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Basically what portforwarding is, is when you go into your router (more specifically the firewall in the router) to allow certain things through so you can connect to online games, i have only ever had to port forward for 3 games, Minecraft, Starcraft, And World of warcraft (whats with all the crafts.....*tinfoilhat*) ANd Contrary to the believe it can't hurt your router or computer, unless you severely screw it up but, just dont do that. Anyway

Step 1
Look on your router for what model it is, generally it is found on the bottom of the router in my case i have a Linksys wrt54g

Step 2
Go to http://portforward.com/

Step 3
Locate your router on the list, we'll use mine as an example Linksys WRT54G
http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Linksys/WRT54G/WRT54Gindex.htm
You should end up here after a AD Page

Step 4
They Have a huge page on game select any game you need to port forward, we'll use minecraft as an example

Step 5
http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Linksys/WRT54G/WRT54Gindex.htm

Step 6
Enter in your static ip in the address bar at the very top of the page in my case mine is 192.168.1.1

Step 7
You should see a box prompting you for your username and password. Enter your username and password now. By default the username is blank, and the password is admin, or for me its Username: Admin, Password: Admin log in.

Step 7
In my case i look for a button called security (yours may be different)

Step 8
Click the Applications & Gaming link near the top of the page.
You should now see a new menu. In this new menu, click Port Range Forward. (yours may be different)

Step 9
Minecraft Server requires you to forward the following ports: 25565. Go ahead and enter the settings shown above into the Port Range Forward menu.

Step 10
so in my case it will look like this

|Application | Start | |End| |Protocol |IP Address| |Enable|
|Minecraft| |25565 | |25565| |Both| |192.168.1.1| |X|

Step 10
When you're finished, click Save Settings near the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
And that's it! You're done!


Remember this was for my router, yours can/will be different just follow the directions at
http://portforward.com/

If you need any help, just ask me or pm me and i can help you as best as i can.



Cheers

Thank god! We needed this for some minecraft troubles earlier but now I just added the port straight into the router

Essentially, what does port fowarding do? Make the game run straight thru your router? (also can you do this with Wireless?)

Port forwarding is the process that your router or firewall uses to sort the right kind of network data to the right port. Computers and routers use ports as a way to organize network data. Different types of data, such as web sites, file downloads, and online games, are each assigned a port number. By using port forwarding, the router or firewall sends the correct data to the correct place.

And yes, it can be done to a wireless router

Alright. Thank you!

the first time i tried to get to the server i thought i had to port forward but actually i had the IP wrong.

I can see how people could get frustrated about this, + for you.

Alright, basically what port forwarding does is make a direct connection to your home connection.

Normally it would have to go through your firewall and be cleared by it, as well as be re-routed to your home connection through your router.
You're generally telling your firewall that this connection confirmed by you to be safe and will cause no harm to it.

It makes the connection to whatever the port is for, faster.

Dont know if it helps but.

Router on pic is firewalled ofc.