This Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router has a firewall that helps protect your home network from unwanted Internet access. Your router's firewall does this by blocking connections both to and from your network. In order to unblock these connections for a game or other program to run well you need to make a port forward on the Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router.
Use this guide to get ports opened on your Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router. We walk you through each of the following steps:
- How to setup a static IP address on the device or game console you plan on forwarding these ports to.
- Exactly how to login to the Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router.
- How to find the port forwarding section of this router.
- And finally, how to create a port forward entry for your game or program.
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
Now that you have setup a static IP address for the computer you are forwarding these ports to, you need to login to the Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router.
Your Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router uses a web interface, which means to access the router's interface you need to use a web browser. It should not matter what browser you decide to use, simply pick your favorite. Some of the more common web browsers include Internet Explorer, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
Once you have opened the web browser you need to find the address bar. The address bar is normally at the top of the page 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 R8500 IP Address is: 192.168.1.1
Type this address into the address bar and click the Enter key on your keyboard. You should now see the following page:
Enter the username and password for the router and press the OK button.
- The Default Netgear Nighthawk R8500 Router Username is: admin
- The Default Netgear Nighthawk R8500 Router Password is: password
Need Help?
If you are unable to login to the Netgear Nighthawk R8500 router, here are a few things you can try:
- First, we strongly recommend trying other Netgear username password combinations. If you have a slightly different firmware version then you may also have a different username and password. Here is our list of Default Netgear Router Passwords.
- If the first troubleshooting idea did not work, it is because you changed the username and/or password in the past and don't remember what you changed them to. (this is quite common) You can try guessing what you changed them to or you can use our Find Password App to help you figure it out. This password cracker automates the process of guessing thousands of different combinations. Learn all about it on our Router Password Cracker page.
- Finally, if you still can't login to your router, it may be time to consider a factory reset. When you reset this router it erases all previously configured settings. Everything goes back to factory defaults. We recommend exhausting your other troubleshooting options first. To learn the basics of how to reset a router, read this How to Reset a Router guide.
Step 3
It is now time to find the port forwarding section of your router. We begin on the Basic Home page of your router interface:
On this first page, click the tab at the top of the page labeled ADVANCED.
You are now on the Advanced Home page. Look in the left sidebar and select the option of Advanced Setup.
This opens up more choices below that. Pick the option of Port Forwarding / Port Triggering.
On this Port Forwarding page, make sure the radio button labeled Port Forwarding is selected.
Then select the button labeled +Add Custom Service.
This is the correct page to setup your port forward.
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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Enter the name of the program into the Service Name box. It doesn't really matter what you put into this box, but something that will remind you why these ports are being forwarded is be a good idea.
The protocol that you want to forward is selected from the Service Type box.
If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into the External Starting Port and the External Ending Port boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of that range into the External Starting Port box. Then enter 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 that you want to forward these ports to in the Internal IP Address box. You can enter either the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another computer or device on your network.
When you are finished, don't forget to click the green Apply button.
Congratulations. You are finished.
Test Your Ports
Now that you have finished with the port forwarding, it's a good idea to check your work. In order to do this you need to see if the ports are open. We recommend using our Open Port Checker. It is free and part of our Network Utilities. Our port checker is one of the only ones online that uses a local application to see if the server is listening on the selected ports. This makes it guaranteed to be accurate.
More...
If you are still having trouble why not give our Port Forwarding Software a try. Our port forwarding software includes everything you need to diagnose, troubleshoot, and fix any port forwarding issues you might have.
Don't forget to check out our other guides for gaming, networking, and firewalling. Here at portforward.com we are your computer information source.
For guides written specifically for your router, check out setuprouter.com We have guides for securing your WiFi network, changing your wireless channel, and much more.
