Hamachi-gui is a graphical user interface (GUI) for the zero configuration VPN client Hamachi.The official client for linux has only a command line interface, hamachi-gui provides a user friendly GUI with comparable features, and more. For example, the other Mac users I am able to see on my Hamachi LAN are using the latest Hamachi build (not that there ever was a good Mac version when it was 1.x). Also check your Mac firewall and the firewall of the Mac you want to see over Hamachi.

• Gigaom Hamachi Vpn Now Available For Mac

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are the safest way to connect computers or computer networks over the internet. Once a VPN connection is established, the data between the systems on either side of the VPN tunnel exchange data that has been wrapped in encryption. This prevents evil doers from accessing the data while it’s in transit. Unfortunately, while VPNs are an extremely secure way to connect computers, configuring the VPN connection often borders on rocket science.

The routing, IP protocols, and assortment of encryption options often keep even the advanced computer users needlessly spinning their wheels for days. In many cases, people simply give up on the concept of security and fall back to more conventional and much less secure means of transferring data. In a previous post on this site, I detailed how to configure the VPN service built-in to OS X Server. The article explained how to configure the VPN server so that remote clients (telecommuters or portable computer users) could access a secure LAN over the internet using a VPN client. And while the story was very well received, it became obvious that I wasn’t the only one stumbling to get a VPN server working correctly. A conventional VPN connects a remote user to a secure network, be it home or corporate. Once the VPN connection is in place, all data between the remote client and the VPN server is wrapped in a tunnel of encryption.

It’s impervious to anyone trying to eavesdrop as the data is transmitted over the internet. This is what makes it a virtual private network.

The VPN allows the remote user access to all of the network resources of the home or corporate network as if the remote user where plugged into a network port right on the LAN. Several problems plague people trying to setup a VPN server. First, firewall rules must be set to allow communication between the remote user and the VPN server. This is very often much easier said than done. Next, there is the unyielding configuration of the VPN server and its clients. Additionally the remote user can be at the mercy of NAT translation issues and the access controls set by the network providers at the remote user’s location.

In short, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. All of these issues left me thinking that there must be another way. And, it turns out that there is. Hamachi was design to resolve nearly all of these issues. What is Hamachi?

It is very easy to install, easy to configure, and just as secure as a conventional VPN. As far as its functionality, it really only differs from a conventional VPN connection on one simple way. A typical VPN connection allows a remote user access to an entire network using the VPN server as a secure gateway to the network and its resources. Instead, Hamachi establishes a point to point VPN tunnel connecting two (or more) computers. The two computers then have full and complete communication with each other via the tunnel, but neither acts as a gateway to the LAN on either side of the connection.

The VPN tunnel is considered to be peer to peer. What makes Hamachi so revolutionary is that it is extremely easy to install, configure, and use.

Hamachi is a product of Applied Networking Inc. Of Vancouver, Canada. The goal was to create a secure VPN solution that used time tested industrial grade encryption and was still easy enough for anyone to use. Hamachi’s early releases supported only Windows XP and Linux. But even from the beginning, the developer intended a version for the Mac OS. It took some time, but a beta version is finally available for OS X.

Unfortunately, the current version of Hamachi for Mac is run from the command line and is not very easy to use. This was a big problem until a creative and unnamed mind over at hamachix.com took it upon himself to write a.

With the graphical interface Hamachi finally become accessible to the average Mac user. Installing and using Hamachi To install Hamachi, just copy the application from the disk image to the Applications directory on the hard drive. Upon first launch, Hamachi will check to see if the command line resources the HamachiX relies upon are installed. If they are not, HamachiX will install them. In order to use Hamachi, the computer must be a member of a virtual Hamachi network. Users can either join an existing network, or a new network can be created at any time. Since Hamachi networks are virtual, the network has no physical presence.

The networks exist only within Hamachi and are a means to separate users into secure groups. To create a network, simply click the Add button in the HamachiX toolbar. A case sensitive network name must be assigned to the network. The same goes for a password. Since this is all of the information other users will need in order to join the virtual network, it is important to choose a strong network password. It might be more appropriate to think of the network password as a pass-phrase because a phrase is typically much more difficult to guess or crack.

The longer the word or phrase, the better. It should be entered in mixed capitalization and include numbers, letters, and special characters.

And, it goes without saying that any password found in the dictionary is out of the question. Finally, select the option to Create a Network. Once the network is created, HamachiX automatically adds the client to that network. Other users, or computers, will want to join the existing network. To do this, simply click the Add button and enter the networks name and password (or phrase) exactly.

Both are case sensitive. Then select the option to join a network. Once more than one client is a member of the network, a list of network members will be listed under the Peers tab when the network name is selected. If the computer is signed onto the network, a green light will appear beside the computers name and IP address. Hamachi offers a great deal of flexibility in that computers can be members of more than one network at the same time. Keep in mind that users are not limited to the 3 connection options shown in the contextual menu.

More can be added, and any networking that can be negotiated between two computers can also be done over a Hamachi connection. Additionally, according to the Hamachi web site, Apple’s Bonjour protocol is also supposed to work over Hamachi. This is interesting because Bonjour is designed to only broadcast over the computer’s local subnet.

In theory, this would allow people to share their music with friends, or listen to their home music collection from work. Unfortunately, in my tests, I have been unable to get iTunes music sharing to work. At this point, I’m not sure if there is a bug, or I’m doing something wrong. As I understand it, Bonjour should just work once the Hamachi network is in place. With luck, this is a bug and it will be resolved in an update release.

Closing Hamachi really is a great VPN solution for the rest of us. Once the software is installed on each computer, the encryption and security become transparent to the user. And while other VPN solutions often have difficulty traversing NAT enabled networks, Hamachi makes short work of these typical trials and tribulations associated with Virtual Private Networks.

Since both Hamachi and HamachiX are still in an active beta stage, it’s wise to keep an eye out for updates. For more information on how Hamachi works behind the scenes, be sure to checkout the support forums. The developers at Applied Networking Inc. Have been extremely forthcoming regarding the security protocols used in Hamachi. And, for a security expert’s take on Hamachi, checkout the. Steve Gibson does a great job of explaining how Hamachi works and why its an extremely secure and functional VPN solution.

Update: 6/29/06 7:55am One of my primary goals in this story was to explain why Hamachi really is a great alternative. Anyone who has tried to set up their own VPN server will appreciate the ease of use.

But for the rest of us, it is just a great solution for doing a few things that we haven’t been able to do before. To that end, my second goal was to share iTunes and iPhoto libraries outside of the local network. I made mention of this only briefly in my original post. Since Hamachi’s VPN network joins computers as if the VPN is a separate local area network, it should be possible to share iTunes music using iTunes built-in sharing feature (which uses the zero configuration Bonjour protocol). While I knew this should work as soon as Hamachi was installed, for some reason I simply couldn’t see other users music. Last week I couldn’t see a remote share music library. Last night I still had no luck.

This morning, when I sat down at my computer, I could see several remote music shares! Why did Hamachi start working? I’m still not sure. My MacBook has 10.4.7 freshly installed, but my tower still has 10.4.6. I’m still running the same version of Hamachi on all of the machines. It’s just a mystery. I invite everyone to leave comments below.

Is Hamachi letting you share iTunes and iPhoto libraries over Bonjour or is this hit and miss for everyone? As of right now, I can play remotely hosted music with no noticeable delay. Yet another reason to fall in love with Hamachi! Update: 7/13/06 11:03pm A new version of has been released. In includes the latest build of the Hamachi command line components. Update: 7/14/06 11:40am With either the update to 10.4.7, or iTunes 6.05, it looks like the Bonjour music sharing has stopped working. Reinstalling tuntap support does appear to resolve the issue.

The Universal Binary tuntap installer can be downloaded here: Thanks to all who helped resolve this issue! Their comments are listed below. Smanke October 25, 2006 stephen, If you have the file sharing setup on each of the machines, you’re already set.

You just need to keep in mind that you need to use the Hamachi IP address in place of the normal IP in order for the traffic to move over the Hamachi VPN. If you want to access a Windows share from your Mac over Hamachi, you would select Connect to Server from the Finder’s Go menu (or type Apple+K in the Finder) and enter smb://5.x.x.x into the address field. (5.x.x.x being the Hamachi IP of the Windows box serving the file share.) If you want to access a Mac file share from Windows, make sure the Windows File Sharing services is enabled on the Mac and open the Run command from the Windows Start menu. In the Run field, type ‘ 5.x.x.x’ into the box and hit enter. In this case, 5.x.x.x is the Hamachi IP of your Mac system. The Windows box should bring up a list of shares and printer available on Mac box.

Smanke February 5, 2007 silkman, If you see a password prompt when you try to connect to the remote machine, its the remote machine that is asking for authentication at an OS level. Its not part of Hamachi. You will need to enter a valid username and password for the remote system at the prompt. Its the remote system that is keeping you our because it doesn’t like the username and password you have entered. Make sure the login you are using is valid on the machine and be sure that account has permission to access files remotely.

Geronimo March 5, 2007 I just installed Hamachi for the second time on my machine, I downloaded the free version so I could transfer files from one PC to another like I used to. I created a network, and when I try to browse to the other PC a window pops up asking for a password to “connect to blablabla”.

It is not the network password, thats not what it is asking for. I don’t know which password it wants. The window only pops up on the PC that I need to get the files to, browsing from the other PC works fine, but its useless because the files that I need are on that PC.

Thanks for any help. Smanke June 4, 2007 odysseus, That’s odd. I’m betting you have a corruption somewhere. Try searching for a Hamachi pref file in both the system’s preference folder, and your user pref folder. Delete it if you find it, then try running HamachiX again. If that doesn’t do it, you might need to start looking through your system and see if the Hamachi command line portion of the app is only half installed.

Try hitting the forum at Hamachi.cc and see if you can find a list of what files are placed on your drive when the software is installed. Then use that info to try and figure out if the app was only half installed. I’ve never seen an issue like this with Hamachi, but I’ve seen it with other apps in the past. Smanke May 19, 2008 It should just be a matter of setting the permission on the file or the shared directory. Keep in my that if the volume is formatted NTFS, there are the NTFS permissions associated with the files and directories as well as the list of users that have access to the share from the shared folders properties.

I also suspect that the OS is not allowing you to access the share because there is no password associated with the user account. The theory being that any one from anywhere could gain access to the data depending on your connection to the network and the internet at large. I would try adding a password to the account and see if that corrects the problem first. Gotta love Windows! Stealth69 June 19, 2008 hey guys um i had a simialar problem to graham above um i installed harmachiX on my mac book i clicked the login button i then added a mates network seem to work he was there then i had to restart as mac software updates (lots of them) now go back into harmachiX and networks still there and my m8 tells me that im not connect and all the options are greyed out including the logout/log in button which is current saying logout. Um i can delete the network and i cant modify anything except proxy settings. Um i restalled( put in trash and searched my computer for hamarchi files) got ride of the stuck problem with the my mates network being stuck displayed but i still can do anything (i think im not loging into the root server why not??

Redeemer January 27, 2009 Hello guys, I have this problem with Hamachi. When I first start it, after a fresh boot on my macs, everything works flawless using Apple Bonjour Technology: screen sharing, file sharing, iTunes sharing, I also can see my mac on the Shared section in Finder windows (Leopard user here).

No problem at all. The problems begin when I disconnect one of the 2 macs from the network and then reconnect it again. From the command line hamachi automatically reconnect the network, but the bonjour technology doesn’t work anymore. If I want to make a connection between the 2 macs, I have to manually connect them using the “Connect to server” box. I have tried lots of workaround with no success: force restart Bonjour subsystem, force restart finder, restart of tuncfg and hamachi with no luck at all.

The only thing I can do to bring everything working again is a full reboot of the mac that have been disconnected. Do you have any workaround for this? Is really a pain to reboot my system only to get hamachi working with bonjour again. Thanks a lot. Anonymous June 10, 2009 Hey all I play football manager an awful lot and have used hamachix on my mac for ages in order to play network games with my friends.

For the last few months we got out of the habit of playing because of exams and what not but yesterday i reopned my hamachi (after having not changed anything about it) after months of not using it, and now i doesnt work at all. Whether it’s installing the system components/trying to log into the root server or most other things, hamachi just locks up and i have to force quit it.

I have tried reinstalling it and going back to old versions but literally nothing works. I cant get anywhere with it at all and have been spending hours trying to fix it. If anyone could help me that would be great because hamachix has been amazingly useful for me and i really want to get it working again. Please explain in the simplest of terms because i am by no means a computer whizz lol:) thanks in advance. Margus October 28, 2009 Hi.

I have a slight problem with Hamachi. When i try to browse the files on the other computer all I get is a password promt (most likely from the remote PC). If I enter either of the users’ password and name (well one has no pass, but the other does) it still just prompts the same thing again and i get nowhere. Might there be an issue with allowing network log-ons or something like that? I know that as both of the computers are running Windows (XP on remote and Vista Home Premium on local) this might be the wrong place to write, but it should work similarly and also I saw some posts regarding the same problem here (of which none were helpful for me). Pic of the prompt: Also it changes the login name I put in to.local PC name.remote username.

Thanks in advance, Margus. Smanke December 17, 2010 I’m sorry guys. I wish I could be of more help with the support on this right now. The new version of Hamachi is out and it is really cool. But I have only had a little time to play with it and have a lot to learn.

It supports 3 different types of VPN connections now. And the Mac version is still beta.

I did note that the trick with the 2.0 version is now not to use the network name when people joint it, but to use the network ID: its numeric ID as found in the web based Hamachi admin page for the network. Hamachi is getting more complicated to use, but it is getting 20x more powerful and I am very impressed by what I have seen so far! More to follow. Smanke May 11, 2011 @Kallekeek That’s odd.

I have the new MacBook Pro which has the same OS as your new iMac. I can see other Hamachi computers when I browse my network. Does everyone on the Hamachi LAN have the latest version of Hamachi installed? There were a lot of changes in Hamachi 2.x vs 1.x. That could make a big difference.

For example, the other Mac users I am able to see on my Hamachi LAN are using the latest Hamachi build (not that there ever was a good Mac version when it was 1.x). Also check your Mac firewall and the firewall of the Mac you want to see over Hamachi. Either one could be getting in the way. When it comes to Hamachi 2.0, I have not had any issues with browsing other computers when selecting Connect to Server in the Finder, or looking at the Shared list at the left of every Finder window. Smanke May 11, 2011 @Kallekeek It might be worth trying to disable the firewall entirely just for testing.

Aside from that, I’m not sure. But there is always plan B. In the Hamachi list, you can make note of the IP address of the machine you want to connect to. It should be be 5.x.x.x. Just go to the connect window and enter the IP address and hit connect. You should either connect directly, or get the login prompt. Its not as seamless, but it does work just as well.

And if you want, you can specify the connection method in the address. Such as afp://5.x.x.x or smb://5.x.x.x depending on the protocol can the Hamachi IP of the box you are connecting to. Does that help?

Smanke May 12, 2011 @Kallekeek Not stupid at all. None of this is well documented. This is how we all learn and by doing it all online we help others who come by and read what we have been through. I don’t think admin right make a difference. But since you are not familiar with the connect window, this might be all you need to get connected. When you look at the Hamachi window you should see the remote computers name.

Beside that name should be its IP address on the Hamachi network. Hamachi IP addresses always start with a 5 and follow a 5.x.x.x format.

For example 5.99.45.21. Make note of the IP of the machine you want to connect to.

If for some reason the computers in your list don’t have the IP beside them, you need to go into the prefs of the Hamachi app and dig into the advanced settings until you find out where to turn that on but I think the IP appears there by default. Anyway, once you know the Hamachi IP of the remote machine, all you have to do is select Connect to Server from the Go menu in the Finder of your Mac. It will have a Server Address field.

That is where you enter the Hamachi IP address you made note of earlier. If you are connecting to a Mac, you likely just need to enter the IP in the field and hit connect. If that does not work, try entering the IP as afp://5.x.x.x and then hit connect (replace 5.x.x.x with the IP you are trying to connect to). If you are connecting to a Windows file share use smb://5.x.x.x and hit connect. The afp:// tells the system to connect using apple file sharing protocol and smb:// instructs it to use a Windows File Sharing alternative known as SAMBA.

When browsing the network fails, this should be the foolproof way of connecting. As long as the Hamachi network is connected and the other machine is reachable via the Hamachi network, this will be reliable, even when the browse option does not work. Free download drama korea master sun sub indo. I hope this helps.

Kallekeek May 20, 2011 ok i actually found a solution: i had to change some options and then use 1. Turn on hamachi and wait till everything is connected 2. Use finder – go – connect with server and use the smb option after this all was done i had the server in my shared computers and could browse it through the finder but as soon as i close hamachi it breaks off the connection in the finder it´s funny but it works finder works not without the hamachi connection and browse option in hamachi works not at all thanks for the help here. Smanke October 19, 2011 @Heartless Beast I’m betting your buddy has an older Mac with a PowerPC processor. Since Hamachi went 2.0 it has required a Mac with an Intel based processor.

I did some digging and found these system requirements:. Windows Operating System: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, or Windows 7. Mac Operating System: Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard), or 10.7 (Lion) on Intel-based Macs.

Internet connection. There are no special hardware requirements I’m betting that is the issue. I was thinking that he might be able to get around the issue if he could find the older 1.0 version of Hamachi.

But that version was much harder to use on the Mac. It never had a good graphical interface. It only ever worked well using the command line. And it required some additional encryption drivers to be installed before it could even run. I’m not sure they would even be easy to find now.

Gigaom Hamachi Vpn Now Available For Mac

. I spent several hours during yesterday’s conference at San Francisco’s Mission Bay Conference Center sitting at the press table with tech writers from various publications who were connecting to the open Wi-Fi network. Before I connected to the center’s hotspot, I loaded a VPN (virtual private network) application, which provides a secure, encrypted tunnel within which I use public Wi-Fi. The one I use happens to be custom and proprietary, and takes about 15 seconds to establish a connection that will keep me completely secure on an open network. I noticed, though, that while some of the writers at the conference were probably using firewalls, hardly any of them used VPNs to keep their Wi-Fi sessions completely secure. And these were tech writers. That’s a shame, because there are available.

One of the out there is, an open-source, cross-platform VPN solution. The freeware world, too, includes many VPN applications that users swear by, such as from iOpus and the free version of. Is also widely used, although note that it’s incompatible with some firewalls. Is also well-liked by many Windows and Mac users. Windows 7 (S msft) actually comes with a built-in Agile VPN client, but it’s not said to be as easy as many of the free, time-tested clients.

Snow Leopard (S aapl) Server also offers VPN functionality, and previous versions of the Mac OS have included it. For many users, though, especially ones who don’t have access to help from an IT department, simple, free downloadable VPN solutions–which usually have intuitive interfaces–are great choices. VPN applications couldn’t be easier to use. Once installed, you simply sign in to them, and your online communications are routed through encrypted tunnels. Problems with particular VPN clients are typically the result of firewall-related conflicts, but you can easily find an app that works for you. As is always true with security software solutions, user apathy is the biggest problem of all.

So the next time you use public Wi-Fi, make sure you hop into a secure VPN tunnel first. Do you use a VPN application that you like? User education is what’s missing here – why VPN is important, what happens to your PC (and your company’s network) if your session get’s hacked, and how to set it all up. With OpenVPN, you take away the user setup piece – very convenient for the user who needs spot email access.

If you’re a network admin though totally different story. OpenVPN doesn’t cut it and unfortunately neither do most systems right now. I’ve been doing a series on Rethinking Remote Access on my blog that you all might find interesting.

Man-in-the-Middle attacks aren’t and issue if you pay attention to the certificate that comes with the HTTPS web page. If it is signed from a public source (Verisign, etc) and the server name, company name, etc matches the site you are visiting, you are good to go. Most modern browsers will give you a warning when the info doesn’t match. I argue that a well managed machine, use of HTTPS/SSL and common sense offer as much or more protection than many of the VPN solutions being discussed here.

Don’t get me wrong, VPN can be a great thing, but often people assume that because they are using a VPN that they don’t need to worry about the other stuff. Sebastian Rupley @ Brett– excellent input, thanks Brett. Yep, the methods you describe work and there is increased OS support for VPNs.

For lots of people, though, I think some of the third-party tools have easy GUIs and make the process simple. One thing I notice from the comments thread here is that some potential VPN users are still under the impression that one needs to be managing some remote server that is being pinged by the VPN client–not so. That’s how it worked years ago, but definitely not now.

Best, Sebastian. Brett Glass Yes, some third party products make the setup process simple. But the “network setup wizard” in Windows is just as simple.

Just tell it that you want to connect to the network at your workplace, and it will set up PPTP in a few clicks. I wish I could say the same for the Mac.

The Mac used to have a utility called “Internet Connect” which likewise set up a VPN connection in a few clicks. But now you have to go through the main Network Preferences control panel, whose strange interface (unique even to the Mac) is very complex and confusing and has gotten more so in “Snow Leopard.” (It’s a shame to see that the Mac is going backwards on ease of use and ease of learning.) I regularly help customers to set up Mac VPNs over the phone, though. Brett Glass Sebastian, you don’t need to use any third party software at all to make a VPN connection. Every computer sold today comes with the ability to use PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), which is secure so long as one uses a strong password. There’s no need for a “certified” product or one that uses a proprietary protocol. And most operating systems (though not Windows) also come with an SSH client, which allows extremely secure tunneling of e-mail. (Free third party SSH clients are readily available for Windows, though.) In most cases, you’ll have the option of doing “split tunneling” (in which only certain traffic goes through the VPN) or complete tunneling (in which everything, even your browsing, goes through the VPN).

The latter is a bit more secure, but so inefficient and slow that it probably isn’t worth it. (If you do anything on the Net that requires security, you will likely be using SSL/HTTPS anyway.) The only problem you’ll find with VPNs is that some cellular providers (Alltel in particular) limit the lengths of all TCP sessions and will cut off a VPN connection after a certain amount of time. Thus, they can be awkward to use with datacards.

But this does not tend to be an issue on public Wi-Fi networks. Ophirk While the recommendation is good, if fails to ignore some basic critical elements. Where do you connect back to? Is it hub and spoke topology?

VPN is using cryptography, so certified, vendor based products have strong advantage. There is abig difference between SSL based VPNS and IPSEC based VPNs, Unfortunately the differences are not that trivial for regular users. Firewall traversal, NAT Traversal and “office mode” IP’s are important features that have been around foe years. If your VPN client works in one place, it does nor mean it will work in any place.

Moreover, you’ll be surprised when things strat working when you have overlapping IP’s without office private address space. Unfortunately, most big vendors ( cisco,Check Point,Juniper, Microsoft ) have stopped investing development efforts in this area 5 years ago.It seems people don’t really care about encryption and SSL is “good enough” in most cases. Excellent observation about VPNs being a great way to keep secure on public networks.

The problem is that you missed the other half of the equation. You should have a VPN server to connect to once you have one of the widely-used VPN applications. I set my router up with custom firmware to do it for me, which is fantastic; however, I don’t think everyone would have the savvy to do that. Thanks for mentioning Hamachi, as it is a great way to do it for free, and simply.

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