Easiest Way to Forward Ports on the Linksys WRT1900ACS Router

This router, the Linksys WRT1900ACS, uses a firewall to help protect your network from unwanted Internet access. The firewall does this by blocking most of the ports or connections. There are times that you need some of these blocked connections opened in order to run a game or program more smoothly. This process is called a port forward because you are forwarding a port through the firewall to a device of your choice on your home network.

Use this guide to get ports open on your Linksys WRT1900ACS router. We will walk you through each of the following steps:

How to setup a Static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding this ports to.
Then we will show you how to login to the Linksys WRT1900ACS router.
After that we will be showing you how to find the port forwarding section of your router.
Finally we show you exactly what to input in your router to get your exact port forwarded.

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

This second step is the login step. We will show you how to login to the Linksys WRT1900ACS router. Your router uses a web interface menu, meaning you need to open a web browser in order to begin logging in to it. It shouldn't matter which browser you decide to open, simply pick your favorite. Some common options are: Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, and Firefox.

Once you have opened up the web browser, find the address bar. This is typically 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 Linksys WRT1900ACS IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

After entering the router's IP address, click the Enter key on your keyboard. This page will then appear:

The top box should contain your email address that you setup when you first got this router.

The second box is the password. You should have set this up as well in the beginning.

If you are having trouble with this step you can click the link labeled Forgot your password?.

Another option is to try and guess what your password is. We can help with this Find Password App. It guesses thousands of different options for you. Learn more about it on our How to Reset a Router page.

Step 3

In this third step we show you how to find the port forwarding section of your router. Let's start on the Home page.

First, you want to click the option at the bottom of the list in the left sidebar labeled Security.

Screenshot of Linksys WRT1900ACS Firewall.

Now, do you see the three tabs near the top of the page? Click the one labeled Apps and Gaming.

Under the three tabs at the top of the page is another set of choices. Click the link labeled Single Port Forwarding if you are forwarding only a single port or ports not in numerical order such as 22,26,35,44 or Port Range Forwarding if you are forwarding a group of ports in a range such as 22-43.

For the next image I will choose Single Port Forwarding.

Screenshot of Linksys WRT1900ACS Single 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.

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 just forwarding a single port number then you can simply enter that same number into both the Start Port and the End Port boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports, usually separated by a hyphen, then you need to enter the lowest number of that range into the Start Port box and then enter highest number into the End Port box.

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

You need to enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to in the Device 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.

Verify that you have the Enabled checkbox checked.

Click the Save button when you are all done.

Forwarding a Single Port

You need to name this entry in the Application 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 External Port and the Internal Port boxes.

The protocol that you want to forward is selected from the Protocol 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.

Enable the Enabled checkbox by putting a check in it.

When you are all done click the Save button.

Don't forget to save between each entry.

When you are completely finished, click the blue Apply button near the bottom of the page.

Testing Your New Port Forward

It is always a good idea to check your work. When you have finished port forwarding use our Open Port Checker. This neat little tool is part of our FREE trial version of the Network Utilities. Our port checker guarantees a positive yes or no answer to whether or not your ports are actually open or not. We use a local application to see if the ports are listening or not.