How to create a VPN for secure web browsing using Hamachi.


Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point?  

83 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point?

    • Yes
      52
    • No
      31


Recommended Posts

How to create a VPN for secure web browsing using Hamachi.

Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point? Well some people do, myself included. In this guide I will explain how to create a VPN for web browsing using Hamachi in combination with privoxy.

For this to work its best to use a computer that is always turned on and never goes to sleep. I prefer setting it up on an old low end computer that you just put in a corner and forget about. (except for installing updates on of course)

Step 1: Installing Hamachi

Go to the following address http://files.hamachi.cc/HamachiSetup-1.0.3.0-en.exe to download and install hamachi. They have a paid version and a free version. For what we need it for, the free version will work just fine. During the install tell hamachi to start with windows.

Step 2: Creating a new Hamachi network.
This will be the account that your laptop will connect to.

1) Click the triangle icon in the bottom right of hamachi.
2) Click "Create a new network"
3) Type in a network name. For the password I'd recommend going to https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm. On the page are 3 different sets of 64 character passwords. Every time you refresh the page a new set will be generated. Copy and paste one into the password field of hamachi. I'd also recommend you paste the same password into notepad and save it so you can copy and paste it later to connect to this account.

Hamachi is now ready to go. Next we will setup the proxy server portion. For this guide we will be using privoxy http://www.privoxy.org/. I'm sure there are other ones that will work too, but this one is free and it gets the job done.

Step 3: Setting up and configuring privoxy.

1) Download and install privoxy from http://www.privoxy.org/. You'll also want to put a copy of the privoxy icon in your startup folder.
2) Launch the application
3) Click Options / Edit Main Configuration. This will open up a notepad document. Search the document for "listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118. You want the one that does not have an asterisk in front of it. Replace the 127.0.0.1 with the 5.x.x.x number that is displayed on the top of hamachi.
4) Exit and save the document. You may have to restart the application for the change to take in effect.

Step 4: Setting up the VPN on your laptop.

1) Install hamachi on your laptop and create another new account.
2) Click the triangle in the bottom right of hamachi. This time choose "join an existing network".
3) Type in the name and password of the server you created in step 1 #3. Copying and pasting the password usually works the best.

Step 4: Setting up your web browsers to feel the proxy love.

This step is pretty simple. Go into the proxy options of your web browser. When it asks for an IP address give it the hamachi IP address of the server. When it wants a port number give it 8118.

That's it. You're done! Now when you are in a public access point and connected to hamachi all your web browsing traffic should be encrypted. Now lets test it to see if everything is working. Open the web browser that you just configured to go through a proxy server. Go to a website that displays your internet IP. If everything is working you should get the IP of your internet connection at home. Of course if you are testing this at home, it really won't do much good. You could always mooch off someones wireless access point just long enough to see which IP the site is giving you.

Note: Just remember if you have multiple web browsers on your computer, only the ones with their proxy settings configured will be encrypted.

Edited by warwagon
  BudMan said:
^ yeah lots of people are not aware of how to circumvent browsing policies at work or school.. This is a great guide on how to do exactly that.

This _mostly_ won't work for circumvention if the network and policies are set up properly, and I don't think the guide is meant as such. It's a way to safe surf encrypted in a public environment.

  BudMan said:
^ yeah lots of people are not aware of how to circumvent browsing policies at work or school.. This is a great guide on how to do exactly that.

My intent in writing this guide was to give people (like shockz) a more secure way of browsing the internet on an unsecured wireless network. (Example: Starbucks or the local hospital) Nothing more. I hadn't even thought of the workplace and school ramifications. What workplace or school allows 3rd party installation of programs like Himachi? They have a lot larger problem if they are that unsecured.

Edited by warwagon

im pretty sure you need admin rights to install hamachi because it installs a driver. most schools wont let you do that type of thing, probably :p

nice guide tho, although i find hamachi a bit slow sometimes, i just use putty and stunnel (takes a bit more setting up though :p )

  Colin-uk said:
im pretty sure you need admin rights to install hamachi because it installs a driver. most schools wont let you do that type of thing, probably :p

nice guide tho, although i find hamachi a bit slow sometimes, i just use putty and stunnel (takes a bit more setting up though :p )

ya this one is pretty much, click click type type and done. Only reason I didn't port forward some ports in from the router instead of using hamachi is, I don't like to have to open ports on my server if I don't have to. because even if you couldn't install hamachi you could always port forward 8118 on your server. Then just use your IP address assuming it doesn't change. Though the school really should have all the ports locked down other than whats needed like port 80.

  • 2 weeks later...
  warwagon said:
My intent in writing this guide was to give people (like shockz) a more secure way of browsing the internet on an unsecured wireless network. (Example: Starbucks or the local hospital) Nothing more. I hadn't even thought of the workplace and school ramifications. What workplace or school allows 3rd party installation of programs like Himachi? They have a lot larger problem if they are that unsecured.

with Putty you can set up a tunnel and in firefox set it to use the tunnel (proxy settings). Both these programs can be used without having to install them

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
  On 01/09/2010 at 16:01, Sawyer12 said:

Do I need to forward port 8118 to get this to work outside?

Not if you connect via hamachi. Once connected with hamachi it's like both computers are on the same internal lan.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • This is what I thought of earlier today because it seems a bit stupid to have an iPhone 17 running iOS 26 (or iOS 2026 / or even iOS 25/2025). Just make it simple so that the year of the hardware release and the software release are in sync. I personally think they should go with 25 or 2025 (not 26 or 2026), but syncing the hardware and software version numbers could be easier to keep track of. At first, it will maybe be jarring due to all of the changes across the ecosystem, but from that point on it will be easier to keep track of.
    • my dad is experiencing the same thing except it's with Excel. the font became thin compared to windows 10, all the settings the same. i've chalked it up to it being that its connected via DVI instead of HDMI. is your setup the same? i have no technical reasons to believe it's DVI, just a plain guess since the other screen he's connected to seems better to me although may just be my mind playing tricks.  also, why don't you change the text size in accessibility? maybe this will help?   
    • I think you missed the point. I don't know why I think 2026 makes more sense than 26. Microsoft didn't call it Office 16, they referred to the (next) year of the product and so the naming convention made sense. Going from 19 to 26 could cause confusion for someone that takes a glance; I guess that is my thought process. But you're right, it doesn't make a difference. Although by that token, why change the naming convention to begin with?
    • I have checked the scaling, and it is not different at all I reapplied my current theme and no thing changed.   Fonts still too damn small and NO OPTION IN WINDOWS TO ADDRESS IT ANYMORE!   Removing options for customization is NOT UPGRADING IN ANYWAY!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      abortretryfail earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      Mr bot earned a badge
      First Post
    • First Post
      Bkl211 earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Year In
      Mido gaber earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Year In
      Vladimir Migunov earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      492
    2. 2
      +FloatingFatMan
      256
    3. 3
      snowy owl
      248
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      224
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      189
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!