- How to Check for Ports in Use in Windows 10
- Use Nirsoft CurrPorts
- Command Prompt Method
- TCPView
- How to Check Open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD
- Way to Check Open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD
- To find port-use with process names
- To find port-use with the process identifiers
- How to Determine What Ports are Being Used in Windows 10
- What is a Port?
- Determine What Ports are Being Used in Windows 10
- How to check if a port is blocked on a Windows machine?
- 4 Answers 4
- How to check if port is open on windows
- How to Check For Open Ports in Windows
- 1. NetStat.exe
- 2. TCPView.exe
- 3. PortQry.exe
- 4. OpenPortViewer.exe
- How To Check If Port Is Open
- Open port and hacking:
- Here are the ports:
- Port 7:
- Port 21:
- Port 25:
- Port 53:
- Port 80:
- Port 110:
- Ports 135 to 139:
- Port 443:
- In conclusion:
How to Check for Ports in Use in Windows 10
At any one time, there’s a whole bunch of information being sent between your Windows 10 PC and the endless void of the Internet. This is done using a process whereby network-dependent processes seek out TCP and UDP ports, which they use to communicate with the Internet. First, your data gets sent to remote ports at the destination or website your processes are trying to connect to, then it gets received at local ports back on your PC.
Most of the time, Windows 10 knows how to manage ports and ensure that traffic is being directed through the right ports so that those processes can connect with what they need to. But sometimes two processes may be assigned to one port, or maybe you just want to get a better picture of your network traffic and what’s going in and out.
That’s why wrote this guide that shows you how to get an overview of your ports and see which applications are using which ports.
Use Nirsoft CurrPorts
NirSoft is one of the best indie software developers, giving us great utilities, like PassView and WirelessKeyView. While some people will prefer checking their ports without installing third-party software (in which case, scroll down to the CMD method), CurrPorts is easily the fastest and most convenient way to view your ports.
Once you’ve installed CurrPorts, just open it to see a list of all your ports currently in use. If you’re looking for local ports in use, just click the “Local Port” column at the top to order the list by port number (handy if you’re looking for a specific one). You can do the same thing with remote ports, too.
If you want to really find specific ports, click the “Advanced Filters” icon at the top and enter your string in the format they suggest. It should look something like the below image.
Hit OK when you’re ready, and the list will filter down to your queries.
Command Prompt Method
The integrated – though not necessarily the simplest – way to check open ports is to use the trusty command prompt.
Click the Start button, type cmd , then right-click “Command Prompt” when it shows up in the search results. Click “Run as administrator.”
Once you’re in the elevated command prompt, enter the following command:
This will steadily bring up a list of ports that is probably quite long, along with the Windows processes that are using them. (You can press Ctrl + A , then Ctrl + C to copy all information to the clipboard.) On the average PC, there will be two main local IP addresses that contain ports on your PC.
The first, in our case, is “127.0.0.1.” This IP address is otherwise known as “localhost” or a “loopback address,” and any process listening to ports here is communicating internally on your local network without using any network interface. The actual port is the number you see after the colon. (See image below.)
The bulk of your processes will probably be listening to ports prefixed with “192.168.xxx.xxx,” which is your IP address. This means the processes you see listed here are listening for communications from remote Internet locations (such as websites). Again, the port number is the number after the colon.
TCPView
If you don’t mind installing a third-party app and want to have more control over what’s going on with all your ports, you can use a lightweight app called TCPView. This immediately brings up a list of processes and their associated ports.
What make this better than the command prompt is that you can actively see the ports opening, closing and sending packets. Just look for the green, red and yellow highlights. You can also reorder the list by clicking the column headings, making it easier to find the process you want or two separate processes vying for the same port.
If you do find a process or connection you want to close, just right-click that process. You can then select “End process,” which is exactly the same function as the one in Windows task manager. Or you can click “Close Connection” to leave the process open but stop it from listening on a given port.
If you’re having some trouble in Windows 10, then see whether a Windows update may be causing it. We also have a handy guide for managing the health of your hard drive in Windows 10.
Related:
Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
How to Check Open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD
In this article, you will see the procedure to Check Open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD (or Command Prompt). When an app uses a TCP/IP port on your device in order to access a network, that port would be locked out – no other program may be able to use it. And while everything related to ports and traffic is usually taken care of on its own by the system, there might be situations when you might have to know the application that is blocking a specific port.
Here you can find some built-in ways to do so- specifically the ways to check open ports using CMD or Command Prompt. Apart from using the Command Prompt, you can even consider using some third-party applications that can easily list the ports and the apps or processes that are using them.
Way to Check Open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD
Here is how to check open Ports in Windows 10 Using CMD –
To find port-use with process names
Follow along with these steps to get the list of ports in use and the names of the processes tied up with them respectively.
Step-1: Open Run dialog box by pressing Win+R hotkeys. Type cmd in the text box and hit Shift + Ctrl + Enter keys altogether.
Step-2: Hit Yes on the UAC prompt.
Step-3: This will let you access an elevated Command Prompt on the screen. Here, type in or copy-paste the below-given code and hit Enter.
Wait for the entire result to load. Once you successfully run this command, simply scroll down to the port number you want to check. As shown below, you’ll be able to see the process’ name respectively below the port it is linked to.
To find port-use with the process identifiers
Usually, identifying the application which represented by a specific process name can be tricky. This method might help you identify the application that a process relates to.
Here also, first of all, launch the “Command Prompt” with admin rights using any of your preferred methods.
Copy-paste or type the below code and ensure to hit Enter.
Finally, the result now will contain the “PID” or the process identifiers instead of the names. Simply scroll down to the port you want to check and note the PID corresponding to it.
Moving ahead, open Task Manager. To do so, perform a right-click on the taskbar and select the option namely “Task Manager”.
Go to the Processes tab. Right-click on the Name column and choose PID (see snapshot).
You just need to find the PID you note earlier. The ‘Name’ column corresponding to the PID must reveal the application associated with the port.
How to Determine What Ports are Being Used in Windows 10
Last year we suffered the BitCoin miner virus which locked our computer and levied a ransom. And yet, the main reason for the spread of the virus was that the unused ports did not close. So, to guard against happening again, we have to determine what ports are being used in windows and then turn it off.
What is a Port?
When it comes to port, it’s necessary to talk about IP as well. Let me draw an analogy to describe the relationship between the Port and IP. Once upon a time, if you want to send a letter to your friend in a faraway place, you need to write down your address and his address on the envelope. The envelope is amount to the data package while both addresses are amount to IP. When the postman sends the letter to your friend’s house, and if your friend opens the door to get it, now the door is equal to the port. If your friend doesn’t open the door, that is to say, the port closed. After that, the letter will be sent back to you. In network technology, ports divide into two classes. One is a physical port, such as USB port. The second is the logical port, which generally refers to the port in the TCP/IP protocol. These port will cause some virus and harm your PC. As a result, there is necessary to check if the port is open.
Determine What Ports are Being Used in Windows 10
Step 1: Hit Windows + R to invoke Run dialog and type cmd to open Command Prompt.
Step 2: Type netstat -ano to list states of all ports.
Alternatively, type telnet
to check if port is open.
Step 3: Locate to the target port and view the corresponding PID in the final column. For example, the PID of port 2179 is 3800.
Step 4: Input tasklist|findstr “3800” and hit Enter on the keyboard to view which service takes up the port.
Step 5: To end up this service, run taskkill /f /t /im vmms.exe.
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How to check if a port is blocked on a Windows machine?
On the Windows platform, what native options to I have to check if a port (3306, for example) on my local machine (as in localhost ), is being blocked?
4 Answers 4
Since you are on a Windows machine, these things can be done:
Execute the following command and look for a «:3306» listener (you did not mention UDP/TCP). This will confirm there is something running on the port.
After this, if you are expecting incoming connections on this port and feel that the firewall may be blocking them, you could use start windows firewall logging and check the logs for dropped connections
- Go to Windows Firewall, Advanced settings
- Click on the Settings button next to «Local Area Connection»
- Select «Log dropped packets»
- Look at the log file location (if not present, define one)
- Click OK
- Now, when the connection attempt is made (assuming you know when this is done), look at the log file for a drop on port 3306.
- If this is seen, you will want to add an exception for this port.
There is one more command to check the firewall state
(Updated for Windows 7 users — as referred by Nick below — use netsh advfirewall firewall)
netsh firewall show state
- this will list the blocked ports as well as active listening ports with application associations
This command will dump the Windows firewall configuration detail
netsh firewall show config
If you have an active block (incoming connections are being dropped by firewall) after you start logging, you should see that in the log.
If you are running an application/service that is listening on 3306, the firewall config should show it to be Enabled. If this is not seen, you have probably missed adding an exception with the firewall to allow this app/service.
Finally, port 3306 is typically used for MySQL. So, I presume you are running MySQL server on this windows machine. You should therefore see a listener for 3306 accepting incoming connections. If you do not see that, you need to work with your application (MySQL) to get that started first.
How to check if port is open on windows
The knowledge of how to check for open ports is important especially when you own a windows device. Here is an article about how to check if port is open on the windows operating system.
This can be done using any of the available port checker tools online. There are freeware tools for Microsoft Windows which can be used to check if a port is open.
These free utilities are quite effective at scanning for open ports.
How to Check For Open Ports in Windows
When troubleshooting network connectivity issues, there are ways to check for open (or listening) ports. In this article, we will look at the port check tools available in order of their popularity.
1. NetStat.exe
The netstat.exe is a popular Windows command line located in the Windows ‘System32’ folder. It is very effective for checking for open ports or if a port is in use by a particular host.
The netstat command line to be used in checking for open ports in a local host should be entered in the command prompt (cmd.exe) as follows:
This displays the results across four columns with protocol type, IP address, foreign address and the state as the headings respectively.
The column of significant interest is the content of the second column in the command prompt display.
The “o” parameter can be added to the netstat command to show the application process ID (PID). A process ID column appears in the result as a fifth column.
Open Tasklist.exe to help identify the application using the open (listening) port from the command prompt.
2. TCPView.exe
The second on our list is TCPView.exe which is similar to the netstat.exe command. The difference between the two methods of checking for open ports is that TCPView.exe gives a detailed representation in a graphical format or graphical user interface (GUI).
By opting to use TCPView, you get to scan for which ports are open.
Also, as its extended benefit, it enables you to check both the local and remote TCP connection, the protocols that are being used as well as the processes involved.
TCPView can be downloaded from Microsoft SysInternals website and runs as a standalone application without any need to install.
3. PortQry.exe
An alternative method to check for open (listening) ports is the PortQry.exe Windows command.
It can be downloaded by visiting Microsoft Download’s Center and just like the TCPView command; it also runs as a standalone application.
The use of the PortQry.exe command line allows checking for open ports available on the local or remote host.
It works by downloading and extracting the executable file from the Download’s Center and opening a command prompt.
On the command prompt, enter portqry.exe and the parameter identifying the folder which contains the executable file.
It should be noted that the results obtained from running the portqry.exe are similar to that of the netstat.exe command except that it also shows the port statistics stating the number of port mappings and ports in each state.
4. OpenPortViewer.exe
Open Port Viewer is our home develop a free tool design for Windows 10 that can show you a list open port in windows, it is like the netstat command line tool but with GUI. It supports IP v4 and V6, it can resolve the remote IP to the domain name and show network statistics.
How To Check If Port Is Open
It is very important to know the ports that are open on your computer because some ports are associated with special services and these ports have to be open for your computer to run properly. It is also important to check if port is open and which ports are open.
To check if port is open, you should enter “netstat -a” in the command line and it will return with a list of open ports.
Open port and hacking:
Apart from the ports that are used for special services, all other ports should be closed because the more open ports you have on your system, the more vulnerable it will be to hacking.
This is because ports are the doors through which access to your computer can be gained.
Firewalls are the only locks that prevent access. Knowing the ports that are open is a step towards safeguarding your computer.
The special ports that should be open and their uses have been outlined below. All other ports should be closed or filter.
Here are the ports:
Port 7:
This port is also referred to as Ping and Echo. It is used to retrieve the IP address of your computer and its gateway. This is done by typing ipconfig in the command prompt. It is also used for troubleshooting. This is done by typing ping and the number of your gateway. You will get a response after.
Port 21:
This is known as the FTP. This is used to either upload or download files to or from a server when websites are being updated.
Port 25:
This port is called SMTP. It works with applications like Thunderbird, Pegasus and the popular Microsoft Outlook to send emails. Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail do not need this port because they are webmail.
Port 53:
This port is also known as DNS. This port helps to convert URL to the IP address of the website. Here is how it works. The computer does not understand the website you type on your web browser and you cannot cram the IP address of websites. So when you type the website, it is converted to the appropriate IP address for your computer through the process known as DNS. The computer now loads the page based on the IP address. Without DNS, you will have to be typing IP address and not the website. Imagine how difficult it will be.
Port 80:
This port is known as HTTP. This is the route through which your computer gains access to the internet or to other websites. If this port is closed, you won’t be able to visit other websites.
Port 110:
This port is called POP3 and it works with the same applications as Port 25 above to receive emails. It does not also work with webmail.
Ports 135 to 139:
This is known as NetBios. This gives you the name of any computer on your network.
Port 443:
This port is known as HTTPS, it does the same thing as Port 80 but for secure websites.
In conclusion:
The above freeware utilities are the answer to the how to check for open ports question and they are useful in being able to troubleshoot network connectivity issues if the need arises and form a part of a network auditing toolkit or basic checks for vulnerabilities where necessary.
