PORT FORWARDING FOR RDP

Question

PORT FORWARDING FOR RDP

LGLDSR73-6492 1,210

I recently had a posted titled "RDP Into Win-11 Pro from Win-11 Home" and accepted the answer. Unfortunately I overlooked the following statement:

*"Since you’re connecting across locations, you’ll also need to enable VPN or forward port 3389 on the Massachusetts router to reach the system over the internet."

The original thread is located here.*

When I was a Network Administrator at Qualcomm I had many off-site End Users that I had to remote into. At no time did I have to setup Port Forwarding for them or use VPN. However, their systems were all using Windows-10 Professional and I left in 2019, well before Windows-11 was released.

Is this Port Forwarding requirement specific to Windows-11? Or because I will be using Windows-11 Home to remote into a system using Windows-11 Pro?

I am in Michigan, the Target system is in Massachusetts.

I apologize for the inappropriate Tag but nothing generated for RDP.

Thank you,

LGLDSR73

MUSTAFA SALAH 1,870 Reputation points

2026-06-30T22:49:55.5166667+00:00

this is not a Windows 11 requirement, nor is it due to Windows 11 Home.

Important Note: Do Not Forward Port 3389

possible cases: NAT / Firewall / Dynamic IP assigned by ISP
LGLDSR73-6492 1,210 Reputation points

2026-07-03T11:33:17.5566667+00:00

Can I get some feedback with respect to the steps below (Jul 1, 2026, 7:37 AM) ?
MUSTAFA SALAH 1,870 Reputation points

2026-07-03T12:09:54.8266667+00:00
Dear LGLDSR73-6492,

For Simplicity, you can use:

Chrome Remote Desktop: https://remotedesktop.google.com/

AnyDesk: https://anydesk.com/

Any other 3rd-Party tool

<Install it on your remote PC and from any PC on any network you can access it only requirements: InternetConnection/PC Powered On. That's It>

In case of RDP (It's kinda complex not because of the implementation but because of the security - Of course you don't want someone online to hijack your system via RDP which is targeted).

Complex Solution:

I will assume you have PC-A & PC-B and you want to Access (PC-A) from anywhere as your remote

Also, I assume that you set a (Static IP) for PC-A & Enabled RDP Settings

Open your Router settings on Web Portal - Connected at PC-A and configure (Port Forwarding) - some times is called "Virtual Server" or other names depending on your model
Example:

Enter Port (Internal & External) as 3380, for internal IP (Enter the Static IP of the PC-A) for example 192.168.1.10

Now, get the Public IP of your router

From PC-B --> connect to the public IP of your router --> that will route the traffic to the PC-A automatically as it has RDP open&enabled --> Enter username+password of the PC-B account.

Note: Only issue you will encounter is that Public IP assigned by ISP is changing so you might need to get the new IP again. to fix this you can set up Dynamic DNS from the router settings.

Feel free to research the solution you will choose. However,

For Me, I will use (Chrome Remote Desktop) Easy and it Works! and Secure!

<Set it and forget it>

That's all,

Best,

2 answers

Your answer

MUSTAFA SALAH 1,870 Reputation points

2026-06-30T22:49:55.5166667+00:00

this is not a Windows 11 requirement, nor is it due to Windows 11 Home.

Important Note: Do Not Forward Port 3389

possible cases: NAT / Firewall / Dynamic IP assigned by ISP
LGLDSR73-6492 1,210 Reputation points

2026-07-03T11:33:17.5566667+00:00

Can I get some feedback with respect to the steps below (Jul 1, 2026, 7:37 AM) ?
MUSTAFA SALAH 1,870 Reputation points

2026-07-03T12:09:54.8266667+00:00

Dear LGLDSR73-6492,

For Simplicity, you can use:

Chrome Remote Desktop: https://remotedesktop.google.com/

AnyDesk: https://anydesk.com/

Any other 3rd-Party tool

<Install it on your remote PC and from any PC on any network you can access it only requirements: InternetConnection/PC Powered On. That's It>

In case of RDP (It's kinda complex not because of the implementation but because of the security - Of course you don't want someone online to hijack your system via RDP which is targeted).

Complex Solution:

I will assume you have PC-A & PC-B and you want to Access (PC-A) from anywhere as your remote

Also, I assume that you set a (Static IP) for PC-A & Enabled RDP Settings

Open your Router settings on Web Portal - Connected at PC-A and configure (Port Forwarding) - some times is called "Virtual Server" or other names depending on your model
Example:

Enter Port (Internal & External) as 3380, for internal IP (Enter the Static IP of the PC-A) for example 192.168.1.10

Now, get the Public IP of your router

From PC-B --> connect to the public IP of your router --> that will route the traffic to the PC-A automatically as it has RDP open&enabled --> Enter username+password of the PC-B account.

Note: Only issue you will encounter is that Public IP assigned by ISP is changing so you might need to get the new IP again. to fix this you can set up Dynamic DNS from the router settings.

Feel free to research the solution you will choose. However,

For Me, I will use (Chrome Remote Desktop) Easy and it Works! and Secure!

<Set it and forget it>

That's all,

Best,

Answer 1

Thank you very much.

You wrote:

 Port Forwarding in your router settings: enable it for the static ip

Make sure that firewall allows RDP + 3389

(1) I do not understand the reason for this. When I have used RDP to support Off-Site users at Lockheed, Raytheon and Qualcomm it was never necessary to do either #1 or #2. This was Windows 7 and Windows 10. At all three of these Corporations we were using DHCP assigned IP's for our local systems. The End Users were obviously on a different Network at their homes or at a DOD Contractors Site such as Northrup. DOD will not allow Port Forwarding.

(2) On Jun 30, 2026, 6:49 PM you stated "Important Note: Do Not Forward Port 3389". (see above).

(3) What I asked on Jul 1, 2026, 7:37 AM was taken from a MS document. Please see above.

Thank you very much for your assistance and please get back to me if you would.

Best,

LGLDSR73

Answer 2

LGLDSR73-6492 1,210

IP assigned via DHCP from Router.

So this should work fine, correct?:

Step 1: Configure the Windows 11 Pro Computer (Host)

Before connecting, ensure the target Pro machine is permitted to receive remote connections.

On the Windows 11 Pro PC, press Windows Key + I to open Settings.

Click on System in the left menu, then select Remote Desktop.

Toggle the Remote Desktop switch to On.

Click Confirm on the pop-up window.

Look for the PC Name under the settings menu—you will need this exact name to connect later.

Step 2: Connect from the Windows 11 Home Computer (Client)

With Remote Desktop enabled on the Pro machine, you can now connect to it from your Home PC

On your Windows 11 Home PC, type Remote Desktop Connection in the taskbar search box and open it.

In the Computer field, type the PC Name or the IP Address of the Windows 11 Pro machine.

Click Connect.

When prompted for credentials, enter the username and password you use to sign in to the Windows 11 Pro computer.

Accept any certificate warnings that may appear, and your remote desktop session will launch

LGLDSR73-6492 1,210 Reputation points

2026-07-02T15:01:38.4466667+00:00

Can I please have some assistance with my question of Jul 1, 2026, 7:37 AM? Thank you.
MUSTAFA SALAH 1,870 Reputation points

2026-07-03T12:27:48.0966667+00:00
You may need to review:

Port Forwarding in your router settings: enable it for the static ip

Make sure that firewall allows RDP + 3389

If the 2 PCs are on the same network, you can use the private IP without port forwarding option.

If 2 PCs in different network, you need port forwarding + public IP