6 Ways To Disable Windows Firewall

Last updated on November 18th, 2024 at 11:43 pm

The Windows Firewall was made to keep unauthorized users from accessing files and resources on your PC. While firewalls can protect you from malicious online threats there might be times when Windows Firewall can cause more harm than good for certain tasks or applications. Disabling the Windows Firewall is simple and usually takes no longer than 10 minutes.

While you usually shouldn’t disable the firewall for long periods of time, doing so while you’re troubleshooting a problem is relatively safe. We will now learn how to disable the Windows Defender firewall safely and securely.

Windows Defender Firewall is a feature built into Windows that offers an extra layer of protection against unwanted intrusions and prevents external connections from accessing your system without permission. Even you if use a third-party firewall, you should leave Microsoft Defender Firewall on.

When disabled, your computer becomes vulnerable, so you should take extra precautions while using your computer online. Before disabling your firewall, always make sure that programs such as antiviruses are running in the background.

This method is the simplest way to disable Windows Defender Firewall, because you don’t need to have any extra tools or software installed:

• Using the Windows search bar, search for “Windows Security”, then select it from the top of the search result.
• In Windows Security, look for the Firewall & network protection option and click it.
• Select the Public network and Private network profiles and turn off the firewall for both profiles.
• If UAC (User Account Control) pops up on the screen, click Yes to continue.

You can disable your firewall through the Control Panel if you prefer a more traditional method. Despite not being as simple as the previous method, it’s still easy enough to do:

• Open the Control Panel by typing in “control panel” in the Windows search bar. In the Control Panel, select System and Security, then click on the Windows Defender Firewall option.
• Look for Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off in the left pane and click it.
• For each network setting, click Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended).
• Finally, click OK to save your changes.

If you feel comfortable using the command line, then you can disable the firewall network profiles through the Command Prompt. Here’s how:

• In the Windows search tool, type in “cmd” in the search field and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER on your keyboard to open Command Prompt with admin rights.
• Once the Command Prompt is open, type in the following command and hit Enter:

This command will turn off the current firewall network profile.

To turn off the firewall for the domain network profile, copy and paste in the following command, and hit Enter:

To disable the private network firewall profile, copy and paste the following command and hit Enter:

To turn off the public network profile, copy and paste the following command in Command Prompt and press Enter:

Alternatively, you can also disable Windows Defender Firewall for all your network profiles with just one command. Copy and paste the following command below and hit Enter:

Windows PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language that can be used to manage many aspects of the Windows operating system. It’s commonly used by many system administrators and security professionals to automate routine tasks, manage, and monitor systems. You can also use it to disable Windows Defender Firewall.

You can do this by first typing in “powershell” in the Windows search tool, then pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER simultaneously to access PowerShell as an administrator. Now run the following commands:

After running this command, the firewall will be now disabled for all network profiles at the same time.

Commonly used by network administrators, Group Policy Editor is a powerful utility that allows you to manage different settings on all Windows computers. You can also disable your firewall using this utility, but only if you are using Windows Professional and Enterprise. If you are using the Home Edition of Windows, you will need to activate the Group Policy Editor first before accessing it.

• Right-click on Start and select Run.
• Type gpedit.msc, then click OK.
• Inside the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to the following Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network
• Next, go to Network Connections > Windows Defender Firewall, then Standard Profile
• Select the policy named Windows Defender Firewall: Protect all network connections from the right side of the window.
• Click Disabled from the box that appears.
• When you’re finished making your changes, click Apply, then OK. Now restart your computer after completing these steps.

You can also disable the firewall using Registry Editor. Because this method involves editing the registry, it should only be attempted by experienced computer users. Making incorrect changes could potentially lead serious damage to your PC, which include slow performance or even operating system failure.

• Open the Run Prompt by clicking Win+R.
• Type “regedit” and then hit the Enter key.
• Once you’re in, navigate to the following path:

• Right-click StandardProfile and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
• Type EnableFirewall as the key name.
• Double-click it and enter 0 in the Value data field.
• Once you have made the changes, click OK.

After completing the steps above, close Registry Editor and restart your computer.

Disabling Windows Defender Firewall is only safe if you have other antivirus software running in the background of your computer. If you don’t, then turning off the firewall opens your device up to external attacks. If you need to allow certain apps that you know are safe and not malicious, make sure to turn on your firewall as soon as you’re done allowing the apps to bypass the firewall. For best results, use Bitdefender Total Security while your firewall is turned off.