Linksys WRT54G Router Port Forwarding

The Linksys WRT54G router is outfitted with a basic firewall designed to help protect your home network from the Internet. The job of a firewall is to block incoming and outgoing connections to and from the Internet unless you tell it otherwise. There are quite a few games and applications however that require a connection to be open. To create an open port is to create a port forward. A port forward allows a connection to completely bypass the firewall and connect directly to your home network.

To open a port on the Linksys WRT54G router you need to:

1. Setup a static IP address on your computer or device you plan on forwarding the ports to.
2. Login to your Linksys WRT54G router.
3. Access to the port forwarding section.
   • Select the Security link.
   • Uncheck Block Anonymous Internet Requests.
   • Click the Save Settings button.
   • Select the Applications & Gaming link.
   • Click on Port Range Forward.
4. Lastly, create a port forward entry.

We will walk you through every step, one at a time.

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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

In this step you are going to be logging into the Linksys WRT54G router. You need to use the router's web interface in order to make the necessary changes. To access a web interface you need to use a web browser.

Open up either Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or any browser of your choice. To use a web interface it should matter what browser you use.

Now, locate 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 Linksys WRT54G IP Address is: 192.168.1.1 Once you have finished entering the router's IP Address, click the enter key on your computer. If all goes as planned you should see the following screen:

There should be a box prompting you for the username and password in order to access the Linksys WRT54G router.

• The Default Linksys WRT54G Router Username is: blank
• The Default Linksys WRT54G Router Password is: admin

Once you have entered the username and password, click the OK button to access the Linksys WRT54G router.

Linksys Usernames and Passwords

If the username and password did not work then we recommend trying other Linksys passwords. Check them out on our Default Linksys Router Passwords page.

If you still can't login to the Linksys WRT54G router, it might be time to consider a router reset. When you do this it reverts all settings, including the username and password back to factory defaults. Learn more in our How to Reset a Router Password guide.

Step 3

Now that you have logged into the Linksys WRT54G router you need to locate the port forwarding section of the router. Let's begin on the Home page:

First, click the Security option a the top of the page.

On this new page you need to remove the checkmark from the box labeled Block Anonymous Internet Requests.

Click the Save Settings button on this page.

Go back to the top of the page and click the new option titled Applications & Gaming.

A new set of choices appears below that. Click the new option of Port Range 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

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

Put a name for this forward in the Application box so that you can remember why you set this forward up. The name does not matter so pick something that has meaning to you.

If you are just forwarding a single port number then you can simply enter that same number into both the Start and the End 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 box and then enter highest number into the End box.

Select the required protocol for these ports from the Protocol dropdown box.

Enter the IP address of the device that you want to forward ports to into the IP Address box. This can be either the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another device on your network.

In the Enable checkbox put a checkmark.

That's it, when you are done simply click the Save Settings option at the bottom of the page.

Test if Your Ports are Open

We highly recommend testing to see if your ports were opened correctly. To do this we offer the use of our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. This Open Port Checker accurately checks your ports and has Guaranteed Results.

Here are some other guides you may be interested in:

• How to Port Forward Through Two Routers.
• How to Check For Open Ports.