How to Open a Port in Your Router for PyMediaServer

When you use PyMediaServer you might need to forward some ports in your router. A port forward allows incoming connection requests from the internet to go straight to PyMediaServer.

Routers do not generally allow incoming connection requests from the internet. Forwarding ports can work around this limitation.

Make sure that you know these things before forwarding a port:

• Your router's IP address.
• Your media server's IP address.
• The list of the TCP and UDP ports that you need to forward.

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.

When shopping for a VPN, make sure that they meet the following criteria:

• Your VPN provider should have a no-logs policy. This means that they do not keep any logs of any kind.
• Make sure that your VPN provider has lots of exit nodes all around the world.
• Check that your VPN will not affect your speed.
• Verify that your VPN provider uses WireGuard as the underlying protocol.
• Many people prefer a VPN provider that is not based in the United States.

This is the list of requirements that we used when we were shopping around for a VPN provider. There are lots of free, shady VPN providers out there that we looked at and dismissed.

Based in Panama, using diskless servers, and with over 6,100 servers in 61 countries, we can safely say that NordVPN satisfies all of these requirements.

Once you've set up your NordVPN account on multiple computers and enabled Meshnet, you can seamlessly access all of your devices as if they were on the same network. You don't even have to log in to your router. It's very simple.

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.

We have free Router Detector software to help you find your router's IP address. It is part of our Network Utilities suite of tools and is free for you to use it.

If you do not want to run the software, you can follow our Find Your Router IP Address guide.

The easiest way to forward your ports is to use our Network Utilities software. Network Utilities lets you manage port forwards by putting them in when you need them and also removing the ones that you no longer need which maximized network security.

You can also choose to set up port forwards manually. The way to forward a port is:

• Log in to your router.
• Locate the section in your router that deals with port forwarding.
• Type your media server's IP address into the correct box in your router.
• Put the TCP and UDP ports for PyMediaServer in the corresponding boxes in your router.

Usually you have to reboot your router in order to save the changes.

You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for PyMediaServer:

List of Routers - Customized for PyMediaServer

Here is a list of the ports that need to be forwarded for PyMediaServer:

PyMediaServer - Default

• TCP: 49152
• UDP: 1900, 7000

Those are the steps to take in order to forward ports in your router for PyMediaServer.

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