[Windows] Port 9191 blocked by NAT driver - dumps not received

[Ariaz39]

[Windows] LaraDumps not receiving dumps - Port 9191 blocked by Windows NAT driver

Description

LaraDumps Desktop App was showing as "listening" but not receiving any dumps from the Laravel application on Windows 11. The issue was caused by Windows NAT driver reserving/blocking port 9191.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro (Build 10.0.26200)
• LaraDumps Desktop: v4.13.8
• LaraDumps Package: v5.3.0
• Laravel: 12.55.1
• PHP: 8.4
• Local Dev: Laravel Herd
• Port: 9191

Symptoms

• Desktop app showed green indicator and project name

• netstat -ano | findstr 9191

  showed no listening process
• ds() calls from Laravel didn't appear in the app
• No connection errors in Laravel logs

Solution

The issue was resolved by releasing Windows NAT driver's hold on the port and creating proper firewall rules.

Complete Working Checklist

1. Install and Configure PHP Package

composer require laradumps/laradumps --dev -W
php artisan ds:init $(pwd)

2. Release Windows Ports (Run PowerShell as Administrator)

net stop winnat
net start winnat

This step was critical - Windows NAT driver was preventing the port from being used.

⚠️ Warning: This will temporarily disconnect Docker containers and WSL2 instances. Save your work before running this command.

3. Create Firewall Rule (Run PowerShell as Administrator)

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "LaraDumps Allow" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -EdgeTraversalPolicy Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 9150,9191 -Program "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\LaraDumps\LaraDumps.exe"

4. Verify laradumps.yaml Configuration

Ensure your laradumps.yaml has:

app:
    port: 9191
    project_path: 'C:/Your/Project/Path'

5. Restart PC

A full system restart was necessary to ensure all network configurations took effect.

6. Verify

After restart:

# Check if LaraDumps is listening
netstat -ano | findstr 9191

# Test from Laravel Tinker
php artisan tinker --execute="ds('Test from tinker');"

Additional Notes

• Simply stopping/starting the Desktop app was not enough
• Changing ports without fixing the NAT issue didn't work
• The net stop/start winnat command is Windows-specific and releases reserved port ranges
• A system restart was essential for changes to fully apply

Offer

I've documented this fix for Windows users facing NAT port exhaustion/reservation issues. This solution has been tested and confirmed working on Windows 11 with Laravel Herd.

I can send a PR to the official docs if you find this useful, as the NAT driver issue is common on Windows 10/11 systems and could help many developers.