PortPilot

Port Forwarding Guide

A plain-English walkthrough for opening ports on any home router — for game servers, Plex, security cameras, and more.

External IP
The single public IP your ISP gives your home. Every device shares it.
Internal IP
A private address (usually 192.168.x.x) your router gives each device on your network.
Port forwarding
A rule telling your router to send connections on a specific port to one specific device.

Step 1 — Find your device's internal IP

On Windows: open Command Prompt and run ipconfig. Look for "IPv4 Address" under your active adapter.
On macOS / Linux: run ifconfig or ip addr in Terminal.
On a console: it's in your network settings.

Step 2 — Reserve the IP (recommended)

Internal IPs can change. In your router's settings, find DHCP reservations (sometimes called "Static DHCP" or "Address Reservation") and bind your device's MAC address to its current IP. This stops your forwarding rule from breaking after a reboot.

Step 3 — Log into your router

Open a browser and visit your router's admin page — usually http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1. The username/password is on a sticker on the router itself (or you've changed it — you did change it, right?).

Step 4 — Find the Port Forwarding section

The menu name varies wildly: "Port Forwarding," "Virtual Servers," "NAT," "Applications & Gaming." Add a new rule with:

  • External port — the port outside connections will use.
  • Internal port — usually the same. The port on your device.
  • Internal IP — your device's local address from step 1.
  • Protocol — TCP, UDP, or both. When in doubt, both.

Step 5 — Open your local firewall

A router rule only forwards traffic to your device — your device still has to accept it. On Windows, add an inbound rule in Windows Defender Firewall. On macOS, check System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Firewall. On Linux, you might need ufw allow <port>.

Step 6 — Test it

With your application running, head over to our Open Port Checker and verify the port shows as open.

Troubleshooting

  • Still filtered? Disable your computer's firewall temporarily to isolate the problem.
  • Behind two routers (double NAT)? Either bridge the upstream one or forward through both.
  • CGNAT? Some ISPs put many customers behind one IP. Port forwarding is impossible — call your ISP for a public IP, or use a tunnel like Cloudflare Tunnel or Tailscale Funnel.
  • ISP-blocked port? Many home ISPs block 25, 80, and 443 inbound. Use a non-standard port (e.g. 8080 instead of 80).