Configure Windows Firewall

For unattended installations, you can add settings that configure the Windows Firewall to an answer file. For more information, see the Networking-MPSSVC-Svc component in the Unattended Windows Setup Reference.

In addition to the Windows Firewall Unattend.xml settings, you can create a RunSynchronous command that runs the Netsh firewall command during the auditUser or oobeSystem configuration passes. You must not use the RunSynchronous Netsh firewall command during the specialize pass.

Important
Use RunSynchronous commands only to add, to modify, or to delete Windows Firewall rules. To modify rule groups, use the Networking-MPSSVC-Svc unattended installation settings.

Note
The Netsh firewall command requires Administrator privileges to run. If the RunSynchronous command runs in a configuration pass that executes in user context, that user account must have Administrator privileges.

The RunSynchronous command must look similar to the following sample. This sample shows how to configure an inbound rule for Windows Messenger.

      <RunSynchronous>
         <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
            <Path> netsh advfirewall firewall 
                  add rule name="allow messenger" dir=in 
                  program="c:\programfiles\messenger\msmsgs.exe"
                  action=allow
            </Path>
            <Description>Enable Windows Messenger</Description>
            <Order>1</Order>
         </RunSynchronousCommand>
      </RunSynchronous>

The following section describes how to use the Netsh firewall command. For additional information about usage and syntax, run the Netsh firewall /? command from a Windows Vista installation.

Configuration Scenario Example

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow80" protocol=TCP
dir=out localport=80 action=block

See Also