Windows Defender Firewall is the default antivirus and firewall on Windows 11 PC. This tool not only safeguards your PC against malware or malicious attacks but also restricts running unauthorized apps on your computer. Though this is all good most of the time, you may sometimes require to disable the Firewall in Windows 11.
This happens when you are troubleshooting some error codes, your system crashes every now and then, or when you have purchased a paid antivirus program.
Note: We strongly recommend not turning off the Firewall in Windows unless you are forced to do so under some unusual circumstances.
1] Using Windows Security
- Open Windows Security first.
- When this opens up, locate and click on “Firewall & network protection.”
- You will see three different networks out of which at least one is active.
- Click on your active network, and turn off the toggle switch under “Microsoft Defender Firewall.”
- Repeat the above steps if there are any additional active networks on your computer. Or else, close Windows Firewall, and restart your computer.
Note: To turn back On Windows Firewall, you have to undo the steps that you have recently followed on your PC.
2] Using Control Panel
Here’s how to turn off Firewall in Windows 11 using Control Panel –
- Launch Control Panel first.
- Go to Windows Defender Firewall and click on it.
- When this opens up, select “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off” on the left pane.
- Select “Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended)” under both Private and Public networks.
- Click the OK button and the firewall disables on your Windows 11 PC.
Note: To re-enable the Firewall in Windows using Control Panel, re-open the “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off” setting from the left pane. This time, make sure to select the radio buttons left of “Turn off Windows Defender Firewall” under both Private and Public networks.
3] Through Command Prompt
To disable Windows Defender Firewall in Windows using CMD, follow these easy steps –
- Open Windows Search (Win + S), and type CMD in the text field.
- Right-click on the first result i.e. Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.
- When the UAC window prompts, hit Yes.
- On the elevated console, type the following, and press Enter –
netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off
Note: To turn back Windows Firewall On using Command Prompt, you need to execute this code over the elevated console – netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state on.
4] Via PowerShell
Follow these steps to turn off the Firewall in Windows 11 using PowerShell –
- Press Windows + X, and select Terminal (Admin).
- When the UAC window prompts, hit Yes.
- The terminal default lands into Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- On the elevated console, execute the following cmdlet –
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False
- Close the terminal and restart your Windows PC.
From the next login, you will find Firewall disabled on your computer. If you want to re-enable this security feature, re-open Windows PowerShell as administrator, and execute the following command over it –
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled True
5] Using Group Policy
Follow these steps to disable Firewall in Windows 11 by tweaking the group policy –
- Press Windows + X, and select Run from the Power Menu.
- Type “
gpedit.msc” without quotes on it and hit OK. - When the group policy window opens up, navigate to the below path on it –
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Network Connections > Windows Defender Firewall > Standard Profile
- Head over to the right pane, and double-click on the “Windows Defender Firewall: Protect all network connections” policy.
- Check the “Not configured” radio button, and hit Apply > OK.
- Restart your computer next and this will restrict Windows Defender Firewall from starting.
Note: To re-enable Windows Defender Firewall on your computer, re-visit the above path. This time, check the Enabled radio button and hit Apply > OK.
6] Through the Registry Editor
Follow these steps to disable Firewall in Windows 11 using the registry –
- Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
- Type Regedit on it and hit OK.
- Click Yes on the UAC prompt to authorize opening the registry.
- When the registry launches, navigate to the below path inside it –
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile
- Right-click anywhere on the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Rename this new entry as “EnableFirewall” and set its value to “0”.
- That’s it, close the registry window, and restart your Windows PC.
You will find Windows Defender Firewall disabled from the next login.
Note: If you ever want to turn on the Firewall on your PC, re-visit the above path, and change the value data field of the “EnableFirewall” entry back to “1”.
