Port Forwarding Issue
Hey im not really quite smart in port forwarding and i need help. Im trying to start a minecraft server for my friends and im a self hosted mc server and i need help to give out a address for people out of my state to join my mc server. i dont want ngrok or playit.gg as we have connections and network issues. ive followed a tutorial for TP- LINK Wireless Router Archer C1200 and it didnt work for some reason.
388 Replies
I'm assuming the tp-link archer c1200 is your at home router. What steps did you take? What precisely failed? Perhaps you could explain conceptually what you tried to do.
What port(s) does the minecraft server needed forwarded? What host in your internal network is the server?
I first go into the webpage for my router and then went to advanced > NAT Forwarding > Virtual Servers and added a virtual server. The Minecraft port is 25565
sadly i dont understand what you mean by host? if you mean the laptop's ip address which contains the server its 192.168.0.184
oh to answer your question what failed is that within my router area people could ping my server fine and be connected but people out of state couldn't ping the server nor connect to it?
i tried using my data hotspot as my wifi and it also couldn't ping the server
I tried stuff.. i suppose like turning off firewall making my thing into public connection and maybe also bought a domain and thought it would work.
but failed
https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/272490
Walk through these steps and let me know the results. It sounds like you have a fairly good idea of what is going on. I noticed on this website it recommends some udp ports as well. I'm not entirely familiar with Minecraft, so be sure you know all the ports you need forwarded.
If you verify the server is working on your local network then it likely is something to do do with router configuration. feel free to post pictures of your config and I can try and verfiy it for you.
Open Ports for Minecraft Server on Routers - Home Network Community
This Article Applies to: TP-Link Wi-Fi Routers Background: Some customers in the community are reporting that they cannot open ports on the TP-Link router for the local Minecraft server, so their friends and family are unable to connect to the
I'll try this out! Thanks for recommending me something
so it seems like its saying i need to have a public ip for it to work..
it also says something like my wan has to be the same as my public ip for it to work and i if its not the same then i gotta ask for isp
If your network is connected to the internet it has a public IP address. It's not likely to be static and will likely change but that's not the current issue.
- I need you to verify that your Minecraft server is working on your local network. This means in your current location, people connected to your router, can connect to the server?
After that we will work on configuring your router for port forwarding.
yes it is working on the local network
Your local network has internet access through your local router, correct? You pay an ISP and they provide a modem or modem/router combo?
I assume that's why you mentioned "TP- LINK Wireless Router Archer C1200."
So if you have verified that you both have internet access locally and that the server is functioning on the local network, then the next step would be to verify the port forwarding rules.
Can you provide some pictures or screenshots of the port forwarding rules that you created?
when u mentioned port forwarding rules do you mean in firewall?
I don't think it will be called that in the routers configuration panel, but it is acting as a firewall, yes.
To be clear you can also have a firewall on any or all hosts involved, but if the server is working within the internal network, we can assume if there are any host based firewalls on the server and your host, they are configured correctly.
Okay could you specify what you want to see? So i could show you correctly
If you look back at that link I sent, we are looking at steps four and five.
Here you go!
That looks correct, assuming the port number and host ip are accurate. I would change the protocol to just tcp
did you look up if your server requires udp ports as well?
You will also want to proceed to step 5 and determine what your public ip is.
If you've forwarded all necessary ports, minecraft clients should be able to be configured to connect to your public ip (step 5) at the ports you have forwarded (step 4).
Sorry for giving a late answer it was midnight when i received ur dm and i was asleep but i have tried changing all to tcp only and i have confirm my pubic ip but it still uunaccesable on public ip
ive also added the port at the end of the address and it still cant not
people can't not join using public ip but can on the local ip
Don't change everything to TCP, just that single port 25565. Did you look up if you need to opne up UDP ports?
You are certain you have located the public IP? Would you mind showing me the config for one of the clients?
I only changed tcp for 25565 and no udp is only for bedrock servers
where can i locate this?
I feel like we should arrange a time for us in a vc to look into the problem quicker. if thats okay with you ofc.
Step 5
here u go
Were you using your public IP to configure the clients? You just found it.
You could also try and verify the port has been forwarded. Go to https://canyouseeme.org/ put in your public IP address and the port 25565 and click check port. I'm not as familiar with this route, typically I would check it myself using nmap. If you want, I can also attempt to scan the port to see if its open.
Open Port Check Tool -- Verify Port Forwarding on Your Router
A free open port check tool used to detect open ports on your connection. Test if port forwarding is correctly setup or if your port is being blocked by your firewall or ISP.
sorry i was not available before but i am now
i located public ip by searching up whats my public ip
i have tried and it says
why are you using the IP address 180.75.253.50?
well it automatically added it as it is my public ip
thats not the IP address to the gateway your server is hosted on.
i can't change it
remember this>?
ooh yup
but i cant seem to change the [your ip:]
I've not used that site before
it might be that
ohh
I can try and scan it with nmap if you want
ooh yes please
alright give me a moment or two to boot my vms
thank you!!
you don't want port triggering
Ouh i was gonna ask if this is anything
thats not definative, but it looks like it could be up and running
you need to send me picutures of your configs for the clients
oh then why couldnt clients connect to my sercer
to be honest, I don't think you configured them correctly
awh man
where is this?
the clients are the games trying to connect to the server
you want to see the game?
the configuration, the part where you put in the connection information
ouh okay
let me start up the game and connect to a different wifi
?
I assuming minecraft server is the defualt name and you didn't change it
yes
whats in the server resource packs thing?
oh if a minecraft server has a resource pack you can either want it or disable it
what does it say when you push connect?
no other information?
sadly no
hmmm
i just wanna ask if i did a domain for this would that help?
not if you are selfhosting
ouh okay then
A domain would add more complication. We haven't got basic functionality, we can't add more functions.
If you were paying a host it would be taken care of by them, but that's just throwing resources at the problem, not really sorting it out.
ah okay then
what could be the solution to this then?
its a misconfiguration of some sort, more than likely. There's always a possibility there could be some underlying hardware failure, but thats unlikely.
hm
should i do the whole configuration all over again?
oh and I must ask what are the differences of PPoE, Static IP and Dynamic IP are ? and is there somewhat related to the issue?
Just go through what you know.
- The server is working on the lan.
- Port forwarding has been setup to forward tcp 25565 to host 192.168.0.184
183 actually
thats not what was in the pic
sorry i changed it
...
184 was on the wireless and that was a mistake before this
what?
i changed back to using ethernet
and the ip4 changed to 183
what you are saying doesn't make sense
my computer ipv4 are different when connected to the wifi
ethernet is 192.168.0.183
oh dear lord
ok. Stop
wireless: 192.168.0.184
sorry
you can't just swap out these addresses
wow
ok
this is why people recommned setting up a static ip lol
again sorry..
what is the ip address of the host with the server?
No worries man, we all are learning something
thank you
do you mean this?
or this?
ok, thats the config in the router. Go to the computer with the server running on it
I'm assuming windows. Go into cmd prompt and type "ipconfig"
ah alright
ok, so you are connected via ethernet as 192.168.0.183
ok, so the change you made is correct
yey
ok so:
- server: 192.168.0.183:25565
- portforward: 192.168.0.183 TCP 25565
100% positive this server is running locally, right?
yep!
alright
then I need to think of someway to verfiy that your router is handling port forwards correct
have you rebooted the router?
I have
its always worth a shot, it reloads all the configs fresh
ok
ill try that again then
sure, give it a shot
out of curiosity, how are you checking connection to the server over the internet? Mobile network or something?
well i woud do two things one from a mobile connection and a friend that is out of state
ok thats cool, I was just curious if it was possibly a host file issue or something
ooh okay then
ok, I'm going to research your router a bit
I really appreaciate you helping me out here, sorry if i give you any problems
no worries. Can you look up which firware version you are running on your router?
have you updated it in the last 6 months?
is this it?
yup
lol
that has never been updated
Oh shi never knew
it might be something to consider doing
how to do so
because i need browse a firmware file
https://static.tp-link.com/2018/201802/20180224/1910012180_Archer%20C1200_UG.pdf Pg 83ish
hold off a bit though
it could possibly fix the problem but its not a given
well might aswell
sure, sure
there is some minor danger, dont interupt the power when its flashing the firmware
okayy
lol I guess we could drop the whole server into the DMZ, but we couldn't leave it that way
DMZ? whats that?
Demilitarized Zone
its outside of the firewall
so it would be completely exposed
oooh
its a way to verify that the firewall isn't configured correctly and is what is preventing the connections
the only thing we didn't do was give the host a static ip
I don't see why that is a necessity, but I can't assume their software doesn't expect it
so we can try to give your minecraft server host a static IP
well i have updated my firmware
good!
I'd try to connect
the ip address changed here
is that suppose to be?
yes
alrighty then
typically you have to pay for a static ip from an ISP
they have different lease lengths, but typically they have a pool of IPs that they give out first come first serve
would it be expensive
expensive is relative, but I don't really think it's too expensive
a domain name also can mitigate the fact that you use a dynamic ip
though typically when you buy a domain you also just go for a static ip
oh alright then
what do i do now?
have you tried to connect since you flashed?
remember to use the new public ip
if it's still not working we will try and set the server to a static IP
well ive tried and it seems only locally still
ok
To set a static IP address in Windows 7, 8, and 10:
Click Start Menu > Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center or Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.
Click Change adapter settings.
Right-click on Wi-Fi or Local Area Connection.
Click Properties.
Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
Click Properties.
Select Use the following IP address.
Enter the IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway, and DNS server.
Click OK.
Your computer displays a static IP address.
go to your server host and follow those intructions. Send me a pic for verfication.
IP address: pick something within your range (183 is fine if you would like to keep that)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: As is
DNS Servere: as is
alrighty
take a pic before you make any changes
in case you want to go back to dynamic latter
is this correct?
default gateway: 100.119.255.254
primary dns: 202.188.18.188
secondary dns: 1.9.1.9
primary dns is missing a 1
.188
done
that looks right then
so you should be able to set those, reboot and still connect to the network
ah alright
if you don't connect to the network, we did something wrong
it connected? Does it really not have internet?
yeah no internet
huh, was it like that before?
no
double check these addresses match
in the network adapter settings
open the browser and try to access google.com
alright
ugh
ok
well
try using googles dns servers
go to the ipv4 settings and set the default dns to 8.8.8.8 and the alternate to 1.1.1.1
is it the [preferred DNS server]
yea
and then try to go to google again
nothing can be easy lol
ok
yeah..
ipconfig/release
ipconfig/all
ipconfig/flushdns
ipconfig/renew
netsh int ip set dns
netsh winsock reset
type these commnads into cmd
then restart
alright
you will need to be admin I think
yep
you might need to right click on the command prompt and run as admin
alright done
restart and hopefully that will fix the netwrok connection issue
oh yep!
and with luck that host will now have a static ip
so that ip will always be 192.168.0.183 now
woah
and that might have fixed the overall issue if for some reason your router requires a static ip
alright
so i can try connecting the server now?
I would
if it doesn't work, restart the router and try again
if they both don't work, then we still have a problme
so which address should i put?
you will always use your local networks public ip
thats the address of the server
think of it as it's home address
and the configurations you did with the router are basically telling it: "anytime someone shows up looking for a minecraft server, its on this computer."
so wait im a lil confused
ok
sorry
no, thats fine
try explaining it to me
what do i write in the server address? 192.168.0.183? or 100.119.255.26?
the 100 one
the 192 is just your local network
none of those addresses can be accessed without direct connection to the router. Basically the whole problem we are circumventing
dang it
ok
I'm going to scan it again
bah
ok, send me a pic of your portfowrd settings
in the router?
yes
the protocol set it to tcp
ouh okay
why did it set back to tcp?
the pic shows all
it should be tcp though
well ive set it up back to tcp
ok
what happens when you click view existing services?
anyway, assuming that existing service menu doesn't bring up anything of interest. Make sure to save that change to tcp
then reboot the router and try to connect
okayy
ill show it anyways
oh, ok
yeah, we can ignore that
alrightyy
any luck?
still rebooting
ok
out of curioisty, does the minecraft box have python?
if this doesn't work we need to verify that your router is doing port forwarding period. I was thinking we could use pythons simple webserver to do that if you have python on the box
So there is no internet connection
No but it uses java?
Sadly i dont think there is python
wait, so the box rebooted and ran into a dns problem again?
Yeah
...
https://discord.com/channels/543652415870730240/1247156002525282405/1248657534450143262 I mean you can manually flush it again, but you shouldn't have to
flush it and reboot
and then I'm going to have you reboot it yet again, assumning that it boots fine the first time
so I'm looking for two clean boots without you needing to manage anything inbetween
meaning it accepts the new configuration and will maintain between boots
it's just a static ip and dns servers, there's really no good reason why it shouldn't maintain that
This is very complicated wow
But i havr now flushed it and rebooted
ok
it's not super complicated, just a lot of moving pieces
Sadly it is saying no network still
Or no internet
show me the ipv4 settings please
gateways is wrong
Ohhh
Idk if there is difference
But after clicking OK
It still won't have wifi
you need to flush and then set the config correctly and reboot
and if it works, dont open it again lol
how did it go?
I know you are in another time zone. We'll figure it out.
I think I will have you move the whole server into the DMZ and see if you can connect. Just don't leave it there. Its exposed in the DMZ and should only be put there temporarily to bypass the firewall and verify that is the issue.
Yeahh
Okay sure!
Should I remove the ipv4 thing?
The IPv4 settings are just to make the IP static. If you change it it will simply go back to being dynamic, meaning it leases an IP address for a time and it can be a diffrent IP each time
what do i do now?
Is the server maintaining it's static IP without issue?
well not really there still is no internet
well, technically it's connecting to the network, its just got connectivity issues
did you fix the gateway?
ip, in the network adapter's ipv4 config?
I believe the last octet was missing a digit, if I recall correctly
oh! okay
well i shall do that once i got home
ok, yes. Let me know when you are availible, if I've got the time we'll try and work it out again.
alright im home!
for now ive been using playit.gg to create a server address for my friends
but its impractical as it has a lot of network issues
and sudden shutdowns on the address
So did you check the settings?
Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to get home so soon
its fine!
ok
I'm reading through the manual
pull up your network adapaters ipv4 config for the server
also if you can send me a pic of your routers web panel
you might be able to bind the ip address through the routers admin panel
we can try throwing the server into the DMZ list too, we just need to make sure we take it out after testing
im having problems on the connection again
should i flush it again?
well flush it, verify that you have the right config set and then reboot
last time you sent me a pic of the config the last octet of the gateway was wrong
is this correct?
no
what is wrong?
the gateways
look
oh.
fk
does that also mean my subnet mask is wrong aswell?
no
subnet mask is a bit harder to explain
ah alright then
but 255.255.255.0 is what you want
it has to do with how many hosts you can have in your network
so where we at? update?
is this correct now? or did i fk it up again
yes, thats right. We are still using google's DNS settings rather than your isp's but that should be fine
alright
let me see if there is connection
seems like not ill try flushing
try doing a request to a website and tell me what the error is
dns.... blah blah
still no internet
try doing a request to a website and tell me what the error is
okay
Hope you don't mind the way i screenshotted this
ok
lets take a diffrent approach
put that back to dynamic
alright
let it pull its own IP for now, we can't even connect to the server yet so it hardly matters. Mostly it makes it more stable and permanent, so you don't have to open anything back up to configure it again.
I was only doing it because the manual had it listed as a step
lets just drop it in the dmz and see if that resolves the port forward
okay i have made it back to dynamic
ok
its connected to the internet again?
yep!
got the current ip?
uh wdym by that?
its current ip on the local network... go to cmd and type "ipconfig"
ouh
okay
it is 192.168.0.183
its likely 192.168.0.*
ok
go to your router config
you are looking for the dmz list
it should be near the port forwarding area
yep
add that ip to the list
alrighty
thats going to do the same thing we have been trying to do by making that host a virtual server, but every port will be open
try to connect
if you can't connect this way, the hosts has a local firewall (which it shouldn't, you said you can connect from within your local network), or the router isn't port forwarding to specification and you would need to talk to them
meaning, the router is malfunctioning
Sorry it's taking awhile its a bit slow rn
no worries
Starting up the server
Seems like i still can't connect
ok open your cmd prompt
Alright
netstat -an | find "LISTEN"
send me it
ok
turn off the firewall
do you know what you have, just winodws defneder or thrid party?
Windows defender
But i have turned off all my windows firewall tho?
Is there more?
oh you have it disabled?
Yeah it has been for a long time
then that's everything man
Should have i mentioned that earlier?
that should be bare to the internet
Ouh
if it's not then I would have to say the router isn't functioning the way it's supposed to
- you can connect to your server locally, this proves server functionality and the ports are open
- we tried targeted port forwarding
- we tried putting it in the DMZ, which should mean every port is now open
double check, I have the right manual correct?
User Guide
TP-lInk AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router
Archer C1200
Yep!
yeah, I'm really sorry. You would need one of their router techs to explain why we can't get it to forward
Well i really wanna thank you for helping me out Ive learned a lot
Sadly this is probably an issue with hardware maybe
No problem, I'm really sorry I couldnt resolve it
Its fine!
I think it very well might be, or at least I highly suspect so
I don't know what else to rule out
Oh one question
take that host out of the DMZ just in case it decides to start working randomly lol
Playit.gg and ngrok was software i used before and people say it's tunneling. What's tunneling?
Ah alright
so there are diffrent protocols
like http, ftp, https etc
tunneling is when you create a connection over a diffrent, usually less restricted, proctocol
so I could create a connection with your https traffic
and tunnel another protocol over it
Ooo
and as you see, https is usally open
for internet browsing
and NAT takes care of basically all the port forwarding underneath
routing would be a better word
I see
thats sort of over simplified, but it gives a broad overview
basically they leverage the fact that you can connect to their servers via https and construct a connection in reverse
which is usually less restricted
Wow u know so much
haha thank you
glad to help
I think im gonna try one last thing
Because i think I've fiddled with my hardware by a bunch before coming to you
So im gonna reset my pc and retry the steps you've told me
lol it's a hail mary, but it's worked for me in the past
let me know if it works
Alrighty! Ill give you updates if anything happenss
Good luck
Thank you!
I was washing the dishes and it occurred to me why the static IP wasn't working. My fault, I confused the gateways. Essentially I was having you set it as the router that your internet connection connects to, when it should have been the IP to the local router.
my bad
Oh
We could try again if you wanted to
I was gonna ask about
What does it mean by DHCP client disabled?
Or is it always has been disabled?
dhcp is how it pulls an IP address automatically
I mean you are welcome to try, but in my opinion it would be weird that its absolutely essentially on your router to have a static ip to rotue to
it shouldn't be a requirement, I was only treating it as such because the manual recommends it in its steps
oh
actually from what that says, maybe it is essential with the dmz
well let me know if you try. we have to figure out the IP of your rotuer, it should be somewhere in the config
then that's your gateway in the IPv4 settings
Okay so static ip
Could you run it down again for me?
lol sure
this the same?
I think if you scroll down a bit it might show you the gateways ip, but it's probabally 192.168.0.1
the convention is for the gateway to be your lowest address in your subnet and the broadcast is your highest
Yep
Yes
So what should i change then?
ok so:
ip: 192.168.0.183
Mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.0.1
dns: 8.8.8.8
1.1.1.1
we might go back to your isp's recommended dns settings, but for now, unless you suspect your country is censoring google, it should be fine
Okay i shall try
It's connected!
yeah I figured lol
Now what?
I was washing dishes and realized my mistake
try adding that host to the dmz list again
that basically disables the routers firewall, or bypasses it
which means every port will be open
so you should be able to connect
Question
Would the address be 100.119.165.200?
Do i need to add 25565?
yes to the first, not sure about the second
send me a pic of the client
the game
It might just expect port 25565
yeah I assume it just expects 25565
but if it doesn't work you can try <ip>:<port>
Well I've tried both
still not working?
Let me ask my friend to try
For me using mobile data no
huh
i meant
i tried connecting using a different network
yeah
sadly it doesnt work
so i wanna see if my friend could ping it?
well its a windows host, it doesn't respond to pings
or it might not
I'm running nmap
yey
ok, so just to double check you added 192.168.0.183 to the dmz list?
and it's still not forwarding
I guess we can reboot the router
but it should be forwarding....
Im rebooting
lol
I was running a topp 1000 scan
but I don't think its forwarding anything
I went back and looked at the ports you typically had open
I should be able to see smb or something
The reboots is done
Yet i cant connect to anything
Oh after rebooting the wan ip address changed
oh
Into 100.119.212.233
Is that supposed to happend?
it can
its not a bad thing
I'm running a scan
but I think you are going to need to reach out to the routers tech support, we can't seem to get it to forward anything
Awh
I have tried to contact support
But all they said was about "is router okay? Wifi good?"
I asked something else and they gave me different answer
I asked about forwarding and such
The next day they told some people to come over.
And all they did was take a pic of the router and just bailed
well, I'm not bailing on you but that seems to be where the issue lies
Damn man u a homie fr
So
What do i do now 😭
I'm assuming they own the router??
the ISP?
I guess?
Idk
did they provide it?
My uncle bought the router
oh
is the modem seperate?
Well they're connected?
um do you have a seperate box that the boradband comes in on and then connects through ethernet to the router?
Actually
I don't think so, now that I'm thinking of the config
but if you did we could bypass the router
not a great permanent solution but it would prove the router is the issue
This is the routers?
the tplink one is
I'm not sure what the other is, have to get a closer look
looks like fiber?
how far away is the host though? you would need to direct connect it with ethernet.
where does the other end of that blue tip cable go?
the wall?
To the tplink
not the ethernet, the blue-tipped cable out of the bottom of the white box
Yea its connected to the router
I can't tell what that is then
where are all the different cables coming and going from it?
Okay so i have checked again
It's in the wall
Sorry for the misinformation
lol no worries
I'm not 100% certain because its blurry but I think thats fiber
in which case you could plug the server directly into the internet
bypassing the router, the suspected issue
oh really?
ill try that4
yes, take the ethernet cable from the fiber modem and connect it directly to the host
i dont have wifi
you wont
it's not a permananet solution, it will just prove that the problem is indeed routing
so what now?
you got internet on that host?
no...
well, it's either not fiber
or dhcp failed
reboot the host, I don't think it will work, but its worth a shot
so it does not work
still no internet
it was worth a shot. I'm not certain what that is.
it still might be a modem, but it'll need to be manually configured
well, I'm sort of out of ideas
well i checked for google and they say i have to set a dhcp ip?
that would have occured at the isps level
ah
so i just have to get a static ip from the isp?
or you wouldnt be assigned an ip
I mean you could, but right now it looks like the router doesnt function
we havent got that thing to forward anyhting
yeah..
so right now we can confirm that NAT works on the rotuer, but it's absolutely essential that PAT be working too
which is port forwarding
i see
everything we have done has either been to try and get it working or to bypass it to prove that it's the point of failure
we haven't exactly proven it, but I've excluded everything else I could
ah then there's nothing i could do
just i need a tech support to help me irl
you need to contact tplink
if your ISP didn't provide it, they don't care
man thats going to take an hour because i have to wait in line to connect to a live agent
damn
sorry
you can tell them all the things we have tried
you followed both port forwarding and dmz lists
they'll prpbably have you repeat a lot of it
its okay you've tried ur best!
i see
okay so question is there a way to have an ip address a different way
like playit.gg
but like better?
and free perhaps?
You can use something like normal k to tunnel
Ngrok*
oh ngrok
ngrok's good i guess but there is a 1gb limit for free users
Yeah
yeah and it doesnt last pretty long
If you get creative you might find something free, but I can't guarantee that
i found nish but i dont really know how to set it up
Ngrok is the only one I have used personally
For catching shells
i see thanks for suggesting one
I would really recommend seeing what tplink says
port forwarding is a pretty standard networking practice
Well i have to wait till tomorrow as live agents are not on on this hour
Same with emails
Alright after a moth arranging stuff with my uncle and router workers
i have myself a different router now
which is new
everything looks different and kinda need some help on trying to see if i could make a ip address