Hello everybody!
In this video, I’m going to show you how to open ports in a Windows operating system,
how to check if the necessary port is open, check the status of all ports, and find out
which port is used by a specific program.
If
you
are an avid online gamer, an active user of file sharing services and torrents, or you
want to create your own game server, you probably know that you’ll have to open some extra
ports for your needs.
It can be done on your router and in the firewall settings of your operating system.
How to check open ports
Before you start opening ports it’s worth checking which are already open.
There are special apps to help you, but you can always do it with standard built-in utilities
as well.
Launch the Command prompt as Administrator and type the following command:
netstat –aon This command tells the computer to display
the information on the status of network connections and ports:
A – all connections and waiting ports O – showing the process ID
N – the port number and address in a numerical expression
If you want the information displayed page by page, add the word “more” at the end.
After you enter this command, the result will be shown on the screen as a table.
Now let’s talk about identification names in detail
LISTENING — the port is listening for incoming connections;
ESTABLISHED — the port has an established point-to-point connection;
TIME WAIT — the port is waiting after close to handle packets still in the network.
CLOSE WAIT – the connection is waiting for the port to close.
Getting to know the ports used by a specific program
To find out which port id used by a specific program, add the letter B to this command
- this is how you tell the computer to show the process name.
As a result, you will also see the name of the program using this port.
Checking ports online There are also online services to check open
ports, for example https://2ip.ru/ or http://portscan.ru/ and the links are below this video.
Just choose “Checking the port”, enter the port number, and click Check.
You will see the result below, “Port is open” or “Port is closed.”
Now let’s talk about opening a port if it’s closed - and you can open it with the Windows
firewall.
However, you should always remember that the more openings you have in your firewall, the
more vulnerable your computer is.
Opening a port in Windows firewall To open a specific port in a Windows operating
system, open Control Panel, Windows Firewall and click on “Advanced settings.”
It will open Windows Firewall with advanced security.
You can also open it with the Run window by pressing Win+R key shortcut and typing “firewall.cpl.”
Now select “Inbound Rules” and then “New rule.”
Check the Port option here, specify the port to open (7000), “Allow the connection,”
don’t change anything here, give the rule a name and click Finish.
In the same way, create a rule for UDP protocol and these two rules for outbound connections.
That’s all - the port is open.
If you need to close the port again, just choose it from the list and click “Delete.”
Opening a port with Command Prompt Another way to open ports in Windows is with
the command prompt.
To do it, start the command prompt as administrator and type the following command
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=L2TP_TCP protocol=TCP localport=7001 action=allow dir=IN
This command will create a rule L2TP_TCP and open TCP protocol port 7001 in inbound connections.
In the same way, type a similar command to add a rule for the same port but with UDP
protocol.
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=L2TP_UDP protocol=UDP localport=7001 action=allow dir=IN
You will see an OK message here if the commands are completed successfully.
Don’t forget that to enable the work of PPTP protocol you should open the port not
only for the managing session 1723 (TCP) but also allow work for the GRE protocol.
That’s why you need to type the following command:
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=All_GRE protocol=47 dir=in action=allow
Opening ports for games or programs If you need to open ports for a specific application,
you’ll have to create a rule in advanced settings of the Windows firewall, and this
time you choose the option “Program” instead of “Port.”
See more in another video - the link is in the description.
If the port is still closed after all the actions, it means the port is closed in the
router.
You can watch another video in our channel to see how to forward a port on a router - and
the link is below as usual.
Forwarding ports in an antivirus To open a port in antivirus settings you should
find the exclusions section and add the required program to the white list.
As there is so much antivirus software around, it’s the only solution that works with any
program.
Opening a port with uTorrent Here’s one more way to open a certain port
with the help of a torrent program.
To begin with, go to Options / Preferences, and choose Connection.
In the line “Port used for incoming connections” type the port you need and click Apply.
Now let’s go to the website to check this port - you can see it’s open, but if you
exit the application, the port becomes closed again.
Why you should keep ports 80 and 443 open Among the multitude of ports, there are those
used by popular applications by default: for example, ports 80 and 443 are used by browsers.
Port 80 is for ordinary encryption and port 443 for protected encrypted connections, and
if you close these ports, there may be difficulties with connecting to gaming, cloud and other
services.
Yet if they are closed and everything works without any problems, don’t hurry to open
them.
Below this video you will find the list of most frequently used ports and their description.
That is all for now.
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Leave comments to ask questions.
Thank you for watching.
Good luck.