Creating a Virtual Private Network

This guide shows you how to use free software to easily and quickly create a VPN (virtual private network) between two computers. An example of a great use for this is connecting to your computer at your house from your computer at the office and using files at your office that are located on your home PC.

What is a VPN tunnel?

A VPN is a virtual private network. What that means is you can create a VPN tunnel between your computer at your work and your computer at your house. Once you have a VPN tunnel between the two computers you can access files through the internet (in the VPN tunnel) on your home computer from your office or vice versa.

Is it secure?

Yes. If you have to seriously ask that question and you have things that other people must not see I would stay away from this. Don’t get me wrong, VPNs are very secure, but if you have sensitive data traveling across a VPN I would stick with CISCO VPN hardware or software to establish a VPN.

The security of the VPN tunnel talked about in this guide is more than enough for the average person.

Download the Software

The software I use is called Hamachi. Hamachi is free and VERY easy to use.

Click here to download Hamachi.

Once you download Hamachi, install it on your computer.

Once you install Hamachi you’ll see a quick guide popup the first time you run Hamachi. I suggest reading it.

Create a Network

Once Hamachi is installed and running on your computer you need to turn it on. Click the on button on the lower left of the Hamachi window. Once you turn it on for the first time you’ll see a window similar to the one below.

Type a nickname you want to use and click create.

Now you need to create a network. Think of a network as an account name for the computer you want to connect to. When you connect to a computer from another computer you use the network name and password to find and connect to it.

Type your network name and a very secure password. The network name must be unique.

Click create when you are finished.

If you want to create a network after Hamachi has been started simply click the create or join networks button on the lower right of the Hamachi window and select create network.

Join a Network

Once you’ve created a network on a computer and you are ready to connect to that computer from another computer click the create or join network button located at the bottom right of the Hamachi window and select join existing network.

Type the network name and password of the computer you want to connect to and click join.

If everything goes well you are now directly connected to your computer through a VPN tunnel.

You can browse to that computer and open files just like you would if you were on the same network at home or at work.