Opening Ports in a ZyXEL ZyWALL 35 Router

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Port Forward Staff
September 19, 2018 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 3 minutes

ZyXEL ZyWALL35 routers include a very basic firewall that helps protect your home network form unwanted access from the internet. Since this firewall blocks incoming connections you may need open a port through it for certain games and applications. This process of opening a port is frequently called a port forward, since you are forwarding a port from the internet to your home network.

The basic process to open a port is:

  1. Setup a static IP address on either your computer or device that you want to forward a port to.
  2. Login to your ZyXEL ZyWALL 35 router.
  3. Navigate to the port forwarding section.
    • Click the NAT link.
    • Click the Port Forwarding link.
  4. Create a port forward entry.

While these steps might seem difficult at first, we will walk you through each step for your ZyXEL ZyWALL35 router.

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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.

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.

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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.

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Step 2

Now we are going to login to your ZyXEL ZyWALL35 router. Your router has a web interface, so you will login to it using your web browser. This can be either Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Edge. It usually does not matter which browser you choose to use.

Open up your web browser and find the address bar. It should look something 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 ZyXEL ZyWALL 35 IP Address is: 192.168.168.1

After entering the IP address of your router you can simply press enter. If all goes well you will see the following screen:

ZyXEL ZyWALL35
ZyXEL ZyWALL35.

You should see a box prompting you for your username and password.

Enter your username and password, and then click the Login button to log in to your ZyXEL ZyWALL35 router.

ZyXEL Usernames and Passwords

If your username and password do not work then please visit our Default ZyXEL Router Passwords page.

If you still can't login to your router because you forgot your ZyXEL ZyWALL35 router username and password, use our How to Reset a Router Password guide to set your ZyXEL ZyWALL35 router back to its factory settings.

Step 3

Now we need to find the port forwarding section in your router. Here's how you do it. Starting from the first page in your router:

ZyXEL ZyWALL35
ZyXEL ZyWALL35.

Click the NAT link near the left of the page.

ZyXEL ZyWALL35
ZyXEL ZyWALL35.

Click the Port Forwarding link near the top of the page.

ZyXEL ZyWALL35 port forward
ZyXEL ZyWALL35 port forward.

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:

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Verify that you have the Active checkbox checked.

Put a name for this forward in the Name box so that you can remember why you set this forward up. The name does not matter so pick something that has meaning to you.

If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into both of the Incoming Ports and both of the Port Translation boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of that range into the left hand Incoming Ports and Port Translation boxes. Then enter the highest number of that range into the right hand Incoming Ports and Port Translation boxes.

You need to enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to in the Server IP Address box. It's possible for this to be either the IP address of your computer or any other IP address on your network that you want ports forwarded to.

When you're finished, click Apply near the bottom of the screen to save your changes.

Test if Your Ports are Open

Now that you have forwarded ports on the ZyXEL ZyWALL35 you should test to see if your ports are forwarded correctly.

To test if your port has been properly forwarded, you can use our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. Our Open Port Check tool is the only online port checking tool with Guaranteed Results.

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