How to Open Ports on Windows Server?

All recent versions of Windows include the Windows Firewall utility. A firewall includes options for opening and closing ports, as well as allowing and disabling specific programs and services.

Computer resources can be protected from unauthorized access by firewalls on networks and servers. Incoming or even outgoing traffic is checked for by the firewall systems and in accordance with the rules configured, decisions are made about them.

Windows Firewall cannot access the port if it isn’t explicitly allowed. TCP/IP ports are reserved for applications whenever they want to access the network, which means anyone else cannot use them.

Also Read: How to Change RDP Port in Windows Server?

Open Ports on Windows Server

In Windows Server 2008/2012 R2/2016 and Windows Server 2019, there are three ways to open ports.

• MMC
• The command line (netsh)
• PowerShell commands (For 2012R2 and 2016 only)

So, you can open ports on Windows Server by following the instructions in the following article. 

Open Ports via MMC

• Here first of all you have to log in using an admin account.
• Then you have to click on:

Start > Administrative Tools > Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

• Now you have to click on the Inbound Rules on the left of the MMC.

• Then click on the New Rule on the Right of the MMC.

• Now here you will get five steps to open a port and accept incoming connections:-

1. Rule Type
2. Protocol and Ports
3. Action
4. Profile
5. Name

• Suppose for example the servers with Parallels RAS Publishing Agents will need to open TCP port 20002.
• Now under the Rule Type section, you have to select “Port” and then click on the “Next” button.

• Then under the Protocol and Ports section, you have to select the “TCP” as the type of protocol.
• After that, you have to type “20002” in the “Specific local ports” input field.

• Next, you have to head to the Action section in which you have to select “Allow the Connection“ and then you have to click on the “Next” button.

• Now under the Profile section, you have to select all three options and click on the “Next” button.  

(NOTE: Here at this point if you wish to limit the connection to a  particular profile then you can simply select the profiles that are appropriate to your setup.)

• After that, now you have to enter a “Name” for this rule under the Name section, and then click on the “Finish” button when you are done.

• That’s it, now you are done.

Open Ports through command line (netsh)

• First of all, using an administrator account you have to login to the server.
• Then you have to open and run the Command Prompt as Administrator.
• For the Publishing Agents role on the servers, open the TCP port 20002 with the following command.

• That’s it, now you are done.

Open Ports through PowerShell commands

• First of all, using an admin account you have to Log in.
• Then you have to run the Windows PowerShell as Administrator.
• You need to open the TCP port 20002 on the publishing agents server using the following command.

• That’s it, now you are done.

Once all is done, now immediately after creating this rule, the firewall rule will allow traffic to (or from) your server. While if you want to open a port for both sending and receiving, you need to repeat the process as an Outbound rule.

Ports play a very important role in any computer system. In computer networks, ports are used to connect computers and other devices to one another. When you open a port, you are allowing specific types of information to go in and out of your computer. 

For example, if you want to host a website, you need to open port 80 to allow web traffic to go in and out. This blog is all about how to open ports on a Windows server and we hope that you liked it.

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