Some of you have emailed asking which ports you need to forward on your router for Windows Home Server. So here we go:
The first port to forward to your WHS is the “standard web traffic” (HTTP) port 80, although this is optional. If you don’t forward it, you can access your WHS machine using https://<address> instead of http://<address>
Next is the “secure http web traffic” (HTTPS) port 443.
Then Remote Web Workplace (RWW) which uses port 4125. This enables you to access the web interface feature.
Web Interface Feature
Finally the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port 3389. This allows you to use “Remote Desktop Connection” to connect to your Windows Home Server desktop.
Windows Home Server Desktop
All ports are TCP only – UDP is NOT necessary.
June 29, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Hello Philip
Personally I dont expose my WHS directly to the Internet since I have all my personal data on it.
I use the free version of Hamachi so I can access from my Notebook trought a secured VPN Tunnel and I have more controll who connects to the server. (user restrictions)
Another very secure connection is LogMeIn Free, there you have options like one time password and this way you can have Desktop Access to your server.
Just some ideas from me….have a great day
June 29, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Are you sure about port 3389? My router only port forwards 443 and 4125 and I have remote accessed PCs on my network via WHS. (port 80 not forwarded toWHS as I also run a web server).
June 29, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Without port 3389 being forwarded you will still be able connect via the “Remote Desktop Connection” using:
The servers name, in my case “SERVER” or your
Internal IP address e.g. 192.168.1.XXX
So when connecting from within the local network all is fine. But you will not be able to connect via the “Remote Desktop Connection” if you are outside the local network e.g. at a friend’s house or work when using either:
WAN IP address e.g. 82.34.XXX.XXX
(name).livenode.com
or (name).dyndns.org etc.
I prefer to be able to access my WHS if needed from wherever I am, so that’s why I forward port 3389 as well as the required others.
June 29, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Thanks to Daniel Keller for the details on the two virtual private networking (VPN) applications. Using one of these products would be a more secure solution than opening port 3389 to your Windows Home Server.
June 30, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Thanks for the info Philip that makes sense.
I have been accessing my system (remotely) via https://.livenode.com and then logging onto WHS and then in-turn selecting the network computer to RDC to. What I haven’t tried (because I thought it would be the same) is to log-on to WHS (through Connect i/f) and then RDC on to the server itself. I assume this is what you mean? or is it just a RDC connection from the outside world direct to WHS?
July 3, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hi Simon Smith,
What I meant is apart from the documented ports (80, 443, and 4125); if you forwarded 3389 you would be able to use RDC from the outside world direct to the server, avoiding the console and the web interface.
July 13, 2007 at 1:35 pm
[...] If you have not done so already you will need to configure your router to forward the ports to your home server machine. [...]
October 20, 2007 at 3:23 pm
UPnP Problem ?
When enabling UPnP on my router Netgear DG834GB, i have no problem to let WHS configure automaticly the necessary ports. But the setting is mysteriously modified after 3 to 24 hours, and WHS show an error message and the reomze acces is down.
I have to turn off the UPnP and to manually set the ports on the router to stop this problem.
Jacques
October 21, 2007 at 7:25 am
Hi jackyred,
Run Microsoft’s Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool to confirm that your router is 100% UPnP compatable and also try re-booting the router from within the Netgear web interface.
November 3, 2007 at 9:07 am
I’m still new to this software and site, but I’m loving it so far! however my router, even though it supports UPnP (D-link wbr-2310) it seems like it won’t stay configured unless I open these ports. However it does have a ‘virtual server’ as well as a separate port forwarding feature. If I use the virtual server to open these ports, are they as vulnerable as opening them on port forwarding? Thanks for any assistance!!
November 9, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Hi Flatearth,
It depends on D-Link’s definition of a virtual server. If it’s similar to a DMZ then don’t use it because it will open up your Home server for the whole world to see.
Port forwarding is the way to go:
See if there is an upgraded firmware for your router.
Try a re-boot of the router from within the web interface of the router.
I presume you are saving the port forwarding settings before exiting the router.
To test if your router is UPnp compatible run the following tool.
April 14, 2008 at 9:57 am
Had exactly the same issue with my Netgear DG834GB so have turned off UPnp and gone into manual port forwarding which seems to have done the trick.
April 30, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I have just purchased an HP Smart Media Home Server. It seems that this product is in never neverland between real HP servers and HP PCs. There is literally no support. Can you tell me which routers are compatable with this machine and MS Vista?
Thanks,
August 27, 2008 at 5:38 am
All ports are TCP only – UDP is NOT necessary……
A more accurate statement would be that including UDP will cause a failed connection. I got connection time outs until I saw this. Once I changed the protocol to TCP only, it started working beautifully.
January 14, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hello,
I have forwarded all 4 ports to my local sercer ip address using tcp only. I am trying to rdc into my server using xxx.gotomyhp.com. I am getting a error 800: Unable to establish a vpn connection.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jim