Knowing the port numbers of your router can be useful if you want to configure your firewall protocols or grant access to certain games or programs.
Here is a simple guide to check your port numbers on Windows and Mac.
Jump to…
- How To Find Your Port Number On Windows
- How To Find Your Port Number on Mac
- What Is A Port Number?
- Difference Between UDP and TCP ports
- What Is The Difference Between an IP Address and Port Number?
- Most Common Port Numbers
How To Find Your Port Number On Windows
Step 1
Select the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen.
Step 2
Type cmd.
Step 3
Type ipconfig.
Step 4
Next type netstat -a command for a list of connections and port numbers.
How To Find Your Port Number on Mac
Step 1
Open System Preferences by clicking on the Apple icon.
Step 2
Go to Network > Advanced.
Step 3
Select the Port Scan tab.
Step 4
Enter the IP address you wish to scan.
What is a Port Number?
To put it simply, port numbers allow applications on the same computer to share network resources simultaneously. Depending upon on the service type, it will either be associated with TCP or UDP port.
Difference Between UDP and TCP ports
TCP Ports: TCP stands for Transmission Control Protocol. This method sends the data after establishing a connection which makes it more reliable than UDP, at least for data transfers.
UDP Ports: UDP stands for User Diagram Protocol. With this method, it sends data packets without a need to establishing a connection at first, which makes this protocol faster than TCP.
What Is The Difference Between An IP Address And Port Number?
An IP address is your device’s address on the network. Think of a port as a location in that address.
To put it simply, when you communicate over a network or the Internet, your PC is identified by an IP address, usually IPv4 or IPv6. That’s how you can browse the Internet, or access to resources on a server across an internal network.
In addition to that, a single device can have multiple processes running at any given time. The port number is what is identifying those processes taking place in the device.
Most Common Port Numbers
If you for some reason want to get more info on the types of ports, here is a list of the common port numbers for Windows. We are also including a list of the most common ports for Mac users.
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