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The Forest Server Ports & Port Forwarding Guide

The Forest Guide • Updated Aug 29, 2026

The Forest Port Forwarding and NAT Guide

Port forwarding only belongs to a home-hosted server. A remote game host normally owns the router and exposes the ports through its panel. The official dedicated-server guide documents the following ports for The Forest:

PurposeProtocolPort
SteamTCP and UDP8766
GameTCP and UDP27015
QueryTCP and UDP27016

Home-hosted server

  1. Give the server PC a stable LAN address or DHCP reservation.
  2. Forward TCP and UDP 8766, 27015, and 27016 to that address.
  3. Allow the same ports through Windows Firewall or the host firewall.
  4. Use the public address for an external join test; the private 192.168.x.x address only works inside the LAN.

Some routers need a hairpin-NAT or split-DNS workaround when a player tests from the same network. Test from a phone hotspot or another external connection before changing game settings.

Windows firewall example

# PowerShell as Administrator
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "The Forest Steam" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8766 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "The Forest Steam UDP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 8766 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "The Forest Game" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 27015,27016 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "The Forest Game UDP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 27015,27016 -Action Allow

Hosted server

Check the provider's assigned address, ports, security group, and server status. Do not add port-forwarding rules to your home router for a remote machine. If a provider maps external ports to different internal ports, give players the external values from the panel.

When players still cannot connect

  • Confirm the process is running and server.cfg uses the same ports.
  • Check the operating-system firewall and router/provider firewall separately.
  • Check for carrier-grade NAT or an ISP that blocks inbound connections.
  • Verify the server name, public address, password, and client/server versions.
  • Perform a real join from outside the server network; a UDP scan alone is inconclusive.

Related guides

Official source

Verify the port list and configuration path in the official The Forest dedicated-server guide.

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