How to Port Forward Minecraft

This article will show you how to forward the port for your Minecraft server. Forward porting is necessary if you want to allow people not on the Wi-Fi network to join your server, as this will allow traffic from outside the network to enter your computer. Friend.

Table of Contents

Prepare

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Make sure the Minecraft server is set up. If you do not have Minecraft server installed and configured on your computer, click on one of the following links for how-to instructions specific to your operating system:

Windows
Mac

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Search for the router’s IP address. To access the router’s page, you’ll need to know the router’s address listed in your computer’s settings:

On Windows — Open Start

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(Start), click Settings

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(Settings), click Network & Internet , click View your network properties , scroll down to the “Wi-Fi” section, then note the address next to the ” Default gateway” (Default gateway).
On Mac — Open the apple menu

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, click System Preferences… , click Network , click your Wi-Fi connection on the left, click Advanced… , click the TCP/IP tab and write down the address next to the word “Router”.
Linux — Open Terminal (command line interface) and type ” ip r “. The last number is the router’s IP address.

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Find the computer’s IP address. You usually see this address to the right of the word “IPv4” in the menu containing your router’s IP address. This is the address that identifies your computer.

If you see a slash and another number at the end of the IP address (such as 192.168.1.12/32 ), your computer can be recognized by two addresses (such as 192.168.1.12 and 192.168. 1.32 ).

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Close your Minecraft server if it’s open. To properly forward your port, it must be unused. That means you will need to close the server.

Although this step is not strictly necessary, it can help prevent errors from occurring.

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Close Minecraft. Once both Minecraft and your server have been closed, you can proceed with the step of accessing your router’s page.

Go to the router’s page

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Open a web browser. Click or double-click your web browser’s application icon to do this.

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Click the address bar. This bar is located at the top of the web browser window.

If there is any text in the address bar, delete it before continuing.

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Enter the address of your router. Type here the address you find next to “Default Gateway” (on Windows), “Router” (on Mac) or the last number “ip r” (on Linux).

Example: You can type something like 192.168.1.1 here.

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Press ↵ Enter . Once pressed, you will be redirected to your router’s page if the router is online.

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Log in to your router’s page. Type in the username if prompted, then type the password and press ↵ Enter .

If you don’t know your login information, don’t worry—most routers just ask you to log in with the default information (such as “admin” as your username and “password” as your password). You can usually find this information on the back/side of your router or in your router’s manual.
If you can’t find your router’s label or user manual, you can search your router’s model number online for commonly used credentials.

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Wait for the router’s page to finish loading. Especially the first time you visit your router’s page, it may take a few seconds for the page to finish loading. Once logged in, you can assign a static IP address to your computer.

You may need to do some on-screen setup or follow the instructions if this is your first time opening the router’s page.

Assign a static IP address

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Understand that each router page will look different. While it’s possible to approximate the location of menu items on your router’s page, what you see will vary greatly from router to router.

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Know why you need to assign a static IP address. Assigning a static (instead of dynamic) IP address to your computer will prevent the IP address from being changed if the computer loses connection to the router. That means you won’t need to update your IP address in the server settings every time you turn your computer back on.

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Search the list of devices connected to the router. The location of this list will vary, so try searching in the following places or menus:

Connected Devices
Settings (Settings)
Advanced Settings
Network (Network)
Devices
Parental Contrps (Content Limits)

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Find the computer’s IP address. Scroll through the list of connected devices until you find an IP address that matches your computer.

This is usually the “IPv4” address that you find in the same menu as your router’s address.

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IP address lock. Again, the process will vary depending on your router’s site. You’ll probably need to click the lock icon next to your IP address, click the settings gear icon, then click Reserve next to the address, or check the “Reserve” box near the address.

For specific instructions on how to assign a static IP address to your router model, read the text on the network or your router’s manual.

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Save the changes. Click the Save or Apply button to do this. Now that your computer’s IP address is locked, you can forward Minecraft ports.

Your router will likely need to reboot before continuing. If so, the router will automatically reboot.

Minecraft port forwarding

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Know which port to forward. The default Minecraft port number is 25565. Unless you have changed this number in your computer’s firewall settings, the default port number will be the number you use.

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Find and open the “Port Forwarding” section of your router. On most routers, this is usually labeled “Port Forwarding” and is usually the main tab or menu item on the router’s home page.

If you don’t see “Port Forwarding” in the homepage, search for Settings or Advanced Settings.
Again, you can read your router’s specific text for instructions on how to use your router’s port forwarding feature.

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Type a name for your rule. In the “Name” or “Rule” text box, type a title (such as “Minecraft”) that describes the port forwarding rule. If you want, you can add a description line.

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Enter the Minecraft port number in the “Internal Port” text box. Type the number 25565 into this text field.

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Add the port number to the “Outbound” text box. You will again type 25565 here. This is the step that causes your router to only forward port 25565 in this rule.

If you don’t see this option, simply search for the second “Port” text field to the right of the list.

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Enter the static IP address of the computer. In the “Address” text box, type the static IP address you assigned to your computer.

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Select the port type. Click the drop-down box next to “Protocp”, then click TCP in the drop-down menu. You should also enable UDP in that same menu.

You’ll probably need to check a box (like clicking the “TCP” box, for example).
Skip this step if the “Protocp” drop-down box already has the word TCP in it.

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Save the changes. Click the Save or Apply button to do this. By this step, your port is usually already forwarded, meaning you can invite your friends using port 25565 on your computer’s public IP address to access the Minecraft server.

Your router will likely need to reboot before continuing. If so, the router will automatically reboot. If not, wait a few minutes for the router to reboot.

Steps

Prepare

Go to the router’s page

Assign a static IP address

Minecraft port forwarding

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