Forward Ports on Your Router for Team Fortress 2 Server

When you use Team Fortress 2 Server you might need to forward some ports in your router. By forwarding ports you allow connection requests coming from the internet to be directed to Team Fortress 2 Server.

Routers are not designed to allow incoming network requests. By forwarding a port you can overcome this limitation.

You need to know the following things before you can forward a port:

• Your router's IP address.
• The internal IP address of your computer.
• 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. Our Router Detector tool is free to use and is part of our Network Utilities software.

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

You can use our Network Utilities software to automatically forward ports for you. 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 normal process for forwarding a port is:

• You can 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 for Team Fortress 2 Server in the corresponding boxes in your router.

Some routers need to be rebooted in order for the changes to be saved.

You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for Team Fortress 2 Server:

List of Routers - Customized for Team Fortress 2 Server

The incoming ports that need to be forwarded for Team Fortress 2 Server are:

Team Fortress 2 Server - PC

• TCP: 27015
• UDP: 27015, 27020

That's all it takes to forward your ports for Team Fortress 2 Server.

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