HidForge

Guide: getting started

Step by step, with screenshots: sign up with a promo code, buy places, install, and connect to your computer for the first time. One place = one computer you control. The computer or phone you connect from needs no place.

  1. Sign up on the site with a promo code
  2. Buy places
  3. Install HidForge on the computer you will control
  4. Sign in and click “This is my computer”
  5. Connect to your computer
  6. For games — improved control
  7. Share places with your group

1Sign up on the site with a promo code

  1. Click Sign in at the top → the Sign up tab.
  2. Enter your email and a password (8 characters or more), then repeat the password.
  3. Type the promo code you were given into Promo code (optional). It gives a lasting 7% discount on every payment.
  4. Click Create account.
Signing up with a promo code
Signing up with a promo code

Forgot the promo code? Cabinet → Promo code and cashback → A friend's promo code. It can be done once and only before the first payment.

2Buy places

  1. Cabinet → Buy or renew places.
  2. Choose how many computers, the term and the currency. The price with every discount shows at once: for the number (2–4 PCs −7%, 5–19 PCs −12%, 20+ PCs −18%), for the term (3 mo. −4%, 6 mo. −8%, 12 mo. −12%) and another −7% for the promo code.
  3. Choose a payment method → Create order and pay as the order page says, with the order number. To pay in Telegram, choose the payment method “⭐ Telegram Stars”: the price shows in Stars and the invoice comes to the @hidforge_bot chat at once (link Telegram in the cabinet first).
  4. As soon as the payment is confirmed, the places appear in the cabinet.
The price with every discount: 3 PCs for 3 months with a promo code
The price with every discount: 3 PCs for 3 months with a promo code
The order page: the payment details and instructions are here
The order page: the payment details and instructions are here
Paid places in the cabinet
Paid places in the cabinet

Bought a key on FunPay or GGSel? Open the link from the key, enter your email and a password, and the key is activated in one step. Or: Cabinet → Access key → Activate key. Renewing works the same way: a new purchase extends the places that end first.

3Install HidForge on the computer you will control

  1. The Download page → Download for Windows, then run the downloaded file.
  2. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC” (unknown publisher), check the file first: it is from hidforge.com and its SHA-256 matches the one on the Download page. Only then — More info → Run anyway. If it differs, do not run it: delete the file and contact support.
  3. In the setup window: Next → keep the boxes checked, especially Improved control for games → Install. Windows asks for permission once — agree.
The Download page
The Download page
The setup window
The setup window
Installation options
Installation options

4Sign in and click “This is my computer”

  1. In the HidForge window, the Sign in tab: the same email and password as on the site → Continue.
  2. Click This is my computer. The computer takes one place and gets a permanent ID.
    Keep “Start HidForge with Windows” so the computer is always reachable. The second box lets you connect to this PC from your other devices without a confirmation.
  3. Repeat this on every computer you will control: one place each.
Signing in to the program
Signing in to the program
“This is my computer”
“This is my computer”
Done: the computer's ID and “Ready for connections”
Done: the computer's ID and “Ready for connections”

The program says “All places in the account are taken…”? Buy more places (step 2) and click “This is my computer” again.

5Connect to your computer

  1. From another PC: install HidForge and choose Only connect (it takes no place), or just sign in on the site. From a phone: open the site (the phone apps are still in testing); how to put HidForge on your phone is on the Download page.
  2. My computers → Connect next to the computer. Or the Connect section → enter the ID.
  3. That computer shows a request: Allow control, View only or Decline. If you allowed yourself to connect without a confirmation, there is no request.
Connections work from any network: from home, from work, from a phone on mobile internet.
A connection request on that computer
A connection request on that computer

6For games — improved control

In the program on the computer you control: Settings → Games → turn on Improved control for games. If the program asks, click Give Windows permission — once, at this computer. Then games take the mouse and keyboard as from a real device.
Games in the program's settings
Games in the program's settings

The program installs updates by itself while nobody is connected to the computer.

7Share places with your group

Bought several places for your party? Open Cabinet → “Invite or give away” next to a free place (or in HidForge: My subscription). Each free place has two buttons:
  1. Invite shows an invitation code (works 7 days, for one computer). Send it to the person: they install HidForge, open I have an invitation code in the program window, paste the code and click Add this computer. They don't need your password. The place stays yours: you renew it, and the computer shows in My computers.
  2. Give away: enter the email of the person's HidForge account and the place becomes theirs for the rest of its term. They get an email (and a Telegram message if they linked the bot) and renew it themselves from then on. A gift cannot be undone.

Only a free place can be given away. If a computer is on it, unlink it in My computers first.

If something does not work, see Getting started or write to us, ideally with a screenshot.