Article ID: 908874 - Last Review: July 16, 2009 - Revision: 10.12

Which ports are required to be open for Xbox LIVE on your router or firewall

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INTRODUCTION

You have to open ports only if one of the following condition is true:
  • You experience the following symptoms:
    • When you try to play a game together with a particular friend, you cannot join their game or they cannot join yours.
    • You cannot hear a particular player although you can see that the player is talking.
    • You cannot accept a game invitation.
  • When you test your Xbox LIVE connection from the Network Settings screen, a yellow warning triangle appears between the Internet icon and the Xbox LIVE icon.

    Note The triangle indicates that you have a Network Address Translation (NAT) problem.

    Collapse this imageExpand this image
    LIVE test connection


    For more information about NAT, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    908880  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908880/ ) Description of NAT and how it impacts your online experience

MORE INFORMATION

If there is a firewall or a router between the Xbox console and the networking hardware, and if the Xbox LIVE test reports an NAT problem, you may have to make configuration changes to enable communication on the specific network ports that are required by Xbox LIVE. This reconfiguration is known as "port forwarding." If you use an Xbox LIVE-compatible device or a Windows Vista-compatible device that has the correct firmware installed, you should not have to make these changes.

For more information about how to determine whether your networking hardware is compatible with Xbox LIVE, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
944293  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944293/ ) How to find out if your networking hardware is compatible with the Xbox LIVE Service
If your device is not on the compatible list, and if you experience the symptoms that are described in the "Introduction" section, you can try to open the following ports:
  • TCP 80
  • UDP 88
  • UDP 3074
  • TCP 3074
  • UDP 53
  • TCP 53
For information about how to configure port settings on a firewall, on a router, or on a gateway, please see the documentation that was included with that device, or contact your network administrator or local technical support for help.

You can also review Xbox documentation online about port forwarding. To do this, visit the following Xbox support Web site:
http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/xboxlive/getconnected/CompatibleNetworkEquipment/CompatibleNetworkingEquipment.aspx (http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/xboxlive/getconnected/CompatibleNetworkEquipment/CompatibleNetworkingEquipment.aspx)
On the Choose a Topic menu, select How To. Then, select the “How to use port forwarding” topic for the appropriate router.

Additionally, you can visit the Xbox.com official forums to see whether other users are experiencing the same problem.

APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft XBox 360 Video Game System
  • Microsoft Xbox
  • Microsoft Xbox Live
  • Games for Windows - LIVE
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