How do I disable firewall on Windows 7?

netsh advfirewall set profiles state off

Alternatively, you can use the following to enable the firewall for a specific profile:

netsh advfirewall set profiles state on

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Windows 7

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.
2. In the upper right, next to View by:, select Small icons.
3. In the group of icons down below, select Windows Firewall.
4. In the margin on the left, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
5. You can choose to enable or disable the firewall, based on either the "Home or work" or the "Public" network location. To enable the firewall from either of those locations, select Turn on Windows Firewall. To disable it, select Turn off Windows Firewall.

Windows Vista

Note: If this doesn't match what you see, refer to Get around in Windows.

In Vista, to enable or disable the Windows Firewall:

1. From the Start menu, select Settings, and then Control Panel.
2. Double-click Security Center, and in the resulting window, click Windows Firewall.
3. If the status reads "Your computer is not protected: turn on Windows Firewall", then the firewall is disabled. To enable it, click Change settings, and then select On.

   If the status reads "Windows Firewall is helping to protect your computer", then the firewall is enabled. To disable it, click Change settings, and then select Off.

This is document axnf in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 16:08:04.

Many users are interested in either enabling or disabling their Windows Firewall for various reasons. Some users want to utilize a different firewall, and some may have turned theirs off by accident. To proceed, select your version of Windows from the list below and follow the instructions.

• Windows 11
• Disabling in Windows 11
• Enabling in Windows 11
• Windows 8 and 10
• Disabling in Windows 8 and 10
• Enabling in Windows 8 and 10
• Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Disabling in Windows Vista and 7
• Enabling in Windows Vista and 7
• Windows XP
• Disabling in Windows XP
• Enabling in Windows XP

Windows 11

Tip

If you're looking to disable a firewall other than the one that comes with Windows, see: How to disable the firewall program installed on my computer.

Disabling the Windows 11 firewall

Caution

Unless you are troubleshooting an issue or plan to install another firewall, we recommend you don't disable the Windows Firewall.

Tip

If you're disabling the firewall because a program can't access the Internet, see: How to allow a program or game through the Windows Firewall.

1. Press the Windows key, type "Windows security", and then press Enter.
2. In the Windows Security window, click the Firewall & network protection option on the left or right side.

1. In the next Windows Security window, click Domain network, Private network, or Public network, depending on which firewall profile you want to disable.

1. Under the Microsoft Defender Firewall heading, click the toggle to the Off position.

1. To turn off Windows Defender Firewall for all three network profiles, repeat steps 3 and 4 above for each network profile.

Enabling the Windows 11 firewall

Caution

Only one software firewall should be enabled at a time. If you have an antivirus or other security program installed with its firewall, make sure it is disabled first.

There are times where you may want to turn off the firewall in Windows 7, or at least disable it temporarily. This typically is necessary when a program will not work correctly. The firewall should be on your troubleshooting list of things to check when programs are not behaving correctly. This could be because the firewall is blocking network communication between the program and a network resource. So, turning off the firewall temporarily will help test if that is the issue.

Alternatively, you may want to turn off the firewall because you already have a hardware firewall between your PC and the Internet, and you do not want the extra overhead of running a software firewall on your computer. It is still a good idea to run it if you can, but if you have a hardware firewall then you are still pretty well protected.

This article will cover how you can turn off or disable the firewall in Windows 7 either temporarily or permanently. You can also find information on how to turn on the Windows 7 firewall here.

As always in Windows, there are numerous paths to get to just about any application. However, we will take the path through the Control Panel.

Click on Start, and then Control Panel to begin.

Click on the System and Security section in the Control Panel

Click on the Windows Firewall section on the next screen

On the next screen, you will see the firewall status for each network found on your computer. You can see entries for Public, Home and Work networks. Whenever your computer connects to a new network, it will ask you to categorize the type of network. This allows you to group the networks for different security levels. As you see in the example below, the firewall is turned off in each network. To turn on the firewall, click on the link on the left that says “Turn Windows Firewall on or off”

You can click the radio buttons for each network to turn the Widows Firewall on. Also, the default is to notify you each time Windows Firewall blocks a new program. This is important because if you do not want the program to be blocked by the firewall, you will be given an opportunity to allow it through the firewall. If this box is not checked then the firewall will make some assumptions about what it blocks. You will then run into cases where programs may not work due to being blocked. If you run into that scenario, you will have to go into advanced settings and specify what programs are to be unblocked

Once you have set the firewall to be off for each connection, you just click on the OK button and that is it. It’s pretty simple.

Turning off the firewall can leave your computer exposed to different risks. It is a good idea to make sure that you have at least a hardware firewall between your computer and the Internet. Or, if you have a third party firewall, that is also a good solution.

Where is the firewall settings in Windows 7?

Does Windows 7 have a firewall?

How do I know if my firewall is blocking the Internet?

What happens if firewall is turned off?