A detailed step-by-step guide on when and how to enable NAT mode and static IP on Xbox One.
Permanent or static IP address for Xbox One
If you are having difficulty working with multiplayer and chats, then most likely you need to activate NAT mode and a static IP address on the Xbox One, since at the moment it is disabled or only partially activated. In order to change the NAT type to Open from Moderate or Strict, you need to assign a stable IP address to your console and redirect some ports on your router. This detailed instruction will help you solve the problem with the network connection and return the normal functioning of certain modes and games on your console.
Assigning a permanent IP for the Xbox One will ensure that it will maintain a stable network address even if you reboot and the network configuration does not go wrong. Some models of routers allow manual setting of IP in the control panel for specific devices. You should check if your model has this feature. If this feature is not provided in the router, you can always make the necessary settings in the menu of your Xbox One.
Assigning a static IP address for the Xbox One in your router settings
Look in the control panel of your router for an option where you can set the IP of a specific device manually. This can happen in different ways in different models. If such an option is present in the settings of the router, then all you need to assign there a specific IP address for your console and no more settings are needed on the Xbox One itself. The router will now independently make sure that the Xbox receives strictly the same selected IP, even if you turn off and then turn on the console and does not assign it to any other device.
In the event that your network equipment does not allow manual configuration and assignment of addresses to specific devices, you will need to set a permanent IP directly in the console itself. If there is support, then after doing everything step by step, as we indicate in our instructions, you can do everything that is needed in the control panel of your router:
Step 1: You can try assigning the current IP to your console as a permanent one. You can see which of them is issued by the network equipment for the Xbox One in the advanced settings of the console. To see this specific IP, turn on your Xbox One and follow the path described below:
- Go to the home screen and press the Menu button on your Xbox joystick
- Enter the Settings category
- Enter the Network section
- Find and enter the Advanced Settings section
- In the IP configuration block, you will see the specific address that the Xbox is currently working with. Write it down, as you will need it later when setting up your router.
- You will also see the Wired MAC Address and Wireless MAC Address listed just below. The MAC address is a unique number of your console’s network card, which is assigned during production and is absolutely unique for each device. Save somewhere this 12-digit code corresponding to the type of connection that is connected to the Xbox One network (either it is connected by cable or via Wi-Fi). In the router configuration, you will also need to specify this MAC address in conjunction with a specific IP.
Step 2: Using a computer browser, go to the settings window of your router and assign the IP address you wrote down in the first part of this tutorial permanently to your Xbox One console.
Here is an example of what this procedure looks like in one of the popular router models:
In the screenshot of the Asus router settings window, you see an input field for specifying an IP address and below a drop-down menu for selecting a MAC address. Use the values you wrote down in the first step of this manual.
Some routers do not provide an opportunity to reserve IP from the existing DHCP database (this is a list of those IPs that the router constantly automatically assigns to certain devices after they reconnect to the network). In the case when your router is one of these, it will not be possible to set the IP already used by your console as stable (static). You will have to choose some address that is not used at the moment.
Step 3: After assigning a static IP address to your console, you need to test the connection to make sure everything is configured properly and working. In order to conduct a test, you will need:
- In the Xbox One menu, select the Settings category
- Select the Network section
- Find and enter the Test network connection item
- Wait until testing is complete. This process will check your console’s LAN and WAN connections.
- After testing is complete, you should see a message on the screen that everything is working as expected (“It’s all good”).
Step 4: You will also need to redirect (or open) ports in your router settings so that all traffic passing through specific ports is directed to a specific internal IP address. To enable Open NAT, you need to open the following ports for your Xbox One:
- TCP: 53, 80, 3074
- UDP: 53, 88, 500, 3074, 3544, 4500
Step 5: When the procedure for assigning a permanent IP and opening ports for a specific address is complete, you should retest your console’s connection to the network. To conduct this test, follow the following path in the Xbox One menu:
- Open Settings
- Select Network
- Select Test Network Connection
- Wait for the test results to appear
- Results should include a NAT status message — open, partially open, or closed (Open, Moderate, Strict).
If the NAT type is in the Open state, then you have done everything correctly and everything is working correctly. This is a rather complicated procedure and not everyone can handle it. But you succeeded and now you can fully use the online mode in games and freely chat in chats with any other users. Good game!
If the NAT type is not Open, then you will need to go through all the steps of the instructions from the very beginning and check whether you have entered everything correctly in the configuration of the console and router and whether an error has crept in somewhere or whether a character or period is missing somewhere. Make sure that the specified IP and MAC values are correct.
In case, despite everything, you still fail to configure the console and router as needed, make sure that your local network itself is configured correctly. Problems can also arise when two or more routers are operating simultaneously on the same network. To check the presence of additional routers and the correctness of their configuration, you will need to download and run the Router Detector utility (http://portforward.com/help/router-detector.htm). It is quite essential to have a single router, otherwise the appearance of problems during the passage of the instruction is almost inevitable.
Set up a static IP address from the Xbox One console menu
If your router model does not allow users to manually assign an IP to a specific device, then the instructions below will help you do the same operation, but already in the Xbox One console menu:
Step 1: First, find the IP, gateway, and netmask values that the console’s NIC is currently using. To do this, follow the following path:
- Return to the Xbox home screen and press the Menu key on the joystick
- Go to Settings
- Enter the Network category
- Find and open Advanced configuration
- On the left side of the screen, in the IP block, you can view the IP, netmask, gateway, Primary DNS and Secondary DNS, as well as the MAC address. Store these values in any way you like. They will come in handy in the next steps of the setup.
Step 2: Log in to your router’s control panel using your computer’s browser. Find and remember which range of IP addresses the router uses to automatically assign to your devices. The base of these addresses is called DHCP.
Below is a screenshot of the control panel of a Linksys router for example, and it shows what the DHCP address range looks like.
Step 3: You need to select a number between 2 and 254, which is outside the DHCP range of your router. This number will be part of the static IP address of your console.
Following the example shown in the screenshot, we can conclude that the range of addresses that this router uses are values from 100 to 149. It assigns these addresses to devices on the local network automatically. So, for Xbox, you can take a value, for example, 201. Thus, the ready-made address will have something like this appearance – 192.168.1.201. And here are a couple more rules just in case:
- If your router’s DHCP is in the 200 to 254 range, then you should choose a value between 2 and 50.
- If the router uses addresses from 50 to 200, then choose between 2 and 49.
Step 4: To check the correctness of the address you have chosen, you can do the following operations on your computer:
- Open the start menu
- In the search bar of this menu, type cmd
In the search results, look for the cmd.exe program and run it.
- Type the ping command in the window that opens
- Press Space
- After a space, type the IP address you chose for your Xbox and press Enter.
If the address pings, but no response comes from it, that IP address is free, and you can use it to assign your Xbox One as a static one. If, after pinging, a response comes from this IP, then this means that it is busy and is being used by some device on your network. So, you need to come up with a different address and check it in the same way. The screenshot below shows an example of what a busy address check looks like:
Step 5: Next, go back to your console settings to enter a new IP address and make it permanent.
Step 6: Be sure to test your network connection:
- Go back to Network Settings and select Test network connection
- This test will check the status of the network. Be sure to wait for the testing process to complete.
- Once the test is complete, you will most likely see a message stating that everything is in order and the network is configured correctly (“It’s all good”).
Step 7: After that, you need to configure the forwarding or opening of specific ports in your router in order to direct traffic from some ports to a specific internal IP address. To get an open NAT status, you need to forward the following ports in the router settings to the static address that you assigned to the Xbox One:
- TCP: 53, 80, 3074
- UDP: 53, 88, 500, 3074, 3544, 4500
Step 8: After assigning a static IP address to your Xbox One console and forwarding ports on your router, you can perform a final network test. From the main menu of your console, go to the following path:
- Select the Settings section
- Open the Network category
- Select Test Network Connection
- Wait for the procedure to complete
- Note the NAT status in the test results. It can be Open, Partially Open, or Closed (Open, Moderate, or Strict, respectively).
If you did everything correctly and strictly followed this instruction, the NAT type should eventually be Open. This is exactly what we wanted. This is not easy and not everyone can do, but if the NAT type is Open, then you have succeeded, and now your network and console settings are optimized for correct operation. Now you will get access to any online modes in games and can chat with any users. Enjoy the game!
If the NAT type is different from Open, you should check if the settings are correct. Be especially careful to check the values for the IP addresses, gateway, subnet mask, and DNS that you specified during setup.