Forward a port to another machine or WSL (netsh portproxy) — via Microsoft Learn

Commandmedium riskNeeds adminWindows 11Windows 10

Windows has a built-in TCP port forwarder. It's the usual way to expose a server running inside WSL 2 or a VM to the rest of your network, without installing anything.

Takes effect right away

Command

Run in an administrator Command Prompt / Terminal window.

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8080 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectaddress=192.168.1.10 connectport=80
netsh interface portproxy show all

Undo

netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=8080 listenaddress=0.0.0.0
TCP only. listenaddress=0.0.0.0 accepts connections from any address, so you'll usually also need a firewall rule for the listen port — and you should only do that on a trusted network. For WSL, get the Linux address with wsl hostname -I; it can change after WSL restarts. netsh interface portproxy reset clears all rules.

Sources

Source reviewed
2026-11-02
Link checked
2026-11-02
Tested hands-on
Not by Oddbyte.Me

Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every Windows build, so keep the undo handy.

port forwardingportproxywslnetshlan access

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