Port forwarding is a necessity for some programs to function correctly, whether it’s a web server, a video game, bandwidth place, or even a simple instant messaging program. Typically any program that interacts with the internet or other network can benefit from having the ports on your router forwarded.
However, not everyone knows how to forward the ports on their wireless router, and if you’re reading this I assume you’re not quite sure how to either. But not to worry, in this guide I’ll show you step-by-step how to forward the ports on your wireless router.
Step 1: Finding Your Router’s Internal IP Address
In order to forward ports on your wireless router, you’ll need to connect to it by entering its internal IP address into your browser’s address bar.
The most common IP addresses for wireless routers are 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.1.1. However, if neither of these work then you’ll have to manually find out what your router’s IP address is. You’ll be doing this through the Windows command prompt.
In Windows XP and older you’ll need to open up the command prompt by clicking Start and then Run, and type in cmd. For Windows Vista and 7 you’ll need to click Start, then type cmd into the search and then open it.
After you’ve opened the command line, type in ipconfig. Look for the line that says “Default Gateway”, the number next to this is your wireless router’s internal IP address.
Now that you have your router’s IP address you can go to your router’s config page by typing in the IP address in your web browser’s address bar. If you are asked to type in a username and password you may need to consult your router’s manual, but typically both the username and password will bet set to admin by default.
Step 2: Identifying the Ports
Before you begin forwarding ports you’ll need to figure out which ports you need to forward. Each program will use a different port, so you’ll need to figure out which one the program you’re using needs forward.
You can easily find this out by either by reading the program’s manual or support page or by doing a quick Google search for it.
Step 3: Forwarding the Ports
Now that you’re on your wireless router’s config page and know the ports you need to forward, you can begin actually forwarding the ports.
First, you’ll need to navigate to the port forwarding section of your router’s config page. Depending on your router’s brand and model, this page may be called a few different things. Typically this page will have an obvious name, such as “Port forwarding”, “Port config”, or “Applications and Gaming”.
Once you’re on the port forwarding page you may begin forwarding the ports you need to. This part is pretty simple, all you need to do is type in a name for the port, type in the port you want to be forwarded and then click Apply (Or some variation of, depending on your router).
Depending on the model and brand of your router, you may also need to enter your computer’s IP address, or at least the last few numbers of it. If you don’t know what it is, you may do the same you did to find your router’s IP address, only this time look for the number next to “IP Address”.
Step 4: Testing
After you’ve forwarded your ports, you may begin testing to see if it worked correctly.
If it worked correctly, then congratulations! If not, you’ll want to recheck everything in the previous steps and make sure you’ve entered everything correctly. Sometimes the error could be a simple typo or a misplaced number.
Conclusion
After reading this guide, you should now know how to successfully forward the ports on your wireless router. In the future, you’ll do the same for every other port you may wish to forward as well.
