App only listens on localhost

Question

I'm trying to connect from inside the network to an app that only listens on localhost.

I can perfectly access it from the machine itself (obviously).

But cannot access it from another machine inside the network. Also obviously as localhost will direct to myself.

The thing is: it's all windows. So no linux to create an ssh tunnel.

I tried ngrok which works, but it's rediculous to first connect to a services to then come back to my own network. I tried, it works, but loses connection now and then.

So basically i want to setup the same thing as ngrok but completely locally.

Is this possible with putty?

Greetings and thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Usually there is a setting in the app which specifies on what port it listens. If you have something there like 0.0.0.0:4321 or localhost:4321 or 127.0.0.1:4321 change it to:

*:4321

Also make sure:

• port is allowed in Windows Firewall,
• the app has privileges to listen on a port (as a test you can run it as Administrator),
• you can access your computer from the network at all - try accessing another program/service.