Software: Windows 7, 8 & 10 | Last modified on 2018-06-18
A guide to configuring and resetting the Windows Firewall with the Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Enable & disable the Windows Firewall
- Open the Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
- Execute netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state on to enable the Window Firewall for all user accounts.
- Execute netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off to disable the Window Firewall for all user accounts.
Reset the Windows Firewall
- Open the Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
- Execute netsh advfirewall reset to reset the policy to the default out-of-box policy.
Import & export the Windows Firewall policy
- Open the Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
- Execute netsh advfirewall export "Path\FirewallBackup.wfw" to export the current policy to a file.
Example: netsh advfirewall export "C:\Backup\FirewallBackup.wfw"
Replace Path with the location where you want to save the file. - Execute netsh advfirewall import "Path\FirewallBackup.wfw" to import a policy file into the current policy store.
Example: netsh advfirewall import "C:\Backup\FirewallBackup.wfw"
Replace Path with the location where you've saved the file.
Show the Windows Firewall policy per profile
- Open the Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
- Execute netsh advfirewall show global to display the global properties.
- Execute netsh advfirewall show allprofiles to display the properties for all profiles.
- Execute netsh advfirewall show currentprofile to displays the properties for the active profile.
- Execute netsh advfirewall show domainprofile to displays the properties for the domain properties.
- Execute netsh advfirewall show privateprofile to displays the properties for the private profile.
- Execute netsh advfirewall show publicprofile to displays the properties for the public profile.