The D-Link AirPlus DI-524 router includes a basic firewall that helps protect your home network from unwanted access from the Internet. Since the router's firewall blocks incoming connections you may need to open a port through it for certain online games and applications. This process of opening a port is frequently called a port forward, since you are forwarding a port from the Internet to your home network.
We will walk you through each and every step in the process of opening your ports. This includes:
- Setting up a static IP address on the computer or device you are forwarding these ports to.
- Login to your D-Link AirPlus DI-524 router.
- Navigate to the port forwarding section.
- Create a port forward entry.
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.
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
Now we are going to login to your D-Link AirPlus DI-524 router. Your router has a web interface, so you login to it using your web browser. This can be either Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Edge. It usually does not matter which browser you decide to use.
Open up your web browser and find the address bar. It should look something like this:
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 D-Link AirPlus DI-524 IP Address is: 192.168.0.1
If the above IP address did not work or you changed the router's IP address in the past and you don't remember what you changed it to, please follow the directions on this How To Find Your Router's IP Address page.
After entering the IP address of your router you can simply press enter. If all goes well you will see the following screen:
You should see a box prompting you for your username and password.
- The Default D-Link AirPlus DI-524 Router Username is: admin
- The Default D-Link AirPlus DI-524 Router Password is: password
Enter your username and password, and then click the OK button to log in to your D-Link AirPlus DI-524
D-Link Usernames and Passwords
If your username and password do not work then please visit our Default D-Link Router Passwords page and try other D-Link passwords and usernames.
Another option is to try and guess what the password was changed to. If you need help with this step, check out our Find Password App. It automates the guessing process for you.
If you still can't login to your D-Link AirPlus DI-524 router because you forgot your username and password, use our How to Reset a Router Password guide to set your D-Link AirPlus DI-524 router back to its factory settings. We do not recommend this option unless you have exhausted your other options first.
Step 3
Now we need to find the port forwarding section in your router. To do that, we start from the first page of your router:
First, click the Advanced option at the top of the page.
There are now a different set of options in the left sidebar. Click Virtual Server.
You are now on the correct page to make a port forward.
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
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Pick the Enabled radio button choice.
Create a name for this forward and put it in the Name box. The name is only used as a reminder and has no effect on the port forward.
Enter the IP address that you want to forward these ports to in the Private IP box. You can enter either the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another computer or device on your network.
In the Protocol Type box select the protocol that you want to forward these ports over.
Put the same port number into both the Private Port and the Public Port boxes.
Pick the Always radio button choice.
Click the Apply button when you are finished.
Most people will never need to use this, but I'm going to explain why they have Private Port and Public Port here.
The Private Port and Public Port entries are actually rather useful. They are there so you can direct traffic at two devices on your network.
Let's say that you have two devices running Ftp servers on your network. Let's call these devices device one(192.168.0.1) and device two(192.168.0.1).
Let's also say both these ftp servers are running on port 21. Okay we setup your router to forward port 21 to device one(192.168.0.1:21).
So every external IP address request from ftp goes to device one. How do we get to the second device? Well the Private Port and Public Port entries allow us to specify another outside port to connect to our internal port 21. Lets make the additional port, port 30. We would now setup a rule in the router with the Public Port set to 30 and the Private port set to 21. The IP address in that rule would be 192.168.0.1. So when you wanted to ftp to device two you would specify port 30 in your ftp client.
The router would see these requests coming in on port 30 and forward them to (192.168.0.1:21). This would allow you to ftp to both devices.
When you are done, click the green Apply button to save your changes.
Your ports should now be open. It is time to test them.
Test if Your Ports are Open
Now that you have forwarded ports on the D-Link AirPlus DI-524 you should test to see if your ports are forwarded correctly.
To test if your port has been properly forwarded, you can use our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. Our Open Port Check tool is the only online port checking tool with Guaranteed Results.
More Information...
If you are having difficulty forwarding ports please use our Port Forward Software. Our software does all the work for you making forwarding the right ports easy.
We have more than just port forwarding guides, check out our full list of guides here.
Do you need help setting up your router? How secure is your network? Some routers by default have absolutely no network security. Secure your network and more at setuprouter.com.
