Member Avatar for singularity~

So I have completely hit the wall trying to diagnose the problem with setting up Anywhere Access on my Windows Server 2012 R2.

I am getting the infamous "Anywhere Access to your server is blocked" error.

The error tells me to check that port 443 and 80 isn't blocked by my ISP.

My router is a ASUS RT-AC66R

I have done the following and still cannot get Anywhere Access working:

  • Doubled checked and triple checked that port 443 is open with TCP to the IP Address of of my sever. As well as the following ports 25, 80, 987, 1723, and 3389
  • Cleared all the ports and opened DMZ to the IP address of my server
  • Called my ISP (COX) twice and verified that port 443 is NOT being blocked
  • Restarted everything
  • Turned off/on UPnP respectively
  • Called the ASUS and troubleshooted to no avail
  • Turned off all AiCloud features
  • Ensured the firmware on my router is up to date
  • Ensured that Window Server is completed updated
  • Checked the port with http://www.canyouseeme.org/ (Which says the port is open)
  • Re-installed Windows Server

The only thing I haven't tried, is testing with a different router (if I had one). However, I really don't think it's the router though.

I'm starting to think it has something to do with the server and not the networks.
My hands are up in the air and not sure what else to do. I have pretty much exhausted every Google search.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  • 5 Contributors
  • 7 Replies
  • 3K Views
  • 2 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Snowblind738
Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

To rule out the router, why not connect a laptop on the same subnet as the server and try to connect?

Member Avatar for singularity~

I would do that; however, Anywhere Access won't get past the initial setup because it is complaining about port 443 being blocked. Consequently there is no website for me to connect to.

Member Avatar for singularity~

As an update, I really think there is something wrong with Anywhere Access itself. I have SharePoint and TFS working and I can access both outside of my network.

Member Avatar for rubberman

Ok. Ports 443 and 80 are HTTP ports. Do you have any other web server running on your system? They would use those ports, possibly causing this problem.

Member Avatar for singularity~

Nope. SharePoint is running on 3006 and 1911, and TFS is running on 8080.

Member Avatar for XP78USER

I don't know if this is a similiar problem: While on school pc's all my drives go down this does it every time on every other pc

Member Avatar for Snowblind738

The issue is NOT that 80 & 443 are being blocked.

The REAL issue is that traffic on those ports is not reaching the server.

What you need to do is setup Port Forwarding on your Router to forward both ports 80 & 443 to the server.

Note: Don't let the UPNP Setup fool you. I've never seen this work on any model of router that I've used.

The BEST way to get your Anywhere Access to work is to setup the Port Forwarding for 80 & 443 on your router BEFORE running the setup wizard in Essentials.

I have used the above method to setup Anywhere Access for both Server 2012 Essentials AND Server 2016 Essentials.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.