How to Check Open TCP/IP Ports in Windows

Operate the command “netstat -ab” in an elevated Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal window to screen a listing of applications and their linked ports.

Any time an software would like to make by itself accessible over the community, it claims a TCP/IP port, which indicates that port can’t be applied by just about anything else. So how do you check out open up ports to see what software is now using it?

Update: We have analyzed this system and verified that all of the measures are up-to-day, and that they all work in Home windows 11, too.

How Do Ports Operate?

An IP handle specifies a laptop or computer — or other community machine — on a community. When a single device sends visitors to an additional, the IP tackle is utilised to route that website traffic to the suitable area. When the targeted traffic reaches the right put, the system demands to know which app or assistance to send out the site visitors on to. Which is wherever ports appear in.

Similar: How to Forward Ports on Your Router

If the IP address is akin to a street address on a piece of mail, the port is anything like the title of the individual at that residence who will get the mail. For the most element, you really don’t have to have to fear about ports. But as soon as in a though, you could face an application that’s established to listen for website traffic on the same port that another application currently has in use. In that circumstance, you will will need to identify the app that by now has that port in use.

Relevant: What’s the Change Concerning TCP and UDP?

There are a number of means to tell what application has a port locked, but we’re going to walk you via a few of designed-in strategies that use the Command Prompt, PowerShell, or the Terminal, and then show you a fantastic freeware application that can make it even less complicated. All these techniques should really do the job no make a difference which version of Windows you use.

Use Developed-In Equipment to See What Is Listening on a Port

We have got two commands to demonstrate you. The 1st lists lively ports along with the identify of the approach that is using them. Most of the time, that command will function high-quality. Sometimes, although, the course of action name won’t help you determine what app or service basically has a port tied up. For these moments, you will need to checklist lively ports along with their process identifier numbers and then glance individuals procedures up in Undertaking Supervisor.

Possibility Just one: Look at Port Use Along with Course of action Names

Initial, you’ll will need to open up the Command Prompt in administrator method. Hit Commence, and then variety “command” into the search box. When you see “Command Prompt” show up in the results, right-click it and select “Run as administrator,” or click “Run as Administrator” on the appropriate.

Note: You can also use PowerShell or Terminal for this.

At the Command Prompt, sort the pursuing text and then hit Enter:

netstat -ab

Soon after you hit Enter, the results could choose a minute or two to fully display screen, so be client. Scroll by means of the record to locate the port (which is outlined right after the colon to the ideal of the area IP handle), and you will see the procedure name shown underneath that line. If you’d like to make items a little a lot easier, don’t forget that you can also pipe the outcomes of the command to a text file. You could then just search the textual content file for the port variety you are right after.

Relevant: How to Save the Command Prompt’s Output to a Textual content File in Windows

Listed here, for example, you can see that port 49902 is tied up by a system named picpick.exe. PicPick is an impression editor on our technique, so we can suppose the port is really tied up by the process that often checks for updates to the app.

Possibility Two: Perspective Port Use Alongside with Course of action Identifiers

If the name of the approach for the port selection you are wanting up tends to make it complicated to inform what the associated app is, you can attempt a variation of the command that exhibits procedure identifiers (PIDs) fairly than names. Style the next textual content at the Command Prompt, and then hit Enter:

netstat -aon

The column at the far proper lists PIDs, so just discover the one which is sure to the port that you are attempting to troubleshoot.

Up coming, open up up Job Manager by appropriate-clicking any open up house on your taskbar and picking out “Task Manager.” You can also strike Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

If you’re working with Windows 8, 10, or 11 swap to the “Details” tab in Process Supervisor.

Relevant: What is actually New in the Undertaking Supervisor in Home windows 11’s 2022 Update

In older variations of Home windows, you’ll see this details on the “Processes” tab. Kind the checklist of process by the “PID” column and discover the PID connected with the port you are investigating. You could possibly be ready to notify extra about what application or support has the port tied up by looking at the “Description” column.

If not, right-click the course of action and pick “Open file site.” The area of the file will most likely give you clues as to what app is involved.

When As soon as you’re there, you can use the Conclude Approach, Open File Place, or Go to Service(s) selections to handle the course of action or halt it.

Use NirSoft CurrPorts to Check out What is Listening on a Port

If you are not actually the Command Prompt form — or you’d instead just use a basic utility to do all this in a single step — we propose the superb freeware CurrPorts utility by NirSoft. Go in advance and down load the tool. Just make confident you get the ideal variation (the normal version is for 32-little bit Windows and the x64 variation is for 64-little bit Windows). It is a portable application, so you won’t require to set up it. Just unzip the down load folder and run executable.

Related: How Do I Know if I am Operating 32-little bit or 64-little bit Home windows?

In the CurrPorts window, form by the “Local Port” column, obtain the port you are investigating, and you can see almost everything — the system identify, PID, port, the complete path to the system, and so on.

To make it even less complicated, double-simply click on any method to see every solitary element in a single window.

When you’ve established what app or assistance has the port you are investigating tied up, it is up to you how to take care of it. If it is an app, you may possibly have the option to specify a various port amount. If it is a service — or you do not have the choice to specify a unique port quantity — you are going to very likely have to prevent the service or clear away the application.

Connected: Comprehension and Running Windows Services