Linksys WRT54GX Router Open Port Guide

Did you know your Linksys WRT54GX router has a basic firewall to help protect your home network from unwanted Internet access? This firewall blocks connections to and from the Internet that are not authorized. Some online programs and games will run much smoother if you open additional connections. This is often called a port forward.

In this guide we will show you how to port forward on the Linksys WRT54GX router. The steps we will walk you through are:

How to setup a static IP address on the device you are forwarding these ports to.
How to login to the Linksys WRT54GX router.
How to find the port forwarding section of the router.
How to create a port forwarding entry.

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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.

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TIP: Go ahead and write this static IP address down. You need it a little later in this guide.

Step 2

It is now time to login to the Linksys WRT54GX router. To do this you need to open a web browser. This is because your router uses a web interface.

Normally it does not matter which browser you decide to use, simply pick the one you are the most comfortable using such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or even Edge.

Open up the web browser you decided to use 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 Linksys WRT54GX IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

After entering the IP address of your router you can simply press enter. If all goes well you will see the following screen:

You should see a box asking for your username and password to continue. If you do not see a login screen or box, you need to find out what the router's IP address was changed to. To do this use our How To Find Your Router's IP Address guide.

The Default Linksys WRT54GX Router Username is: admin
The Default Linksys WRT54GX Router Password is: password

Enter your username and password, and then click the OK or Login button to access the Linksys WRT54GX router.

Having Trouble Logging In?

Are you having trouble logging into the Linksys WRT54GX router? Here are a few troubleshooting ideas:

Try other Linksys default username/password combinations. Here is the list of all the known Default Linksys Router Passwords. When router companies update the router firmware, every once in a while they change the router's default username/password combination as well.

If the list above did not work, it is probably because you changed the username and/or password in the past and have forgotten. If you use our Find Password App, it will help you guess what the username and/or password was changed to.

Finally, you may need to consider a factory reset for the Linksys WRT54GX. This erases everything you have changed on the router in the past. Learn how to do this on our How to Reset a Router page.

Step 3

It is time to find the port forwarding section of the device. To help you find the correct screen, we will begin on the Basic Setup page of the Linksys WRT54GX router:

First, select the option at the top of the page labeled Applications & Gaming.

Directly below that a new set of options will appear. From this new list, pick the option of Port Range Forwarding.

You are now on the port forwarding page of the Linksys WRT54GX router.

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 need to name this entry in the Application 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.

If you are forwarding a range of ports separated by a hyphen then enter the lowest number of that range into the Start box and the highest number of that range into the End box. If you are only forwarding a single port number then enter that number into both the Start and the End boxes.

In the Protocol box select the protocol that you want to forward these ports over.

Enter the IP address to forward these ports to into the IP Address box. If you are forwarding ports so you can run a program on a device other than your computer then you can enter your device's IP address into that box.

Enable the Enable checkbox by putting a check in it.

When you are finished making port forward entries, click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the screen.

Test if Your Ports are Open

Now that you have forwarded ports on the Linksys WRT54GX you should test to see if your ports are forwarded correctly.

To test if your port has been properly forwarded, you can use our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. Our Open Port Check tool is the only online port checking tool with Guaranteed Results.