Configure the Windows Firewall Log
Updated: May 11, 2016
Applies To: Windows Server 2012
To configure Windows Firewall to log dropped packets or successful connections, use the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security node in the Group Policy Management MMC snap-in.
Administrative credentials
To complete these procedures, you must be a member of the Domain Administrators group, or otherwise be delegated permissions to modify the GPOs.
To configure Windows Firewall logging for Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2
Open the Group Policy Management Console to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
In the details pane, in the Overview section, click Windows Firewall Properties.
For each network location type (Domain, Private, Public), perform the following steps.
Click the tab that corresponds to the network location type.
Under Logging, click Customize.
The default path for the log is %windir%\system32\logfiles\firewall\pfirewall.log. If you want to change this, clear the Not configured check box and type the path to the new location, or click Browse to select a file location.
Important
The location you specify must have permissions assigned that permit the Windows Firewall service to write to the log file.
The default maximum file size for the log is 4,096 kilobytes (KB). If you want to change this, clear the Not configured check box, and type in the new size in KB, or use the up and down arrows to select a size. The file will not grow beyond this size; when the limit is reached, old log entries are deleted to make room for the newly created ones.
No logging occurs until you set one of following two options:
To create a log entry when Windows Firewall drops an incoming network packet, change Log dropped packets to Yes.
To create a log entry when Windows Firewall allows an inbound connection, change Log successful connections to Yes.
Click OK twice.