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I Need to Disable Windows Firewall

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Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Because Windows Firewall with Advanced Security plays an important part in helping to protect your computer from security threats, we recommend that you do not disable it unless you install another firewall from a reputable vendor that provides an equivalent level of protection.

You cannot uninstall Windows Firewall with Advanced Security; you can only disable the firewall functionality.

If you must disable the firewall functionality, follow one the procedures shown here.

Note

To modify any setting for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, you must either be a member of the Administrators group or the Network Operators group on the local computer.

To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security from a command prompt

  1. Open an Administrator: Command Prompt. To do so, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following command:

    netsh advfirewall set profiles state off

    where profiles is AllProfiles, CurrentProfile, DomainProfile, PrivateProfile, or PublicProfile.

To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by using the Windows Firewall Control Panel program

  1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, and then under Windows Firewall, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

  2. On the General tab of the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box, select Off (not recommended), and then click OK.

To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by using the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security MMC snap-in

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

  2. In the navigation pane, right-click Windows Firewall with Advanced Security on Local Computer, and then click Properties.

  3. On each of the Domain Profile, Private Profile, and Public Profile tabs, change the Firewall state option to Off (not recommended).

  4. Click OK to save your changes.

Warning

Do not disable Windows Firewall by stopping the service. Instead, use one of the preceding procedures (or an equivalent Group Policy setting) to turn the firewall off. If you turn off the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security service, you lose other benefits provided by the service, such as the ability to use Internet Protocol security (IPsec) connection security rules, Windows Service Hardening, and network protection from attacks that employ network fingerprinting. For more information about Windows Service Hardening, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104976. Non-Microsoft firewall software that is compatible with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 can programmatically disable only the parts of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security that need to be disabled for compatibility. You should not disable the firewall yourself for this purpose. Stopping the service associated with Windows Firewall with Advanced Security is not supported by Microsoft.

If your computer is managed by a network administrator, the ability to disable Windows Firewall can be disabled by using Group Policy.