How to Port Forward on Netgear

Your Netgear router creates a physical firewall between your computer and all the other computers connected to the Internet. The firewall is a security feature that prevents other people from directly accessing your machine. If you plan to use your computer as a server, such as for hosting an online game or transferring files to other users, you will need to disable part of the firewall by forwarding your computer's port. You can turn on the port-forwarding feature by changing a setting in the Netgear router's software menu.

Instructions

1. 

   Open the Start menu and then click on the Search feature. Type "cmd" into the search box and then double-click the command line icon that appears in the search results. Type "ipconfig" into the command line prompt and then press Enter.

2. Look through the list of computer information that will appear in the command prompt. Find the heading labeled as "IPv4 Address." Write down the IP address underneath the heading, which will be a string of numbers separated by periods, such as "92.168.1.301."

3. Close the command prompt. Click on the address navigation tool bar at the top of your Web browser. Type "192.168.0.1" into the tool bar and then press Enter to access the Netgear router's administration menu.

4. Type the user name and password into the text fields at the center of the window. Type "admin" into both sections if you have not previously changed the user name and password. Click on the "login" button at the bottom of the window.

5. 

   Scroll down to the "Advanced" heading at the lower-left corner of the window. Click on the link labeled as "Port Forwarding" underneath the "Advanced" heading.

6. Click on the "Service and Name" button. Choose the "HTTP" option from the drop-down menu if you will be using an HTTP service such as for an online game, or instead choose "FTP" if you will be using your computer as an FTP server for transferring files.

7. Click inside the "Server IP Address" text box and type in the IP address that you wrote down earlier. Click on the "Add" button. Click on "Save" and then click on "Logout."

Tips & Warnings

• While enabling port forwarding will allow your computer to act as a server for other machines, it also means that your system will be more vulnerable to deliberate attacks from hackers.

References

• Configuring Port Forwarding on a Netgear Router

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish