Play Valheim with Friends Without Port Forwarding: Radmin VPN, Hamachi or the Join Code

The three ways, in short

The join code: you don't install anything, anyone can join (including from Xbox, PlayStation 5 or Switch 2) and it works both for a game you open from the game itself and for a dedicated server. It needs crossplay turned on.

Radmin VPN or Hamachi: everyone installs a program that puts you on a private network, as if you were in the same house, and you join by IP. It works for a dedicated server without crossplay, and only for PC players.

Forwarding UDP ports 2456 and 2457 on your router: the classic way, with no programs in between, but some routers and ISPs won't let you (Valheim ports).

The join code: the easiest

With crossplay, according to the official manual, you don't need to open ports: the server goes through the game's crossplay system (PlayFab). Two catches. You can't join with the local IP (192.168.x.x) or with 127.0.0.1, so if you're in the same house as the server, join with the code too. And mods that ask you to turn crossplay off don't work with it. Console details are in Valheim with Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Switch 2.

1. Open the game with crossplay

   From the game, by loading your world with the start server box and crossplay turned on. On a dedicated server, by starting it with -crossplay.

2. Copy the code

   Join and open the pause menu: the join code is there. Clicking it copies it.

3. Your friends paste it

   Under “Join Game” → “Add server”, they paste the code and type the password.

When you need Radmin VPN or Hamachi

When you have a dedicated server on your PC that has to run without crossplay (a mod requires it, or you'd rather not go through PlayFab) and you can't open ports: the router won't let you, or your ISP has you behind CG-NAT and it can't be reached from outside even if you open them (how to tell if you're behind CG-NAT).

It doesn't work for console players: you can't install a VPN program on Xbox, PlayStation or Switch. They join with the code. And with a game you open from the game itself, the code is still the easy way: a VPN makes sense with a dedicated server, which is the one you join by IP and port (how to set one up).

Radmin VPN or Hamachi: which to pick

Radmin VPN is free, has no ads and, according to its website, no player limit. It only works on Windows. Each PC gets an address starting with 26.

Hamachi is free for up to 5 computers per network, counting you, and has versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. Its addresses start with 25.

For a group on Windows, Radmin VPN, which doesn't have the cap of 5. If someone plays on Mac or Linux and there are 5 of you or fewer, Hamachi. With Valheim they work the same: only the IP you type changes.

Step by step with Radmin VPN

1. Everyone installs it

   Whoever has the server and each friend, from the official Radmin VPN website. Windows may ask whether to allow a new network adapter: say yes.

2. Create the network

   Whoever has the server, with “Create network”: a name and a password for the network. Send them to your friends privately.

3. Everyone else joins

   With “Join network”, typing that name and that password. Each PC appears in the list with its IP, the one starting with 26.

4. Start the server without -crossplay

   With crossplay the connection goes through PlayFab and not through your network, and the manual warns that you can't join by local IP that way: remove it from the startup line. If you'll only join through the VPN, -public 0 keeps it off the public list.

5. Allow the server through the firewall

   When Windows asks the first time, tick every box, as the manual says: the VPN network usually ends up as a public network, and if you only allow private ones, your friends can't reach it.

6. Join by IP

   Each friend, in the game: “Join Game” → “Add server”, with the Radmin IP of the server PC and the port, separated by a colon (for example, 26.12.34.56:2456). Then the server password.

With Hamachi, the same

Whoever has the server creates the network (“Create a new network”), with an ID and a password, and everyone else joins with “Join an existing network”. In Valheim you type the Hamachi IPv4 of the server PC, the one starting with 25, with the port: 25.x.x.x:2456. If there are more than 5 of you, the free version won't do.

If it won't connect over the VPN

First, make sure the server has really started: its window has to say “Game server connected”. If it closes on its own, that's a different problem (why it won't start).

Then, the Windows firewall on the server PC: if at the first prompt you only ticked private networks, remove the valheim_server rule in the firewall settings and start it again so it asks, or create an inbound UDP rule for ports 2456 and 2457 that also applies on public networks.

And check that the server doesn't have -crossplay, that you're all on the same VPN network (you show up in the program's list) and that you all have the same game version. If it asks for the password and rejects it, or says incompatible version, see the usual joining errors.

The downsides of playing over a VPN

Everyone has to install the program and keep it open to play, and anyone who joins your Radmin or Hamachi network is, network-wise, inside your house: create it only for friends you trust, with a password. Console players are left out.

And the server is still your PC: if it shuts down, goes to sleep or Windows restarts to update, the game is over for everyone, and your upload speed delivers the world to everyone else.

No VPN and no open ports: a rented server

A rented server is already on the internet: nobody installs anything and there's no router to touch. On NapNodes, Valheim servers are created with crossplay turned on, so your friends join with the address and port from the “Address to play” card or with the code, from any platform, and the password is in “Settings” → “Password to join”, with “Copy”. If a mod asks you to turn off crossplay, it's done in “Settings” → “Crossplay (Xbox and Game Pass)”, and Steam players can still join by address and port with no VPN.

To try it without paying, the free Valheim server, no card needed: you start it when you want to play and it stops on its own after 20 minutes with nobody on. Your world from home can be uploaded as a .zip to worlds_local and opened with “Decompress” (how to move it).

Frequently asked questions