Extenders for Windows Media Center, such as an Xbox 360 console, use network ports to communicate with computers running Microsoft Windows over your home network. If you're having trouble using your Xbox 360 console as a Media Center Extender, it might be because these ports are blocked by a firewall running on your computer.




For information about how to configure a firewall on your Windows-based computer, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/firewall.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/firewall.mspx)

This Web site contains information about specific firewalls and it might help you resolve connectivity problems.



If you use a third-party firewall (a firewall created by a company other than Microsoft), you might have to manually configure the firewall to give specific programs access to the ports that they need. The firewall manufacturer might prompt you to configure the firewall by using one of the following methods:



* Configure the firewall for the specific program. In other words, you would configure the firewall to give only specific programs access to certain ports.

* Modify the specific ports that the program uses.



To configure a firewall, you must know the name of the program, the ports that the program needs to use, and the direction of the communication signal. Use the following information to configure third-party firewalls:

The procedure for manually configuring a firewall is different for each firewall model and for each firewall manufacturer. For more information about how to configure your firewall, see the documentation that came with your firewall.