Forwarding Ports in a Netgear R8500 Router

Your router, the Netgear R8500, has a firewall that helps to protect your network from unwanted access from the Internet. The firewall blocks all but a few ports to protect you. There are times that you need additional ports opened in order to run a program or game more smoothly. This process of unblocking or opening a port is commonly called a port forward.

In this guide we will walk you through each of the following steps:

Step 1 How to setup a static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding these ports to.
Step 2 How to login to the Netgear R8500 router.
Step 3 How to navigate to the port forwarding section of the router.
Step 4 How to create a port forward entry.

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.

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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

In this step we will show you how to login to the Netgear R8500 router. To do this you need to open a web browser because the router uses a web interface menu. It doesn't matter which web browser you decide to open. We suggest using either Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

Once you have picked your web browser, go ahead and open it up and find the address bar. Typically the address bar is 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 Netgear R8500 IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

After typing the router's IP address into the address bar, simply click the Enter key on your keyboard. This should open up an authentication page like this:

Screenshot of Netgear R8500 default login.

You are in the right place if you see a space for a username and password.

The Default Netgear R8500 Router Username is: admin
The Default Netgear R8500 Router Password is: password

Having Trouble?

This is a common place for people to get stuck. If you find yourself here, there are a few things you can try:

First, try other Netgear usernames and passwords. It is possible you have a slightly different firmware version with a different username and password. Check out our list of Default Netgear Router Passwords here.

If that did not work, we recommend trying to guess what you changed it to. You have most likely changed the username and or password in the past and don't recall what you changed it to. If you need help with this, use our Find Password App. It will help you figure out what the lost password is. Learn more about this on our Router Password Cracker page.

Finally, if nothing else is working, you may need to consider a factory reset. A reset like this one is a big step and should not be taken lightly. We strongly recommend trying other troubleshooting methods before you continue. If you still think you need to reset the Netgear R8500 router then follow the instructions on this How to Reset a Router.

Step 3

Now let's find the port forwarding section of the Netgear R8500 router. We begin on the Basic Home page of the Netgear R8500 router:

Click the ADVANCED tab at the top of the page.

Screenshot of Netgear R8500 Advanced Home.

Now click the option of Advanced Setup in the left sidebar.

Then under that choose the option of Port Forwarding/Port Triggering.

Screenshot of Netgear R8500 Port Forwarding and Port Triggering.

Finally select the option in the center section labeled Add Custom Service.

Screenshot of Netgear R8500 Port Forwarding Add Custom Service.

You are now on the correct page to create a port forward entry.

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 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 required protocol for these ports from the Service Type dropdown 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.

Enable the Use the same port range for Internal port checkbox by putting a check in it.

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

Testing the Port Forward

When testing the port forward you just created, we recommend using our Open Port Checker. It is part of our FREE trial version of the Network Utilities. Our port checker will use a local application to see if the server is listening. This will positively confirm whether or not the ports are forwarded or not.