How to Open Ports in a TP-Link TD-W8901N Router

Your TP-Link TD-W8901N router has a firewall that helps protect your home network from unwanted Internet activity. The firewall works by blocking incoming connections that you may want opened for an application or online game. The process of opening additional ports is called a port forward.

In this guide we will be showing you how to port forward on the TP-Link TD-W8901N router. The four steps I will be covering are:

how to setup a static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding these ports to.
how to login to the TP-Link TD-W8901N router web interface.
how to find the port forwarding page in the router's web interface.
how to setup a port forward for the online game or program of your choice.

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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.

TIP: Write this static IP address down. You need it in Step 4.

Step 2

Now that you have setup a static IP address for the device you are forwarding these ports to, it is time to login to the TP-Link TD-W8901N router. This router uses a web interface which simply means you need to access it using a web browser. It normally doesn't matter which browser you decide to use, simply pick one of your favorites such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Firefox.

After you have opened the web browser, find the address bar. This is 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 TP-Link TD-W8901N IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

After you put the router's IP address in the address bar, click the Enter key. This will give you a login screen similar to this:

If you did not get a login screen after entering the router's IP address, it is probably because the router's IP address has been changed. Follow the directions on this How To Find Your Router's IP Address page to find out what the router's IP address has been changed to.

Now enter the router's username and password and press the orange Login button.

The Default TP-Link TD-W8901N Router Username is: admin
The Default TP-Link TD-W8901N Router Password is: admin

Having Trouble?

This is a pretty common place to get stuck. If you find yourself here, don't panic, there are a few things you can try:

First, check all the different TP-Link default combinations. Here is our list of all known Default TP-Link Router Passwords.

Second, try and guess what the password/username was changed to. Use our Find Password App to make this step easier.

Finally, if you still are stuck after trying both of the above options, it may be time to consider a factory reset. Learn more about this option on the How to Reset a Router page.

Step 3

It is now time to find the port forwarding section of the router. To help you with this step, we begin on the Device Information page.

First, click the option at the top of the page labeled Advanced Setup.

This takes you to the page you see above. Click the option near the top of the page labeled NAT.

On this page, find and click the link in the center of the page labeled Virtual Server.

Congratulations, you are now on the correct page to make a port forward entry.

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

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Pick an available line number from the Rule Index dropdown box.

Create a name for this forward and put it in the Application box. The name is only used as a reminder and has no effect on the port forward.

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

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

Enter the IP address to forward these ports to into the Local IP Address 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.

When you are finished, click the SAVE button to apply your changes to the router.

Test Your Ports

Are your the ports you just forwarded really open? An easy way to find out is use our free Open Port Checker. It uses a local application to see if the ports are open or not. This guarantees our port checkers accuracy.