Forwarding Ports for Windows Home Server on Your Router.

When you use Windows Home Server you may need to forward ports in your router. The purpose of forwarding ports is to make a direct connection from the internet to Windows Home Server.

By default routers do not allow incoming network requests. By forwarding a port you can overcome this limitation.

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

• The IP address of your router.
• 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.

To find your router's IP address the easy way you can use our free Router Detector software. It is part of our Network Utilities suite of tools and is free for you to use it.

Otherwise, you can follow our guide Find Your Router IP Address.

A smart way to forward your ports is to use Network Utilities. Our Network Utilities software allows you to add port forwards and also remove them when you no longer need them to maximize your network security.

Another option is to go through the process of forwarding ports one step at a time. The process for forwarding a port is:

• Log in to your router.
• Look for the port forwarding section in your router.
• Type the IP address of your computer into the correct box in your router.
• Enter the TCP and UDP ports that you need to forward for Windows Home Server in the corresponding boxes in your router.

You probably will need to reboot your router for the changes to take effect.

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

List of Routers - Customized for Windows Home Server

The ports that need to be forwarded for Windows Home Server are listed here:

Windows Home Server - PC

• TCP: 80, 443, 4125
• UDP:

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

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