How can I enable packet forwarding on Windows?

Question

In the Linux system, we can use bellow command to enable packets forwarding:

~ # sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1

but how can I realize the same function in Windows?

I use Windows Server 2008 R2.

score 17 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 04 '20 at 09:27

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If you want to enable forwarding for a specific interface or all interfaces you can do it easily from PowerShell, no reboot required. (NOTE: be sure to run as an Administrator if you want to change the setting)

To look at the status of forwarding for all interfaces you can execute the following:

Get-NetIPInterface | select ifIndex,InterfaceAlias,AddressFamily,ConnectionState,Forwarding | Sort-Object -Property IfIndex | Format-Table

This will provide a nice table showing all the interfaces and their current forwarding configuration.

Then if you want to enable forwarding on one you can run:

Set-NetIPInterface -ifindex <required interface index from table> -Forwarding Enabled

If you want to enable it for all interfaces simply run:

Set-NetIPInterface -Forwarding Enabled

Then if you want to disable it again simply replace "Enabled" with "Disabled".

And remember to enable Routing and Remote Access service (By default is disabled) by running:

Set-Service RemoteAccess -StartupType Automatic; Start-Service RemoteAccess

edited Feb 04 '20 at 09:27

march_happy

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answered Sep 02 '18 at 18:03

Alex Moore

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When I run the `Get-NetIPInterface` in PowerShell, I get cannot recognition command Error. – aircraft Sep 03 '18 at 02:57
Try running: Import-Module NetTCPIP – Alex Moore Sep 03 '18 at 06:11
Let me know if that works and I'll update the answer – Alex Moore Sep 03 '18 at 06:33
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Import-Module NetTCPIP Import-Module : Can not load module“NetTCPIP”，because can not find it... – aircraft Sep 03 '18 at 06:47
What version of Windows? – Alex Moore Sep 03 '18 at 06:49
windows server 2008. – aircraft Sep 03 '18 at 06:53
Ah, an important piece of detail. For such an old version this won't work unfortunately. Windows Server 2012 or newer introduced this module. Sorry about that, although I would recommend upgrading! – Alex Moore Sep 03 '18 at 06:56
Its alright, bro.. – aircraft Sep 03 '18 at 06:57

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '18 at 17:22

7

Try to go to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters. If not already there, create a new REG_DWORD value named IPEnableRouter. Set IPEnableRouter to 1 and reboot. Packet forwarding should now be enabled.

To add static routes use the route command.

answered Sep 02 '18 at 17:22

sticky bit

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https://michlstechblog.info/blog/windows-howto-enable-ip-routing – evandrix Nov 09 '20 at 02:53

How can I enable packet forwarding on Windows?

2 Answers2

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