Every now and then you will come across an application or game that requires something called “port forwarding” to be performed. Without port forwarding, inbound traffic and data from the Internet will not be able to communicate with the application / game, and you will not be able to perform certain Internet functions of this software. This tutorial will show you how to set up port forwarding in Windows.
Note– You may also need to set up port forwarding on your router, for which we have a separate guide.
In this article, Niketrainers.com.co will tell you:
Is port forwarding secure?
Before we get into the key topic of opening ports on a Windows PC, it’s worth answering the question of how secure it is. The short answer is yes, port forwarding is mostly secure, but there are a few things to consider.
Port forwarding is the process by which you forward all traffic going to one of the thousands of digital ports in the operating system to a specific machine or server listening on that port on the other side.
The security of port forwarding depends on the security of the server and the machine on the other side. For example, if you’re setting up port forwarding to host an online game, it pays to quickly check online for any security issues with that game or software. If you set up a, say, Minecraft server online, you’ll want to make sure the server is kept up-to-date and that you and other server users are using firewalls, preferably NAT.
The key is to know the software you are porting to and that it is reliable software.
Set up port forwarding in Windows
First pressWygraćon your keyboard, then typefirewall
in the Start Search menu and click “Windows Defender Firewall”.
In the left pane, click “Advanced Settings” to open the Firewall Rules window. Since port forwarding typically involves inbound traffic (ie traffic arriving at your computer from corporate data centers or servers), click “Inbound Rules” on the left pane.
If you have had your computer for a while, you should see a long list of “Rules” in the center pane that covers the various applications, services, and software that allow you to send traffic to your computer.
To get an idea of how the ports work, right-click an entry in the list and click Properties.
You’ll see the protocol type (usually TCP or UDP, although there are a few alternatives) as well as “Local Port”, the port in your firewall that you allow the connection through.
The really important thing here is the “remote port” which is the port that the client (application, software that is trying to connect to you) uses to connect.
For most applications, as in the image above, the client randomly assigns a remote port, so the default is “All Ports” in Windows Firewall.
Create new port rules
Click “New Rule” in the right pane and then click “Port” in the new window. Select whether the connection will use TCP or UDP (the application that asks for the port forward must specify the protocol), and then select the ports you want to open.
You can allow “All local ports” or specify which local ports you want to open. You can specify a single port, a range of ports, or select multiple ports separated by commas.
Click Next and then “Allow connection”. Choose whether to connect to your domain, private home network, or a location on a public network (not recommended for security reasons). On the next screen, name the rule.
Once created, the rule will join the large list of incoming rules in the Advanced Security window.
The new rule will now be linked to the list of incoming rules, where you can double-click it to modify it, apply only to specific programs and services, etc.
You can right-click the rule at any time and select “Disable” or “Delete” as well.
And this is. Now that you know how to set up port forwarding in Windows, you should also make sure that these applications are not on your Windows 10 PC and also check our Windows Defender rating and see if it’s good enough to protect your computer.
Image Source:Protected Global Internet Networkvia Photo Deposit