Though Windows Firewall looks simple at first glance, open its Advanced Settings and you will see a host of options to configure the firewall rules to control how your PC connects to a network. Windows Firewall gives you granular control over what can and cannot access the network or internet. Once you configure the Firewall to your needs, it is important to back up Windows Firewall rules.
That way, you can import Windows Firewall rules on other computers or when you reinstall Windows. The backup also helps you restore any unwanted changes and set the firewall status to a known good state. So, in this quick guide, let me show you the steps to back up and restore Windows Firewall.
Note: If you don’t want to backup all the firewall rules at once, you can also backup single or specific firewall rules also.
How to Backup Windows Firewall
To back up the firewall rules, we just need to export the firewall policy file. This file will have all the firewall rules including the default rules and the ones you manually created or modified.
1. First, open the Start menu, search for Windows Defender Firewall, and click the top result to open the Windows Firewall.
2. In the firewall window, click the Advanced Settings option on the left panel.
3. In the advanced settings window, select the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security on Local Computer option on the left panel and click Action > Export Policy on the top navigation bar.
4. The above action will open the Save As window. Here, select a folder of your choice, type a name in the ‘File Name’ field, and click Save. In my case, I’m saving the firewall export file on the Desktop with the “Windows Firewall Rules 16-04” name.
5. As soon as you click Save, the firewall rules are exported and saved to the selected folder. Click OK to close the window.
6. Open the destination folder to find the backed-up firewall rules file. Since I saved the file on my desktop, it is available there.
How to Restore Windows Firewall
To restore a firewall backup, you need to import the backup in Windows Firewall. Once you do that, Windows Firewall will overwrite all the existing rules with the rules in the imported backup file.
1. Open the Start menu, search for Windows Defender Firewall, and click the top result to open Windows Firewall.
2. Click the Advanced Settings link on the sidebar of the firewall window.
3. Select the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security on Local Computer option on the sidebar and then click the Action > Import Policy option.
4. You will see a warning message letting you know that importing will overwrite the existing rules. Click Yes to continue.
5. Go to the folder where the firewall backup file is saved, select the backup file, and click the Open button.
6. As soon as you click the Open button, the Windows firewall imports the backup file and restores the rules.
7. Finally, restart your PC and your Windows firewall is ready to go with all your custom rules.
That is all. It is simple to back up and restore the firewall on Windows. If you have any questions, comment below and I will answer and help you.
Also, did you know that you can block programs from accessing the internet by creating a single firewall rule? Follow the liked guide to learn how.
