How to Create a Port Forward in Your Router for Ricochet Server

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

Routers are not designed to allow incoming network requests. Forwarding ports can work around this limitation.

Before forwarding a port make sure that you know these things:

• Your router's internal IP address.
• The IP address of your computer.
• Each 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.

You can run our free Router Detector software to locate 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.

We have Network Utilities software that can forward ports for you. Since Network Utilities allows you to both forward and un-forward ports easily you can keep your network security maximized, and then forward ports only when you need them.

You can also choose to set up port forwards manually. The normal process for forwarding a port is:

• Start by logging in to your router.
• Find the port forwarding section in your router.
• Put the IP address of your computer in the proper box in your router.
• Put the TCP and UDP ports that you are forwarding for Ricochet Server in the correct 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 Ricochet Server:

List of Routers - Customized for Ricochet Server

The following ports need to be forwarded for Ricochet Server:

Ricochet Server - PC

• TCP: 27015
• UDP: 27015

That's all it takes to forward your ports for Ricochet Server.

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