Did you know your Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router has a basic firewall that helps to protect your home network from unwanted Internet access? This firewall blocks connections that you may want opened for a game or other application. This process of opening a port is called a port forward because you are forwarding a port from the Internet through the firewall and directing it at a device on your home network.
We will show you how to:
- Setup a static IP Address on the computer or device you want to forward a port to.
- Login to your Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router.
- Navigate to the port forwarding section.
- Click the Advanced link.
- Click the Advanced Setup link.
- Click on Port Forwarding / Port Triggering.
- Click the Port Forwarding radio button.
- Click the Add Custom Service button.
- Create a port forward entry.
Don't panic if this seems difficult, we will walk you through each step in the process to get your ports forwarded.
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.
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
We are now going to login to the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router. Your router has a web interface so you need to use a web browser to access your router's settings. It doesn't matter what browser you decide to use, simply pick your favorite, such as Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer or Firefox.
After opening the web browser of your choice, find the address bar. It typically looks like this:
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 Netgear Nighthawk R7000 IP Address is: 172.16.0.1
After entering the router's IP Address in the address bar, click the Enter key on your keyboard. You should be directed to this page:
You should see a box asking for a username and password.
- The Default Netgear Nighthawk R7000 Router Username is: admin
- The Default Netgear Nighthawk R7000 Router Password is: password
Enter your username and password, and then click the OK button to log in to your Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router.
Having Trouble?
It is common to get stuck at this point. There are several different reasons you would get stuck at this point. Here are some troubleshooting options to help:
- First of all we recommend trying other common Netgear password and username combos. Find a list of Default Netgear Router Passwords here.
- Your second option is to try and guess what you changed the password to. We can help automate this long process with our Find Password App. This app can not be used over the Internet, it will only work in your local home network. Learn more on our Router Password Cracker page.
- Finally, if nothing else works, you may need to consider a router reset. A router reset like this one erases all personal data. We strongly recommend trying other methods of troubleshooting before you decide to reset the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router. Learn how to reset your router on this How to Reset a Router page.
Step 3
It is now time to find the port forwarding section of your router. To do that we need to start on the following page:
Click the Advanced link at the top of the page.
Now look in the left sidebar. Choose the option labeled Advanced Setup.
This opens up a new menu. Click the option of Port Forwarding/Port Triggering.
Go ahead and put a dot in the radio button labeled Port Forwarding near the top of the page. Then click the Add Custom Service button closer to the bottom of the page.
You should now see a page like the one shown above.
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.
You need to name this entry in the Service Name 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.
Select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding from the Service Type box.
If you are only forwarding a single port number then enter that number into both the External Starting Port and the External Ending Port boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports separated by a hyphen then enter the lowest number of that range into the External Starting Port box and the highest number of that range into the External Ending Port box.
Make sure that the Use the same port range for Internal port checkbox is checked.
Enter the IP address of the device that you want to forward ports to into the Internal IP Address box. This can be either the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another device on your network.
Click the Apply button when you are done.
When you are through, be sure to click the green Aply button to save your changes.
Test if Your Ports are Open
We suggest that you now check and make sure these ports have been forwarded correctly.
In order to test and see if your ports opened properly we recommend using our free Open Port Checker. You can find it in our trial version of the Network Utilities. This particular Open Port Checker is not only free with our trial but has Guaranteed Results.
More Resources
Congratulations on getting your ports forwarded correctly. We have more guides for you if you are interested:
- More setup guides for your Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router.
- What is your External IP Address?
- Understanding Binary Numbers.
- A look at Subnetting.
