How to Manage Windows Firewall with PowerShell?

Automating and configuring security settings and Windows Firewall with PowerShell quicker and faster. PowerShell is already a flexible command-line tool for managing Windows. So try to learn more about PowerShell with our PowerShell articles. In order to manage Windows firewall using PowerShell, you must know the basic Windows firewall and configure with GUI or Netsh command line.

Manage Windows Firewall Using PowerShell

There are many network security PowerShell cmdlets in Windows PowerShell and working will all of them are a bit difficult. I’m trying to explain the most used and important in this PowerShell articles.

1. Try to run PowerShell as administrator and type the “Get-command *Firewall*” then press enter to list all Windows Firewall PowerShell cmdlets.

Copy-NetFirewallRule                               
Disable-NetFirewallRule                            
Enable-NetFirewallRule                             
Get-NetFirewallAddressFilter                       
Get-NetFirewallApplicationFilter                   
Get-NetFirewallInterfaceFilter                     
Get-NetFirewallInterfaceTypeFilter                 
Get-NetFirewallPortFilter                          
Get-NetFirewallProfile                             
Get-NetFirewallRule                                
Get-NetFirewallSecurityFilter                      
Get-NetFirewallServiceFilter                       
Get-NetFirewallSetting                             
New-NetFirewallRule                                
Remove-NetFirewallRule                             
Rename-NetFirewallRule                             
Set-NetFirewallAddressFilter                       
Set-NetFirewallApplicationFilter                   
Set-NetFirewallInterfaceFilter                     
Set-NetFirewallInterfaceTypeFilter                 
Set-NetFirewallPortFilter                          
Set-NetFirewallProfile                             
Set-NetFirewallRule                                
Set-NetFirewallSecurityFilter                      
Set-NetFirewallServiceFilter                       
Set-NetFirewallSetting                             
Show-NetFirewallRule                               

It’s just simple Windows Firewall PowerShell cmdlets. You can combine other networking and security cmdlets with Firewall PowerShell commands.

Enable/Disable Firewall with PowerShell

Enable Firewall with PowerShell is perform with “Set-NetFirewallProfile” command. You can specify the Firewall profiles when disabling Firewall. Read about changing network profiles with PowerShell.

1. In order to disable the Windows firewall with PowerShell, type “Set-NetFirewallProfile -Enabled false” and press enter. It will disable Windows Firewall on all three profiles.

2. Do the same to enable Windows firewall with PowerShell. Just change the status of -Enabled parameter to True and press enter.

3. For displaying the status of Windows Firewall profiles type “Get-NetFirewallProfile” and press enter. It shows the status of all Windows Firewall profiles.

To see the exact profiles, categorize with -Profile parameter. For instance “Get-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Private” then hit enter. It shows that the Enable is equal to False.

4. Type the “Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Private -Enable True” and press enter to enabled Windows Firewall for Private profile.

Do the same for disabling Windows Firewall on Private profile. But remember that do not turn off Windows Firewall on the network. It’s just an example to turn off Windows Firewall with PowerShell.

Create Windows Firewall Rules with PowerShell

Let’s create and manage Windows Firewall rules with PowerShell. Create new protocol rules and rules for software.

To see all Windows Firewall rules with PowerShell, simply type “Get-NetFirewallRule | Measure” and press enter.

It counts and shows the amount of Windows Firewall rules. But let’s see how many of these rules are enabled. Type “Get-NetFirewallRule -Enabled True | Measure” and press enter to list enabled rules.

Good, all works perfectly. So let’s create a rule and enable it with “New-NetFirewallRule” command.

To enable Ping with PowerShell type “New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “ICMPv4” -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol icmpv4 -Enabled True” and press enter.

Do the same for other protocols to enable or disable them with PowerShell. And to remove the created rule with PowerShell, type “Remove-NetFirewallRule –DisplayName “ICMPv4” and press enter.

To create a new rule for an app or software, do it like the bellow command. For instance, blocking Internet Download Manager.

New-NetFirewallRule -Program “C:\Program Files\IDM\idm.exe” -Action Block -Profile Domain, Private -DisplayName “Block IDM” -Description “Block Internet Download Manager” -Direction Outbound

That’s not all to manage Windows Firewall using PowerShell, but enough for this post. If you have any question about configuring Windows Firewall with PowerShell, feel free to ask through the comment section.