How to Open Firewall Ports in Windows 10?

The Windows’ Firewall is designed to protect the computer from potential cyber risks and malware. It does so by blocking certain applications from using the internet that might be a threat to the computer’s integrity. All applications use specific “ports” to communicate with their servers and the internet, these ports need to be opened for the applications.

In some cases, the ports are opened automatically by the application and it has instant access to the internet. However, in some cases, the ports need to be opened manually and the application is blocked from using the internet until the ports are opened. In this article, we will discuss the complete method to open specific Firewall ports in Windows 10.

Types of Ports

There are two major types of communications used by ports and it is important to know the difference between them before we move on towards opening ports. Ports are classified into two types depending upon the type of protocol they use. There are two types of protocols and they have been explained as follows.

TCP Protocol: The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the most used forms of protocol and it provides a reliable and ordered delivery of data. This type of communication is used by applications which need a secure form of delivery and it is often slower than other protocols.

UDP Protocol: The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used to send messages in the form of Datagrams to other hosts on an IP network. This form of communication provides much less latency but it is also much less secure and the sent message can easily be intercepted.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the two major types of protocols that are used by ports, we will move on towards the method to open a specific port.

How to Open a Firewall Port in Windows 10?

The method to open a Firewall Port is very easy and can be implemented by anyone, however, it is important that you know the exact range of ports that you want to open and are also aware of the protocol that is used by the application for which you want to open the port.

How to open firewall ports in Windows 10 [Step-by-step guide]

If you’re looking for a simple solution for opening firewall ports in Windows 10, you’ll find all the necessary details in this article.

Opening Firewall ports allows apps and programs to communicate with the network. So, if some of your apps and programs fail to launch, opening firewall ports is one of the first troubleshooting solutions that you can use.

How do I open a port on my firewall?

Users can manually allow a program to get access to the Internet by opening a firewall port. All you need to know is what port it uses and the protocol to make this function.

1. Go to Control Panel> System and Security > Windows Firewall.
2. Go to Advanced settings
3. Right-click Inbound Rules > select New Rule.
4. Add the port you want to open > click Next.
5. Add the TCP or UDP protocol and the port number into the next window > click Next.
6. Select Allow the connection > hit Next.
7. Select the network type > click Next.
8. Name the rule > click Finish.

These are all the necessary steps for opening a port in Windows 10. Remember that you can also use this method for blocking programs or ports.

Why should I use a Firewall on my PC?

Firewalls are targeted at protecting your network from various threats coming from outside and trying to get in or threats coming from inside trying to get out. A threat does this by blocking network-enabled ports.

Every time a program tries to communicate through this port, the firewall verifies its database rules to check if it is allowed or not. If it doesn’t know, it will ask the user and that’s why you sometimes see a prompt asking you if a certain program is allowed or not to access the Internet.

A firewall is an essential issue regarding computing and every PC must have one installed. This is the reason for which Windows has a firewall bundled and active as standard.

Windows firewall must occasionally be told to allow a program communicate with the network and this is the point where opening ports step into the picture.

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How To Open Firewall Ports In Windows 10

By Nathaniel Mott 02 February 2018

This tutorial was written by Tom’s Hardware Community member JamieKavanagh. You can find a list of all their tutorials here.

A firewall is an essential aspect of computing and no PC should ever be without one. That’s why Windows has one bundled and active as standard. Windows Firewall occasionally has to be told to let a program communicate with the network, which is where opening ports comes in. If you want to open firewall ports in Windows 10, here’s how you do it.

Firewalls are designed to protect a network from threats. Either threats from the outside trying to get in or threats from the inside trying to get out. It does this by blocking network-enabled ports. Every time a program tries to communicate through this port, the firewall checks its database of rules to see if it is allowed or not. If it doesn’t know, it asks you, which is why you sometimes see prompts asking you if a particular program is permitted to access the internet.

Open firewall ports in Windows 10
You can manually permit a program to access the internet by opening a firewall port. You will need to know what port it uses and the protocol to make this work.

1. Navigate to Control Panel, System and Security and Windows Firewall.
2. Select Advanced settings and highlight Inbound Rules in the left pane.
3. Right click Inbound Rules and select New Rule.
4. Add the port you need to open and click Next.
5. Add the protocol (TCP or UDP) and the port number into the next window and click Next.
6. Select Allow the connection in the next window and hit Next.
7. Select the network type as you see fit and click Next.
8. Name the rule something meaningful and click Finish.

You have now opened a firewall port in Windows 10!

Open Port in Windows Firewall in Windows 10

Windows Defender Firewall is a great feature in modern Windows versions. It was introduced in Windows XP and improved in Windows XP Service Pack 2. In Windows 10, it is part of the Windows Security app (formerly Windows Defender Security Center). Today, we will see how to open a port in Windows Firewall in Windows 10 for an app or a service.

In Windows 10, Windows Firewall is based completely on the Windows Filtering Platform API and has IPsec integrated with it. This is true since Windows Vista where the firewall added outbound connection blocking and also comes with an advanced Control Panel called Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. It gives fine-grained control over configuring the firewall. The Windows Firewall supports multiple active profiles, co-existence with third-party firewalls, and rules based on port ranges and protocols.

You may have an app (e.g a local FTP server) which requires a port(s) to be open so other computers on your network can connect to it.

Before you open or close ports in the Windows Firewall, ensure that you are signed in as an administrator.

To open a port in Windows Firewall in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open Windows Security.
2. Click on the icon Firewall & network protection.
3. On the next page, click on the link Advanced settings.
4. Click on Inbound Rules on the left.
5. On the right, click on the New Rule link.
6. Select Port as the rule type and click Next.
7. Fill in the Specific local ports box. Type there the required port number or a range of ports. Set the required network protocol (TCP or UDP) and click Next.
8. On the next page, select the option Allow the connection. Click Next.
9. Select the Windows Firewall profile the new rule should apply to. E.g. leaving the Private profile enabled and disabling others will make your app available only on home networks.
10. On the next page, provide some meaningful description for your firewall rule. Click on the Finish button.

Voila, you have opened the inbound port in Windows 10 Firewall.

The same can be done for an outbound port if it is required by your app. In Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, click on the Outbound Rules instead of Inbound Rules and follow the wizard.

Finally, to close the opened port, remove the rule or just disable it.

The change will take effect instantly.

There are a couple alternative methods you can use to open a port in Windows 10. Let’s review them.

Open a port using netsh

Netsh is a console utility which allows changing a lot of network related parameters. Here are just a few examples of what you can do with netsh:

To open a port using netsh, do the following.

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. Type the following command: netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=»TCP Port 6624″ dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=6624 . Modify the appropriate values to match your app, e.g. the port number, the rule name, the protocol (TCP or UDP).
3. To delete the rule, execute the command as follows. netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=»TCP Port 6624″ protocol=TCP localport=6624 .

Open a port using PowerShell

PowerShell is an advanced form of command prompt. It is extended with a huge set of ready-to-use cmdlets and comes with the ability to use .NET framework/C# in various scenarios. You can use it to open or close a port in Windows 10.

There is a special cmdlet New-NetFirewallRule that can be used to open or block a network port in Windows 10.

To open a port with PowerShell,

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About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

How to open ports in Windows Firewall

When dealing with certain apps and processes on your Windows 10 PC, you might run issues if you aren’t connecting properly to the internet. If you’ve come across a potential fix that involves opening a certain port in your firewall, you might be wondering what exactly that process entails. This is a problem that can arise in plenty of situations, but especially when attempting to set up a VPN. If you suspect Windows Firewall is part of your connectivity issue, here’s how to open ports.

How to open a port for incoming traffic in Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall is designed as a security measure for your PC. To put it simply, a firewall analyzes incoming and outgoing connections to determine whether or not they’re threats. If you suspect that your Windows Firewall is causing connectivity issues, you can open a port for incoming traffic. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Click Search.

Type Windows Firewall.

Click Advanced settings.

Click New Rule… in the right frame of the window.

Click Next.

Click Specific local ports.

Click Next.

Click Next.

Click Next.

Click Finish.

How to open a port for outgoing traffic in Windows Firewall

The same set of steps listed above can be used to create a rule for outgoing traffic. In step No. 6, instead of clicking Inbound Rules, you’ll want to click Outgoing Rules. The rest of the steps are the same, and you can disable the rule in the same manner by using the steps in the next section.

How to close a port in Windows Firewall

Want to disable the rule you created to open a port in the Windows Firewall? Here’s how:

Right-click the Start button.

Click Search.

Click Windows Firewall.

Click Inbound Rules or Outbound Rules in the left frame of the window, depending on what type of rule you created.

Click the name of the rule in the right frame of the window.

Click Delete if you want to completely delete the rule.

More resources

Need a bit more help with Windows Firewall and Windows 10? We have plenty of resources covering a wide range of topics.

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