The purpose of a firewall is to protect your computer. The Windows operating system comes with its own built-in firewall that offers pro­tec­tion against attacks and unwanted access. If an unau­tho­rized third party tries to access your computer, the software will au­to­mat­i­cal­ly block the attempt, thus pro­tect­ing your system and your data.

The Windows firewall is a key cyber security solution. It acts as a filter between your system and the Internet, checking (without your input) whether programs installed on your PC are allowed to connect to the Internet, and whether online ap­pli­ca­tions or third-party devices are permitted to access your PC. If the firewall detects unau­tho­rized traffic, it will block the access attempt and notify you.

It is possible to disable the Windows firewall, but you should only do so tem­porar­i­ly. One situation where you might need to turn off the firewall is to install software that would otherwise be blocked. We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to show you how to turn off the firewall.

Turning off the firewall: in­struc­tions for Windows 10, 8 and 7

First in­tro­duced in Windows XP, the Windows firewall is now a standard component of all Microsoft operating systems. It was orig­i­nal­ly called the “Internet Con­nec­tion Firewall” and could only filter incoming con­nec­tions, but it has since been developed and optimized, and is now one of the most secure security solutions on the market. When Windows 10 was launched, Microsoft renamed the firewall “Windows Defender Firewall” to underline the fact that the firewall is the central component of its Windows Defender security suite.

The steps below explain how to disable the firewall in the latest version of the operating system (Windows 10) as well as in Windows 8, and Windows 7.

Note

To make sure that you are always protected against cyber-attacks, we recommend that you only turn off your PC’s virus pro­tec­tion system for a short time. If you need to disable the Windows firewall to download a program, remember to turn it on again im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter­wards to check all of the incoming and outgoing con­nec­tions.

Turning off the firewall in Windows 10: a quick guide

  1. Click on the “Search” icon or the search box in the taskbar and enter “Windows firewall”.
  2. Click on “Windows Defender Firewall” in the search results.
  3. In the menu pane, select “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off”.
  4. Select “Turn off Windows Defender Firewall” for both networks (private and public).
Tip

Go back into this menu to re-enable the Windows firewall once you’ve finished the process that required a temporary shutdown.

Now let’s go through the steps in more detail, with screen­shots to il­lus­trate the process.

Step 1: Click on the mag­ni­fy­ing glass or search box in the taskbar and enter “Windows firewall” or “Windows Defender Firewall”. Click on the cor­re­spond­ing search result.

Image: Windows 10: Search results for “Windows firewall”
Windows 10: Search results for “Windows firewall”

Step 2: You will now see the Windows 10 firewall options. In the menu on the left-hand side, click on “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off”.

Image: Option for disabling the firewall in Windows 10
Option for disabling the firewall in Windows 10

Step 3: On the next screen you will see the firewall settings for both types of network: private and public. To disable the firewall com­plete­ly, select “Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not rec­om­mend­ed)” for both network types. Click on “OK” to confirm the changes and disable the firewall.

Image: Options for disabling the firewall in Windows 10
Options for disabling the firewall in Windows 10

Turning off the firewall in Windows 8: a quick guide

In Windows 8 and 8.1, the procedure for disabling the firewall is more or less the same as in Windows 10:

  1. Open the Search function (in Windows 8, you need to go into the Start menu to search).
  2. Enter “Windows firewall” or “firewall” in the search box.
  3. Click on the ap­pro­pri­ate result to open the firewall menu.
  4. In the menu on the left, select “Turn Windows Firewall on or off”.
  5. For both network types (private and public), select “Turn off Windows firewall (not rec­om­mend­ed)”.
  6. Click on “OK” to confirm.
Note

You can only change the Windows firewall settings if you have ad­min­is­tra­tor rights!

Windows 7: How to disable the firewall

Users of Windows 7 can follow the same steps to turn off the firewall in their system:

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Enter “firewall” or “Windows firewall” in the search box.
  3. Click on the cor­re­spond­ing search result.
  4. In the list of options on the left, select “Turn Windows Firewall on or off”.
  5. Select “Turn off Windows firewall (not rec­om­mend­ed)” for both network types (private and public).
  6. Confirm the changes by clicking on the “OK” button.
Note

Microsoft support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020. This means that technical support and security updates are no longer available for this version. The only exception are business users, who can still access pro­fes­sion­al support on a fee-paying basis through to 2023. If this doesn’t apply to you, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to a newer version of Windows. More details can be found in our article about the end of support for Windows 7.

An al­ter­na­tive to disabling the Windows firewall: adding ex­cep­tions

Instead of disabling the Windows firewall, you can define ex­cep­tions for specific programs. Doing this stops the Windows firewall from mon­i­tor­ing, filtering, and blocking the activity of these programs. The steps for defining ex­cep­tions are the same whether you’re using Windows 10, 8 or 7:

Step 1: Open the search box (from the taskbar or the start menu, depending on what version you are using) and enter “Windows firewall”. Click on the cor­re­spond­ing search result:

Image: Opening the Windows 10 firewall settings via the search function
Opening the Windows 10 firewall settings via the search function

Step 2: In the list of options on the left, click on “Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall”.

Image: Menu option: “Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall”
Menu option: “Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall”

Step 3: You will now see a window con­tain­ing a list of all the programs that already have cus­tomized firewall settings. Click on the “Change settings” button above this list.

Image: List of allowed apps and features in Windows 10
List of allowed apps and features in Windows 10

Step 4: To allow a new app to connect without being filtered by the firewall, click on the “Allow another app...” button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 5: You will now see a list of apps for which you can add in­di­vid­ual rules. If the program you’re looking for isn’t in the list, you can add it by clicking on “Browse” and nav­i­gat­ing to the app’s location on your PC. Once you’ve selected the relevant app, click on “Add” to confirm. You will now see your app in the list, where you can define ad­di­tion­al settings relating to private or public networks.

Image: Adding a program to the list of firewall exceptions
Adding a program to the list of firewall ex­cep­tions
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