachi window and select "Ping." If you get "Request Timed Out," the tunnel isn't working, and the game definitely won't connect. Fix the tunnel before you even bother opening Minecraft.
Once those green lights are solid and the firewall is tamed, you're good to go. Get in there and start mining.