Unable to open ports in Windows 7 Firewall

F2Andy said:

I am trying to set up a minecraft server on my PC. It is connected wirelessly to a broadband router, and I have set up port-forwarding on the router.

I am testing using Shields Up to scan the relevant port, 25565, while the server is running, and if I turn off the PC firewall, it successfully finds it, so I know this is an issure with the firewall.

Turn on the firewall, and set up two inbound rules, one for TCP, one for UDP, as I am not sure what minecraft uses. Each rule is enabled, set to allow the connection, local port is 25565, nothing else set. But Shields Up cannot find the server.

Any ideas anyone?

Did you replicate the same rules for Outbound connections as well? To fully allow a connection you may need to do it bidirectionally.

Hope This Helps,
Josh :)

Is it going through a router? Are the ports open/forwarded appropriately on the router's side of things? When setting up the rule, have you tried specifying the executable game file and instead of the port. Allowing a program means that it can generate any port it wants (Including randomly generated source ports) and have it automatically allowed for that process. For a server I would recommend using this way since ports can change and in reality are only a number. As reply traffic goes back to client devices it will be using a different outbound source port therefore all would need to be allowed.



Hope This Helps,
Josh :)