Your Linksys EA9500 router has a firewall that protects your home network by blocking unwanted Internet access. However, there are times you want some of these Internet connections unblocked. This process of opening ports is normally called a port forward because you forward a port through the firewall to a device on your home network.
In this guide we will walk you through each of the steps in forwarding the ports for your Linksys EA9500 router. This steps include:
- How to setup a static IP address on the device you want to forward these ports to.
- How to Login to the Linksys EA9500 router.
- How to find the port forwarding section of the router.
- Finally, what information to enter in your router to make a port forward.
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
When logging into a router you need to know that it uses a web interface. This means in order to login you have to open a web browser. It doesn't matter which browser you decide to use, simply pick your favorite. Some of the more common options are Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox.
Once you have picked the web browser you want to use, simply open it up and find the Address bar. Normally this is at the top of the page 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 Linksys EA9500 IP Address is: 192.168.1.1
After entering the router's IP address into the address bar, press the Enter key. This takes you to a Login screen:
Since this router is a "Linksys Smart WiFi" router you will have already setup an email and password to be associated with the router interface. These are what will be entered in the Email Address space and the Password space. (Hopefully you have written these down somewhere.)
Having Trouble?
If the username and password did not work, there are several things you can try:
- First of all, you should try other Linksys usernames and passwords. If you have a slightly different firmware version it could have a different username/password combination. Here is our list of Default Linksys Router Passwords.
- If that did not help, it probably because you changed the username and password and don't remember what you changed it to. If this is the case, you should try and guess a few times. If that doesn't work how about trying our Find Password App. It automates the guessing and tries thousands of different combinations for you. To learn more about this option check out our Router Password Cracker page.
- Finally, if nothing else works, it might be time to consider a factory reset. A reset like this erases all personal settings, not just the username and password. Be careful about resetting a router, make sure you have exhausted the other troubleshooting options first. Learn more about this topic on our How to Reset a Router page.
Step 3
You should now be logged into the Linksys EA9500 router. In order to find the port forwarding section you need to start on the Home page.
Select the option of Security in the left sidebar.
This brings you to the page you see above.
Now, click the top of the page, select the option of Apps & Gaming.
There is a smaller menu near the top of the page. In this menu if you are forwarding a single port or multiple ports that are not in a range then click the option of Single Port Forwarding. If you are forwarding a range of ports then click the option of Port Range Forwarding.
The page shown above is the Single Port Forwarding page.
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.
Forwarding a Port Range
Enter the name of the program into the Application Name box. It doesn't really matter what you put into this box, but something that will remind you why these ports are being forwarded is be a good idea.
If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into the Start Port and the End Port boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of that range into the Start Port box. Then enter the highest number of that range into the End Port box.
Select the required protocol for these ports from the Protocol dropdown box.
Enter the IP address to forward these ports to into the Device IP# box. If you are forwarding ports so you can run a program on a device other than your computer then you can enter your device's IP address into that box.
Verify that you have the Enabled checkbox checked.
Click the Save button when you are done.
Forwarding a Single Port
Make up a name to put in the Application Name box. The name does not have any effect on the functionality of the forward, it's simply there so you can know why it was created.
Enter the port to forward into the External Port and the Internal Pot boxes.
In the Protocol box select the protocol that you want to forward these ports over.
Enter the IP address that you want to forward these ports to in the Device IP# box. You can enter either the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another computer or device on your network.
Verify that you have the Enabled checkbox checked.
When you are all done click the Save button.
Make sure to save after each entry.
When you are finished filling out all the entries, be sure to click the blue Apply button near the bottom of the page.
Test Your Ports
Sometimes it can be difficult to see if the ports you forwarded did so correctly. It is always a good idea to test your ports. We recommend using our Open Port Checker. It is part of our FREE trial version of the Network Utilities. This Open Port Checker uses one of your local applications to see if the port is open. A lot of the the online port checkers don't do this making them less reliable. Our port checker is guaranteed to give you the right results.
Additional Info...
You can find more of our guides in the left sidebar of this page. If you are looking for more router specific guides check out our other site titled setuprouter.com
