A Quick Guide to Port Forwarding for... You!?

So recently I thought I might make a guide to port forwarding since every time I tried to look up guides in the past, it comes up with programs that will automatically do it for you. I always take caution when I see downloadable programs that have no reputation at all so I just do it myself.

What is Port Forwarding?

Port Forwarding opens up a port on your computer which allows specific programs to communicate with other computers without going through a firewall, which could easily see it as a threat and terminate it even though it isn't at all.

Step 1: Figure out what port you need to forward. This can be done by googling the game you wish to use.
For example, Terraria's port is 7777, so I'll use that for the tutorial.

Step 2: Open up a web browser and type in 192.168.1.1 This the usual IP of your router and you will use it to open your ports. Usually it has a generic password that is easily obtainable through a google search on your model or through documentation that came with the router. The usual username is "admin" and the password is well... "password".

Step 3: Once logged in you should be at a menu, for my own router's layout, which could be different than yours, is a NETGEAR router. You should then click on "Attached Devices" and note the IP that belongs to your computer.

Step 4: Assuming you have the correct IP, Click on the tab that says "Port Forwarding/Port Triggering". Like I said before, each router has it's own template/menu so you might have to do a little exploring before you can find these.

Step 5: Click Create Service or whichever option it would be to create a new port forward. There will be Service Name, which you can put the name of the game you want to have for organizational purposes, and there is Service Type, which I always keep at TCP/UDP. Then you want to put in the Starting port 7777 (for Terraria, others could use a multitude of different ports) and for the end port put 7777 again. The reason for this is that multiple ports can be used and have a starting port at, let's say, 7770 and an end port at 7777 could open those ports and the ones in between for use. Then you'll want to put the server IP address in. You put the IP you were asked to take note of earlier into the field that needs it and then click Apply / Submit or whatever it is that finishes it and then wha-la you have your own server.