Server/VM not appearing under router connected devices

a_lotus

New Member
Feb 27, 2026
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Hello! I'm fairly new to proxmox, networking, and everything albeit know basic stuff so please bare with me!

I've been trying to port forward to one of my virtual machines, running the most recent debian 13 (albeit with attempts using ubuntu), using an xfinity/comcast router. Unfortunately, it only allows for usage via an app and doesn't let me manually put in an ip to port forward, forcefully making me input a connected device and port forward there.

However, the problem lies in being able to input the VM, as it does not recognize it as a connected device. Instead, the only listed connection was it popping up as an offline device, from when I first created the VM. I've already tried pinging via google.com/8.8.8.8, switching proxmox itself to DHCP (although I don't believe I did this in a correct manner), and tried the 'recommended' solution by the app itself and disabling IPv6 in the adapter settings. However, all of these options did not work, even after reboots. Any and all help, or ideas on what to do, would be greatly appreciated!
 
Welcome to the Forum.

Could you please be more specific as in what exactly you try to accomplish. As far as i understand is that you want to port forward incoming connections on your router to a VM on your Proxmox server.

What do you mean by "forcefully making me input a connected device and port forward there"? Also i dont understand "to input the VM, as it does not recognize it as a connected device". Could you please rephrase what you say here.

What i can tell you after reading your providers FAQ and support manuals is that you can not setup a port forward for systems connected via a static IP address. The XFinity app supports only port forwardings to DHCP targets (PCs assigned an IP address via DHCP in your local network) by the router itself (which is absurd) and probably thats the reason you wrote "does not recognize the device" previously.

The only idea i got:

Try setting up a static address in your app:
Code:
Log onto gateway
Go to Connected Devices > Devices
Next to your device in list select EDIT button
 
Under Edit Device
Configuration:
( ) DHCP
(*) Reserved IP
MAC Address:             [xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx]
Reserved IP Address: [192.168.123.456]

And assign the IP address to your VM - or - setup the VM to receive its IP via DHCP.

But after all i highly suggest you to go and get a decent router yourself.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the Forum.

Could you please be more specific as in what exactly you try to accomplish. As far as i understand is that you want to port forward incoming connections on your router to a VM on your Proxmox server.

What do you mean by "forcefully making me input a connected device and port forward there"? Also i dont understand "to input the VM, as it does not recognize it as a connected device". Could you please rephrase what you say here.

What i can tell you after reading your providers FAQ and support manuals is that you can not setup a port forward for systems connected via a static IP address. The XFinity app supports only port forwardings to DHCP targets (PCs assigned an IP address via DHCP in your local network) by the router itself (which is absurd) and probably thats the reason you wrote "does not recognize the device" previously.

The only idea i got:

Try setting up a static address in your app:
Code:
Log onto gateway
Go to Connected Devices > Devices
Next to your device in list select EDIT button
 
Under Edit Device
Configuration:
( ) DHCP
(*) Reserved IP
MAC Address:             [xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx]
Reserved IP Address: [192.168.123.456]

And assign the IP address to your VM - or - setup the VM to receive its IP via DHCP.

But after all i highly suggest you to go and get a decent router yourself.

Hi, first of all, thanks for the response, now let me rephrase what I said and elaborate a little bit. I'm currently trying to self host a terraria server for me and some close friends, hence the port forwarding. Next, the part where I said "forcefully making me input a connected device and port forward there" is basically how the app allows port forwarding. The way the port forwarding on it works is that it only allows (from my knowledge) devices that are seen as "connected" to the internet to be able to port forward, so I can't just input the VM's ip and port fortward there like with other routers. Hope this clears up anything

I'll try this out right now and get back to you to see if it works. Regarding routers, I am planning to buy a new one soon, just not 100% on what to get, but I'll look into that on my own time. Thanks again.
 
I'll try this out right now and get back to you to see if it works. Regarding routers, I am planning to buy a new one soon, just not 100% on what to get, but I'll look into that on my own time. Thanks again.
More than welcome. In either case of success or failure, come back and we might figure out a workaround! Good luck in the meantime!