Simple Instructions to Help Setup a Port Forward on the TP-Link TD-W8960N Router

All TP-Link TD-W8960N routers come with a basic firewall that helps protect the home network from any unwanted access from the Internet. Firewalls block incoming connections, this is their job. Sometimes you want some of these blocked connections to be unblocked. This process is called a port forward because you are forwarding a port from the Internet directly to a device on your home network.

In this guide we will walk you through the steps to get your ports forwarded.

We will be showing you how to:

Setup a static IP Address on whatever device you want to forward these ports to.
Login to your TP-Link TD-W8960N router.
Navigate to the port forwarding section.
- Click the Advanced Setup link.
- Click on NAT.
- Click the Add button.
Create a port forward.

We think that forwarding a port should be easy. That's why we created Network Utilities. Our software does everything that you need to forward a port.

Get Started Now!

When you use Network Utilities you get your port forwarded right now!

Step 1

It is important to setup a static ip address in the device that you are forwarding a port to. This ensures that your ports will remain open even after your device reboots.

Recommended - Our free Static IP Setter will set up a static IP address for you.
Another way to get a permanent IP address is to set up a DHCP reservation.
Or, manually create a static ip address with our Static IP Guides.

This step is important because you want a permanent IP address in your device. If you do not set up a permanent IP address in your device, then when you device reboots it may get a new IP address.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

Step 2

You need to login to your router in order to create a port forward. This TP-Link TD-W8960N router uses a web interface to make setting changes. This means you need to use a web browser to access the web interface. It doesn't matter what browser you want to use just pick your favorite. Some options include: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Edge.

Go ahead and open the web browser of your choice and find the address bar. This is normally at the top of the page like this:

Image of a browser address bar — Browser address bar

Above is an example of what a web browser address bar looks like. Find the address bar in your router and type in your router's IP address.

The default TP-Link TD-W8960N IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

Go ahead and enter the router's IP Address and press the Enter key. This brings up a page or box that asks for a username and password:

Simply enter the TP-Link TD-W8960N username and password. If you have never changed these:

The Default TP-Link TD-W8960N Router Username is: admin
The Default TP-Link TD-W8960N Router Password is: admin

Having Trouble?

This is where most of us get stuck. Here are a few troubleshooting ideas to get you logged in to the TP-Link TD-W8960N router:

First of all, you may have a slightly different firmware version with a different username and password. I recommend trying other Default TP-Link Router Passwords.

If those default usernames and passwords did not work, we recommend trying to figure out what you changed it to. To automate this long process, try our Find Password App. It tries hundreds of different combos for you. In order to prevent illegal activity The Find Password App is limited to only working on devices on your local area network. It will not work over the internet. Learn more on this Router Password Cracker page.

Finally, if all else has failed, you may need to consider a factory reset. A reset like this one erases all personal data. We strongly recommend that this only be done after all other options are exhausted. Learn more on this How to Reset a Router page.

Step 3

It is now time to find the port forwarding section of the router. To do that, let's start on the first page of your router:

You are first going to click the option of Advanced Setup in the left sidebar.

A new menu appears at this point. Click the option of NAT.

Now click the Add button in the middle section of the page.

The image above is the page you need to end up on.

Step 4

Here are the ports to forward for Xbox Live:

TCP Ports: 3074

UDP Ports: 3074

If you are looking for the ports for a different application you can find it by either:

Browsing our List of Games

Check out our our List of Games by Genre

See our List of all Applications

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You might notice that most of our site doesn't have ads on it. This is because we use partnerships with companies like NordVPN to keep the site running. Thank you for supporting us by using our referral links.

Be sure that there is a dot in the Custom Service radio button.

You need to name this entry in the Custom Service box. The name does not make any difference in the forward; it's just there so that you can remember later why you setup this forward.

Enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to in the Server IP Address box. This is either the IP address of a computer or the IP address of another device on your network.

If you are forwarding a range of ports then you need to enter the lowest number of the range into the External Port Start and Internal Port Start boxes and the highest number of the range into the External Port End and Internal Port End boxes. If you are only forwarding a single port then you can enter that same port number into the External Port Start, External Port End, Internal Port Start and Internal Port End boxes.

Select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding from the Protocol box.

Once you have finished, click the Apply/Save button near the bottom of the page.

Test if the Ports Opened

Don't forget to check and see if the ports opened properly. In order to do this we recommend using our Free Open Port Checker. This can be found in our trial version of the Network Utilities tool.