Hitman Peacock Failed to Fetch Servers? 12 Quick Fixes
You’ve done everything right. Downloaded Peacock, ran the patcher, launched the game. And then: “Failed to fetch servers.”
If you frequently encounter online connection problems in multiplayer games, you can also check our Steam server connection error troubleshooting guide for additional network and authentication fixes.
Agent 47 is stuck on the loading screen. The server list is empty. The game thinks it’s online, but can’t reach anything.
This is the single most common Peacock error, and it has about 8 different causes. The fix that works for you depends on which one you’re actually hitting. This guide covers all of them, in the order you should try them.
What Peacock actually is and why this error exists
Quick context, because understanding what Peacock does makes the error make sense.
Peacock is a fan-built private server project for Hitman: World of Assassination (and Hitman 2). IOI’s official servers gate a huge chunk of content behind an always-online requirement. Elusive targets, escalations, certain unlocks, and Ghost Mode. Peacock runs a local server on your own machine that the game talks to instead of IOI’s servers.
The “failed to fetch servers” error means the game launched with the Peacock patcher active, tried to connect to the Peacock server, and got nothing back. The server either isn’t running, isn’t reachable at the address the game is looking for, or something on your machine is blocking the connection.
The game and the Peacock server are both on your own PC. This is a localhost communication failure, which means the problem is almost always configuration, not your internet connection.
Fix 1: Start the Peacock server before launching the game
Sounds obvious. Causes a surprising number of support tickets.
The Peacock server has to be running before you launch Hitman. The patcher reroutes the game’s server calls to localhost, but if there’s nothing listening on localhost, the game gets nothing back.
Open your Peacock folder. Run Start Server.cmd (or peacock-server.exe, depending on your version). Wait for the console window to show it’s running. You’ll see output like:
Listening on 0.0.0.0:80
Or similar. Once you see that, then launch the game through the patcher.
If you launched the game first, the patcher might have connected before the server was ready. Close the game completely, make sure the server is running and showing that listening message, then relaunch.
Temporary outages and unstable matchmaking servers can also cause similar problems in other online games. Our Battlefield 6 server connection error fix guide covers several useful network troubleshooting methods.
Fix 2: Run everything as Administrator
Peacock’s server needs to bind to port 80. On Windows, binding to ports below 1024 requires elevated permissions. If you’re not running as Administrator, the server silently fails to start or binds incorrectly, and the game gets nothing.
Close the Peacock server if it’s open. Close the patcher. Close the game.
Right-click Start Server.cmd and choose “Run as administrator.” Right-click the patcher and choose “Run as administrator.” Then launch the game.
This alone fixes it for a large chunk of people who’ve been running Peacock without admin rights.
If you want to make this permanent: right-click Start Server.cmd, go to Properties, Compatibility tab, check “Run this program as an administrator.” Do the same for the patcher executable.
Fix 3: Port 80 is already in use
Peacock needs port 80. If something else on your system is already using port 80, Peacock can’t bind to it, the server doesn’t actually start, and the game fails to fetch.
Check what’s using port 80. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:
netstat -ano | findstr :80
Look at the output. If you see lines with LISTENING on port 80, something else has claimed it. The PID number at the end of each line tells you which process.
Find the process name from the PID:
tasklist | findstr [PID number]
Common port 80 thieves: IIS (Internet Information Services), XAMPP, Apache, Skype (older versions), VMware, World Wide Web Publishing Service.
The fastest fix for most people: disable the World Wide Web Publishing Service.
Open Services (search for it in the Start menu). Find “World Wide Web Publishing Service.” Right-click it. Choose Stop. Then set Startup Type to Manual so it doesn’t grab port 80 again on the next boot.
Do the same for “IIS Admin Service” if it’s there.
After freeing port 80, restart the Peacock server and try again.
Fix 4: Check your hosts file
The Peacock patcher works by modifying your hosts file to redirect IOI’s server domains to your local machine. If the hosts file wasn’t modified correctly, or got reset by an antivirus, the game sends its requests out to IOI’s actual servers instead of Peacock, and Peacock never sees them.
Open Notepad as Administrator. File, Open, navigate to:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
Look for entries like:
0.0.0.0 hm3-service.hitman.io
0.0.0.0 auth.hitman.io
127.0.0.1 hm3-service.hitman.io
The exact entries depend on your Peacock version, but there should be Hitman-related domains pointing to either 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1.
If they’re missing, the patcher didn’t write them. Run the patcher again as Administrator with the game closed. If they are there but the error persists, try changing 0.0.0.0 to 127.0.0.1 for each Hitman entry and save.
After editing the hosts file, flush your DNS cache:
ipconfig /flushdns
Then try again.
Fix 5: Antivirus deleted or blocked Peacock files
Antiviruses hate Peacock. Not because it’s actually malicious, but because it does exactly what malware does: it patches executables and modifies network routing. Windows Defender, Malwarebytes, ESET, Bitdefender, all of them have been reported to flag Peacock components.
Check your antivirus quarantine folder. If PeacockPatcher.exe, peacock-server.exe, or any .bat file from the Peacock folder is sitting in quarantine, restore it.
Then add the entire Peacock folder to your antivirus exclusions. In Windows Defender:
Settings, Windows Security, Virus & Threat Protection, Manage Settings, Exclusions, Add an Exclusion, Folder. Select your Peacock directory.
After restoring quarantined files and adding exclusions, re-run the patcher to make sure your hosts file is intact (antivirus sometimes reverts it when it quarantines the patcher).
Fix 6: Firewall is blocking port 80
Windows Firewall can block Peacock’s server from receiving connections, even on localhost. Technically, localhost traffic shouldn’t hit the firewall, but Windows Firewall rules aren’t always that logical in practice.
Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security (search for it in the Start menu).
Check Inbound Rules. Look for any rule that blocks TCP port 80. If you find one, either delete it or modify it to allow traffic.
Create a new inbound rule to explicitly allow Peacock. Click “New Rule” in the right panel. Choose Port. TCP. Specific local port: 80. Allow the connection. Apply to Domain, Private, and Public. Give it a name like “Peacock Server.”
Do the same for Outbound Rules.
If you have a third-party firewall (Comodo, ZoneAlarm, pfSense, if you’re routing through something fancy), you’ll need to add the exception there too.
Fix 7: Wrong Hitman version or wrong patcher
Peacock has different patchers for different game versions and different platforms. The Steam version of Hitman and the Epic Games version need different patchers. Using the wrong one means the game gets redirected to the wrong place, or not redirected at all.
Confirm which version of Hitman you have. Right-click the game in Steam or check your Epic library. Then download the matching Peacock patcher from the official Peacock GitHub (github.com/thepeacockproject/Peacock).
Also, check that your Hitman game version matches what Peacock currently supports. After a major Hitman update, Peacock sometimes needs a day or two for a compatibility update. Check the Peacock Discord or GitHub releases page to confirm your game version is supported.
If Hitman updated recently and Peacock hasn’t caught up, that’s your problem. Wait for the next Peacock release.
Fix 8: The Peacock server crashed or errored on startup
The console window for the Peacock server might look like it started, but it actually threw an error after the initial output. Scroll up in the console window and look for red text, stack traces, or lines that say “Error” or “EADDRINUSE.”
EADDRINUSE means port 80 is taken (go to Fix 3).
If you see a Node.js error or a module not found error, your Peacock installation is broken or incomplete. Re-download the latest Peacock release from GitHub and extract it fresh. Don’t overwrite your existing install if you have save data you want to keep: back up the userdata folder first, then do a clean install into a new directory.
If the console crashes immediately with no useful output, try running it from an elevated Command Prompt directly:
cd “C:\Path\To\Peacock”
node peacock.js
That usually surfaces errors that the batch file hides.
Fix 9: IPv6 conflict with localhost
Some machines resolve localhost to::1 (IPv6) instead of 127.0.0.1 (IPv4). Peacock’s server listens on IPv4 by default on some versions. If the game tries to connect over IPv6 and Peacock is only listening on IPv4, the connection fails.
Check your hosts file again. Make sure this line exists:
127.0.0.1 localhost
If it says: 1 localhost only, add the 127.0.0.1 version.
You can also force Peacock to listen to both by checking your Peacock configuration. Some versions have an options.ini or config.json where you can set the bind address to 0.0.0.0, which covers all interfaces.
After changing the hosts file, flush DNS again:
ipconfig /flushdns
Fix 10: Node.js is missing or the wrong version
Peacock runs on Node.js. Some distributions of Peacock bundle Node.js with the download, but older setups or manual installs require you to have Node.js installed separately.
Check if Node is installed:
node –version
If you get “command not found” or any error, download Node.js from nodejs.org. Get the LTS version. Install it. Then relaunch the Peacock server.
If Node is installed but you’re on a very old version (below v16), update it. Some Peacock features use modern JavaScript that older Node versions don’t support. The Peacock documentation on GitHub specifies the minimum required Node version for each release.
Fix 11: Game is still connecting to the IOI servers
The patcher might have run, modified the hosts file, but the game already cached IOI’s DNS responses. Or the game was already running when you patched.
Full reset sequence:
- Close Hitman completely (check Task Manager to make sure HITMAN3.exe is gone)
- Run the patcher as Administrator
- Flush DNS: ipconfig /flushdns
- Start the Peacock server as Administrator
- Launch the game through the patcher, not through Steam or Epic directly
If you launch through Steam after patching, Steam sometimes relaunches the game through its own process chain in a way that bypasses the redirect. Always launch through the Peacock patcher when you want Peacock active.
Fix 12: Corrupted Peacock userdata or config
If you’ve had Peacock working before and it suddenly broke after an update or a game update, the issue might be a conflict between your existing userdata and the new Peacock version.
Back up the userdata folder (this has your unlocks and progress).
Delete everything else in the Peacock directory.
Download the latest Peacock release from GitHub. Extract it fresh.
Copy your backed-up userdata folder back in.
Run the patcher again as Administrator. Launch.
This nuclear option fixes issues with old config files that new Peacock versions aren’t compatible with.
Diagnosing it fast: what the server console tells you
The Peacock server console window is your best diagnostic tool. Here’s what the common outputs mean:
| Console output | What it means | Fix |
| EADDRINUSE :::80 | Port 80 is taken | Fix 3 |
| Listening on 0.0.0.0:80, then the game still fails | Hosts file issue | Fix 4 |
| Console closes immediately | Crash on startup | Fix 8 |
| Cannot find module | Missing Node dependency | Fix 10 or reinstall |
| Looks fine, but the game says failed | Game not patched / wrong patcher | Fix 7 or Fix 11 |
| No console window opens | Antivirus deleted the exe | Fix 5 |
If the console shows “Listening on 0.0.0.0:80” and the game still says “failed to fetch servers,” the server is running fine. The problem is that the game’s requests aren’t reaching it. That points to the hosts file (Fix 4), DNS cache (Fix 11), or IPv6 conflict (Fix 9).
If the fetch error still appears after restarting the game and router, you may also benefit from our web server and connection failure troubleshooting guide for deeper server communication fixes.
Specific platform gotchas
Steam users: Make sure the Steam overlay isn’t interfering. Some users report that disabling Steam overlay for Hitman in Steam’s properties (right-click the game, Properties, General, uncheck “Enable Steam Overlay”) resolves connection issues with Peacock.
Epic Games users: Epic’s launcher sometimes re-verifies game files after updates and restores a patched executable to its original state. After any Epic update to Hitman, re-run the Peacock patcher before launching.
Game Pass / Microsoft Store users: Peacock support for the Game Pass version is limited and sometimes broken. The Microsoft Store version of Hitman uses a different executable protection scheme. Check the Peacock GitHub issues tracker for the current Game Pass compatibility status before spending an hour troubleshooting.
Windows 11 users: Windows 11 changed how some localhost networking works. If you’re on Windows 11 and hitting this error, specifically try adding 127.0.0.1 localhost to your hosts file, even if it seems redundant. Windows 11 sometimes routes localhost over IPv6 in ways Windows 10 didn’t.
After you fix it, keep Peacock working
A few things that prevent this error from coming back:
Pin the startup order. Peacock server first, always. Consider creating a batch file that starts the server, waits 3 seconds, then launches the patcher:
start “” “C:\Peacock\Start Server.cmd.”
timeout /t 3
start “” “C:\Peacock\PeacockPatcher.exe.”
Check Peacock updates before game updates. When IOI releases a Hitman patch, wait to see if Peacock has a compatible release before updating the game. You can delay Steam updates by setting the game to “Only update when I launch it” in Steam’s properties, then not launching it through Steam until Peacock is ready.
Keep your antivirus exclusion active. Windows Defender sometimes reverts exclusions after a Defender update. Check it periodically.
Don’t run other local servers on port 80. XAMPP, IIS, Apache: if you use any of these for development, either configure them to use a different port or remember to stop them before running Peacock.
