How to Setup Port Forwarding on TP-Link Router? [Updated 2023]

Port Forwarding is an awesome way of protecting clients and servers from unwanted access on a certain network. It’s a nifty little technique to add an extra layer of security to your network. In short, Port Forwarding keeps unwanted traffic off of your network which is ideal for gaming and other purposes.

But the question is, how do you implement Port Forwarding? Well, if you have a TP-Link router, it can be quite easy. With models such as the TP-Link TL-WR940N, you can easily install addons for various VPNs like PureVPN that support Port Forwarding.

So in this short guide, I’m going to tell you how to set up PureVPN’s Port Forwarding on TP-Link TL-WR940N and also tell if it works on TP-link AC1200 and TP-link AC1750.

How to Set up PureVPN’s Port Forwarding on TP-Link TL-WR940N Router?

In case you’re a bit tech-savvy, here’s how you can quickly open a port on the TP-Link TL-WR940N router. Don’t worry, we’re also going to cover the steps below in more detail in case you need a bit more help getting started with the TP-link Port Forwarding feature.

1- Start by setting up a static IP address on your device that you want to forward a port to.

2- Next, log in to your TP-Link TL-WR940N router.

3- Now you’ll need to navigate to the port forwarding section.

4- Click on the option that says “Forwarding“.

5- Next, click on “Virtual Servers“.

6- Once you’re done with that, click the “Add New” button.

7- Finally, create a port forward entry to start making the most of Port Forwarding and its perks.

That’s it, this is how easy it is to setup up TP-Link Port Forwarding. Now in case, you have no idea how the above-mentioned steps work, follow the steps below which I’ve covered in more detail.

Step-1

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is set up a static IP address on the device that you’re going to forward a port to. Doing so will ensure that your ports don’t close once your device reboots. Since we are covering the setup for PureVPN, you can check out PureVPN’s guide to set up a static IP address on a router.

Step-2

In this step, you’ll need to log in to your TP-Link TL-WR940N router. You can use any web browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer to do this.

1- Fire up your web browser, click on the address bar and type in your TP-Link router IP address which is also your computer’s default gateway. This address is by default set to 192.168.1.1.

2- Once you’re done entering the IP address of your router,  you just need to press enter.

3- Now when the popup window appears, enter your username and password and click on the Login button. By default, both the username and password for TP-Link TL-WR940N is admin.

Step-3

Next up, you’ll need to find the Port Forwarding section on your router. For this, follow the steps below:

1- First things first, click on the Forwarding link which you can find on the left side of the page.

2- Now you will see a new menu. From this menu, click on Virtual Servers.

3- Lastly, click on the “Add New” button which should be at the center of your page.

Step-4

In the last step, you’ll need to enter the port number that you want to forward. For instance, for Xbox Live, here are the ports you can forward to:

TCP Ports: 3074

UDP Ports: 3074

1- Once you know what ports you can use for your device, enter the port that you wish to forward in the “Service Port box“.

2- Next, enter the IP address of your computer or some other computer that you wish to forward any ports to in the “IP Address box“.

3- After that, select the protocol that you wish to forward these ports to in the “Protocol box“.

4- We’re almost there. Now you’ll just need to choose “Enabled” from the Status drop-down box.

5- Finally, click the “Save” button and your ports will now be open for forwarding.

The setup process is more or less the same for other Port Forwarding routers.

Does PureVPN’s Port Forwarding Work on TP-link AC1200 and TP-link AC1750?

Although PureVPN’s Port Forwarding feature is compatible with the TP-Link TL-WR940N router, unfortunately, its not compatible with the TP-link Archer series. I contacted PureVPN’s support team and they told me that their Port Forwarding feature currently is incompatible with TP-Link AC1200, TP-Link AC1750 and other models from the Archer lineup.

Wrapping up!

So this is how easy it is to setup Port Forwarding on TP-Link TL-WR940N router. I’ve personally used Port Forwarding for gaming and it works amazingly well. Do give it a try and I’m sure you’re not going to regret it.