How 2 get webcam to work w/ MSN and router

I have seen this question posted many places, but no answers. I am running a Linksys router that uses NAT. I can use all features of MSN Messenger 6.2 with no problem, but my mic and webcam will not work. If I disconnect the router, connect my computer straight to the modem, everything works fine. What a nuisance telling my friends to wait while I change a cable over, reboot, and then I can video conf. with them, not to mention if my kids on the net on the other computer he's now out of luck. Has anyone solved this one yet, or is Microsoft still working on it?
Thanks, Barry

To use MSN 6.2 or earlier with a Linksys router you must first forward some ports than MSN Messenger uses for video and audio.

First give yourself a static IP such as 192.168.1.2. This will make it much easier later.

second, login to your router by typing Please register to see links and enter your password.

third, go to advanced options and pick the Forwarding tab

There you'll see empty boxes

fill the following:



MSN 1863-1863 tcp udp 192.168.1.2 (checked)
MSN 5190-5190 udp 192.168.1.2 (checked)
MSN 6891-6900 tcp 192.168.1.2 (checked)
MSN 6901-6901 tcp udp 192.168.1.2 (checked)

Press apply and that's it

Good luck

moghrabi

Thanks so much, I thought it would be as simple as forwarding a couple ports, but nowhere could I find the numbers. I don't know how you came across them, but thanks again.

Hey! Moghrabi

I'm damn impressed!

Calm

You are welcome Barry and thank you Paranoid.

It is actually my job. I do these things all day long. I am a Cisco Security Specialist working with TCP/IP day-in and day-out.

is is good pay cuz i wuz thinkin of that line o work

very good pay if you know what you are doing. It is the highest pay in the IT department. We are talking security for big organizations.

Get certified and get few years under your belt and you should be OK.

ah thx man

yw

Hello moghrabi.
I just started my network + certification here in the UK and cause I was doing this google search on how to block video conferencing over msn I bumped in to this post.
I just wanted to ask you what port to block in order to prevent video conferencing over msn, I also could use port for voice over msn as well.

Hi TBone. Welcome to Canadian Content.

port 6901 is for video conferencing TCP and UDP

Ports 6891-6900 is for File send, 10 ports are opened (ports 6891 through 6900 inclusive) so that you can perform 10 file transfer operations at a time. If you open only one of these ports, you can only transfer one file at a time.

Voice (computer to phone) 6801, 6901, 2001-2120

Hope this helps.

Hello moghrabi.
Thanks for the warm welcome and for your help.
The port for voice I meant pc 2 pc.
Thanks once more for your help as it is most apreciated.
P.S: I apologise for any written errors I may have, I'm portuguese living in th UK for the past 26 months and yet still learning. Thanks.

I am glad you came along here.

For pc to pc it is port 6901 tcp
for video it is port 6901 both tcp and udp

visit microsoft knowledge base 354214 for more info. It is complicated to understand but here is the link to it.

Please register to see links

Hi Moghrabi

I've read the instructions you provided but not had much joy. I've a Linksys WAG54G (UK model) and a Linksys Wireless-G Internet Video Camera, given to me for services provided to Cisco! The console is different for the WAG with Port Range Forwarding hidden under the tab Gaming and Applications. I've added the details you provided there but no detection of the cam. I also tried the instructions for Yahoo provided by Linksys and had similar disappointment. These were to add a range of 5100-5100 under Port Triggering with both protocols selected.
Any help would be much appreciated!

When we use a webcam with MSN messenger, it needs specific ports to be open to allow it to communicate with the outside.

For a linksys, and any other router for that matter (home-based router), you need to get the the forwarding tab. Once there, just enter the ports mentioned above. The word MSN is optional.

Once this is done, and the webcam is in action, the router will open these ports for it and for other things MSN needs.

If you are not successful with this, post back and I'll be happy to give you the specific instructions for your router.

Good Luck,

WOW moghrabi you're cool!!!

WOW, I am red in the face. Thanks

Hi Moghrabi

Still scratching my head here! I think that where I'm going wrong is the IP settings - I'm not sure what to add. I've 5 static IPs allocated by my ISP starting at 192.168.1.50 and using I'm using DCHP. There's 2 PCs connected: a home one and a standard issue Cisco laptop (which I can VPN into work with) and then there's the cam. My home PC can see the cam on the network, the Cisco box can't see it even when I'm not on VPN. I've tried MSN and Yahoo on both.

I also followed some Linksys instructions stating that the cam needs a port specifying too at 1024 on TCP, which I've done (Please register to see links). The cam is on 192.168.1.52. and I set that as per the Linksys instructions in Port Range Forwarding to this IP rather than 115 as the default.
I'm wondering what I need to set the Port Range Forwarding to for MSN, should this be 192.168.1.2 as you suggested, or to the allocated IPs from the DHCP?

As you may have guessed I'm from the non-techie part of IT...all these IPs configurations are very confusing to me

First let me correct you on some issues.

Your ISP does not give you IP addresses in the range of 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.50. These are called reserved IP addresses and only used from behind a router. For example.

Your ISP gives you an IP address such as 24.168.2.58. This IP address is now the routable IP address of your router. Your router should be DHCP enabled to give all other computer within your workgroup a non-routable IP address such as 192.168.1.5.

Now that is made clear. Let's say you are behind your router and it has an internal IP address of 192.168.1.1. You enter this IP in your browser address bar and then a password and you are in your router. The computer that will have the webcam must have a static IP, let's say 192.168.1.2. You do that by going to local area network and assign the static IP there instead of DHCP enabled. The rest of the computer can have either static or router assigned IP addresses.

Go to the forwarding tab and put the info above as they are but instead of the number 2, put the static IP last number of the computer you have the web cam installed on.

Unfortunately, neither Microsoft nor Yahoo have a good explanation for this.

I'll try to write a full article about this and post it here in the next couple of days as so many people are having problems with this issue.

I do this stuff day in and day out and never had a problem. Once these ports are open for the computer with the Webcam, everything should go smoothly. Another thing to check is if you have a software firewall that is blocking these ports.

Good luck and post back.
.

Here is an image of the setup screen:

Hi, moghrabi, I have a question.

I forwarded all the ports in my LINKSYS router and tried connecting with audio and it didn't work. I tried with people behind a router and with a person not behind a router.

I do have a firewall and when trying to connect through audio nothing is being blocked in the firewall.

My webcam does work just not the audio. Any insights on what can be causing this problem?

Hi, moghrabi, I have a question.

I forwarded all the ports in my LINKSYS router and tried connecting with audio and it didn't work. I tried with people behind a router and with a person not behind a router.

I do have a firewall and when trying to connect through audio nothing is being blocked in the firewall.

My webcam does work just not the audio. Any insights on what can be causing this problem?

Hi, moghrabi, I have a question.

I forwarded all the ports in my LINKSYS router and tried connecting with audio and it didn't work. I tried with people behind a router and with a person not behind a router.

I do have a firewall and when trying to connect through audio nothing is being blocked in the firewall.

My webcam does work just not the audio. Any insights on what can be causing this problem?

Hi

I ahve similar problems...I'm using a Linksys wireless router (BEFW11S4) with the latest firmware (1.50.14) - this is slightly different than the screen capture displayed in a previous msg.

I ahve setup the static ip address and the port forwarding and the internet works fine. Note that the ip address is confirmed static by both ipconfig /all and through the control panel.

the web cam works if i plug it directly into the cable modem but using wireless, no audio. note that the video has always worked (DHCP or static and no port forwarding).

I'm pretty bafflled - do i need to poke a hole in my software firewall? In the firewall options, msn is already listed but i can not see which ports are actually open - i imagine all thqat are needed because the webcam works through the ethernet connection.

thanks, Lyle

Hi

I ahve similar problems...I'm using a Linksys wireless router (BEFW11S4) with the latest firmware (1.50.14) - this is slightly different than the screen capture displayed in a previous msg.

I ahve setup the static ip address and the port forwarding and the internet works fine. Note that the ip address is confirmed static by both ipconfig /all and through the control panel.

the web cam works if i plug it directly into the cable modem but using wireless, no audio. note that the video has always worked (DHCP or static and no port forwarding).

I'm pretty bafflled - do i need to poke a hole in my software firewall? In the firewall options, msn is already listed but i can not see which ports are actually open - i imagine all thqat are needed because the webcam works through the ethernet connection.

thanks, Lyle

Hi

I ahve similar problems...I'm using a Linksys wireless router (BEFW11S4) with the latest firmware (1.50.14) - this is slightly different than the screen capture displayed in a previous msg.

I ahve setup the static ip address and the port forwarding and the internet works fine. Note that the ip address is confirmed static by both ipconfig /all and through the control panel.

the web cam works if i plug it directly into the cable modem but using wireless, no audio. note that the video has always worked (DHCP or static and no port forwarding).

I'm pretty bafflled - do i need to poke a hole in my software firewall? In the firewall options, msn is already listed but i can not see which ports are actually open - i imagine all thqat are needed because the webcam works through the ethernet connection.

thanks, Lyle

Hello moghrabi,

I'm new to this forum so I hope you don't mind me asking further questions on this subject.

I have a WAG54G-UK and I followed you instructions for the forwarding and it has made a difference. How ever I can hear people now but they can't hear me, although my greens bars are going up and down when I talk.

Is there another port to open for people on the other end to hear me?

Cheers

Hello moghrabi,

I'm new to this forum so I hope you don't mind me asking further questions on this subject.

I have a WAG54G-UK and I followed you instructions for the forwarding and it has made a difference. How ever I can hear people now but they can't hear me, although my greens bars are going up and down when I talk.

Is there another port to open for people on the other end to hear me?

Cheers

Hello moghrabi,

I'm new to this forum so I hope you don't mind me asking further questions on this subject.

I have a WAG54G-UK and I followed you instructions for the forwarding and it has made a difference. How ever I can hear people now but they can't hear me, although my greens bars are going up and down when I talk.

Is there another port to open for people on the other end to hear me?

Cheers

Welcome to all.

I was away for awhile and I am sorry for being late at answering your questions.

If you have a software firewall alongside the router, make sure you give server permission to MSN/Yahoo in your software firewall.

If you can also tell me which firewall you are using I can assist you with setting that up.

Sometimes you can't hear audio because of the other person blocking outgoing audio to you. It is not an easy to troubleshoot if both parties have firewalls and it is not always your side that is not working.

Hope to hear from you soon.