How to Open Ports in a Asus RT-AC87U Router

This Asus RT-AC87U router has a firewall that helps to protect your home network from unwanted access from the Internet. The firewall blocks connections that you may want opened for a game or application. This process of opening ports or connections is normally called a port forward because it expedites a port through the firewall directly to a device on your local home network.

In this guide we will be walking you through each of the following steps:

Setting up a static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding the ports to
Login to your Asus RT-AC87U router.
Finding the port forwarding section.
- Click the WAN link.
- Click the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding link.
Entering the data to make a port forward entry.

We will walk you through each step in the process to get your ports forwarded on the Asus RT-AC87U router.

We think that forwarding a port should be easy. That's why we created Network Utilities. Our software does everything that you need to forward a port.

Get Started Now!

When you use Network Utilities you get your port forwarded right now!

Step 1

It is important to setup a static ip address in the device that you are forwarding a port to. This ensures that your ports will remain open even after your device reboots.

Recommended - Our free Static IP Setter will set up a static IP address for you.
Another way to get a permanent IP address is to set up a DHCP reservation.
Or, manually create a static ip address with our Static IP Guides.

This step is important because you want a permanent IP address in your device. If you do not set up a permanent IP address in your device, then when you device reboots it may get a new IP address.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

Step 2

It is now time to login to the Asus RT-AC87U router. Your router has a web interface, which means you need to login using a web browser. It doesn't matter what browser you decide to use, just pick your favorite. Some common web browsers are:

Internet Explorer
Firefox
Chrome
Edge

Open up the web browser you picked and find the address bar. This is normally at the top of the page like this:

Image of a browser address bar — Browser address bar

Above is an example of what a web browser address bar looks like. Find the address bar in your router and type in your router's IP address.

The default Asus RT-AC87U IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

If you have changed the router's IP address in the past and don't remember what it is, you can find it by following the instructions on this How To Find Your Router's IP Address page.

After entering the router's IP Address in the address bar click the Enter key. You should see a box similar to this one:

You are in the right place if you are asked for a username and password.

The Default Asus RT-AC87U Router Username is: admin
The Default Asus RT-AC87U Router Password is: admin

Go ahead and enter the username and password associated with this router interface. Then click the OK button.

Having Trouble?

This is where a lot of us get stuck. There are several things you can do in order to get past this step:

If the default username and password did not work, we recommend trying other Asus passwords. You may have a slightly different firmware version that has a different default username and/or password. Here is a list of the Default Asus Router Passwords.

If other default Asus passwords did not work, it is probably because you changed the username and password in the past and don't remember what you changed it to. If this is the case, try guessing a few times. We can help by automating the process for you. Our Find Password App is a great app that works with your suggestions and tries thousands of different combos while you wait. This app only works on your local network. It WILL NOT work over the Internet. Learn more about this on our Router Password Cracker page.

Finally, if you have tried everything and can not access the Asus RT-AC87U router, it may be time to consider a reset. We strongly advise you to exhaust other troubleshooting methods first. A reset like this one erases every setting you have ever changed during the lifetime of the router. Learn more about it in this Asus RT-AC87U Reset Guide.

Step 3

It is time to find the port forwarding section of your router. To do that let us start on the first page of the Asus RT-AC87U router:

Click the WAN option in the left sidebar under Advanced Settings.

Next, click the Virtual Server/Port Forwarding tab at the top of the page.

Asus RT-AC87U Virtual Server Port Forwarding.

Step 4

Here are the ports to forward for Xbox Live:

TCP Ports: 3074

UDP Ports: 3074

If you are looking for the ports for a different application you can find it by either:

Browsing our List of Games

Check out our our List of Games by Genre

See our List of all Applications

Don't forget to sign up for NordVPN's promo deal before it's gone.

You might notice that most of our site doesn't have ads on it. This is because we use partnerships with companies like NordVPN to keep the site running. Thank you for supporting us by using our referral links.

You need to name this entry in the Service Name box. The name does not make any difference in the forward; it's just there so that you can remember later why you setup this forward.

Put the same port number into both the Port Range and the Local Port boxes.

You need to enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to in the Local IP box. It's possible for this to be either the IP address of your computer or any other IP address on your network that you want ports forwarded to.

Use the Protocol dropdown box to select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding.

When you are done click the Add button.

When you are finished, click the Apply button at the bottom of the page.

Did Your Ports Open?

After you have entered all the data into the Asus RT-AC87U router to forward the ports for your application or game you need to test them. This is the only way to know for sure if the ports forwarded correctly. We recommend using our Open Port Checker. This app is part of our Network Utilities free trial version. This Open Port Checker is the only one online that has guaranteed results.