Simple Asus RT-AC88U Router Port Forwarding Guide

A Asus RT-AC88U router contains a basic firewall to help protect your home network. A Firewall blocks incoming connections by nature. Sometimes you need to unblock some of these connections so you can run a game or application. This is called opening a port or port forwarding. Port forwarding is literally forwarding a port from the internet to your home network.

Follow the steps below to open ports in your Asus RT-AC88U router:

1. Go ahead and set up a static IP address on the computer or device that you are forwarding these ports to.
2. Log in to your Asus RT-AC88U router.
3. Find the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding section in your Asus RT-AC88U router.
   • Find the WAN button at the left of the screen and click on it.
   • Find the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding tab at the left of the screen and click on it.
4. Create a Virtual Server / Port Forwarding entry.

If this sounds difficult, you are not alone. We will walk you through each step in opening a port for the Asus RT-AC88U 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 - Setup A Static IP Address

In order to keep the ports in your router open, even after a reboot or disconnect, it is important to set up a static IP address in the device that you are forwarding a port to.

• Recommended - Our free program will setup a static IP address for you.

  → Download Network Utilities today!

• Or follow our Static IP Address guides to setup a static IP address.

After setting up a static ip address on your devices you need to login to your router.

Step 2 - Login To Your Asus Router

Log in to the Asus RT-AC88U router. To do this you need to use a web browser because the Asus RT-AC88U router uses what is called a web interface.

It normally doesn't matter what web browser you use so go ahead and open up your favorite. If you don't have a favorite then open up Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

If that is confusing to you, we have simplified this step with this link: Login to your RT-AC88U Router

Once you have opened up a browser window, find the address bar. This is usually at the top of the page like the image below shows.

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

The Asus RT-AC88U router's default IP address is: 192.168.1.1

Once you have finished entering your router's IP address into the address bar, click the enter button on your keyboard. A box similar to the one below should appear.

To login, enter the username and password for the Asus RT-AC88Us. Important Note: If you have changed them in the past, you need to enter in those values.

• The default Asus RT-AC88U Router Username is: admin
• The default Asus RT-AC88U Router Password is: admin

Once you enter your username and password, click the Sign In button.

Asus Usernames and Passwords

If the username and password did not work, go to our Default Asus Router Passwords page for help.

If, after trying the above list of passwords you still can't log in you may need to consider a reset for your router. Learn how to do that by reading our How to Reset a Router guide. **Note:**After resetting the Asus RT-AC88U router your username and password revert back to factory defaults.

Step 3 - Find The Port Forwarding Section

You should be on your routers home page once you complete logging in. Find the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding section on the home page of the Asus RT-AC88U router.

• Click on the WAN button at the left of the screen.
• Find the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding tab located near the left of the screen and click it.

You are now on the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding page.

If it's not already, you'll want to make sure that Enable Port Forwarding is toggled ON.

Step 4 - Create A Port Forward Entry

Opening a port to a specific device may solve problems that you are having on your network. Make sure that it is necessary though, before opening a port, because you are effectively creating a pinhole in the firewall portion of your router that could lead to malicious traffic on your network. The risk is exceedingly low, though, so don't let this warning stop you from making this change if you need it.

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.

To start adding an entry, click the button that says Add Profile.

1. In the Service Name box, type in a name for this forward. This will serve as a reminder to you in the future as to why this forward was set up, so give it a name that makes sense to you. Or if you'd rather not, you can just leave it empty.

2. In the Protocol dropdown box, select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding. Choose Both if your router has that option. Otherwise, choose either TCP or UDP as needed. If you need to forward a port for both TCP and UDP and your router does not have the Both option, then you need to create two entries.

3. Enter the port information for this entry in to the External Port box. You can enter a single port number, a range of port numbers separated by a colon (eg. 1000:2000), or a mix of both separated by commas (eg. 1000,2000:3000,4000).

   • The Internal Port box can, and in most cases should be left empty. The router will use the same information you entered in to the External Port box by default.

4. Go ahead and enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to into the IP Address box. It is possible for this to be either the IP address of your computer or of any other device on your network that you want ports forwarded to.

   • The Source IP can also be left empty. The router will accept incoming connections from any source address by default, which is typically what you want.

5. To apply these changes, remember to click the OK button at the bottom of the page when you are completely finished.

Test Your Ports To See If They Are Open

Use our Network Utilities software, (which includes a free Open Port Checker tool) to test your network to see if you have forwarded ports in the Asus RT-AC88U router correctly. Open Port Checker is the only online port checking tool that has Guaranteed Results.

Other Guides You May Be Interested In:

• We have software called Network Utilities that do all of this and more.
• Learn more about how to Setup your router.
• A full listing of all our games and applications that require port forwarding.