How to Forward Ports in Your Router for Zmodo M2104

When you use a Zmodo M2104 DVR you might need to forward some ports in your router. Forwarding ports is used to allow incoming connection requests from the internet to a Zmodo M2104 DVR.

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

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

• Your router's internal IP address.
• Your DVR's internal IP address.
• 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.

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.

You can also follow our Find Your Router IP Address article.

A smart way to forward your ports is to use Network Utilities. 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.

Port forwarding can also be set up step-by-step by hand. The normal process for forwarding a port is:

• Start by logging in to your router.
• Locate the section in your router that deals with port forwarding.
• Put your DVR's IP address in the proper box in your router.
• Put the TCP and UDP ports that you are forwarding for a Zmodo M2104 DVR in the correct boxes in your router.

Frequently you have 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 a Zmodo M2104 DVR:

List of Routers - Customized for Zmodo M2104

The ports that need to be forwarded for a Zmodo M2104 DVR are listed here:

Zmodo M2104 - PC

• TCP: 80
• UDP: 80

That's all it takes to forward your ports for a Zmodo M2104 DVR.

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