Restoring Windows Firewall Default Settings

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

When you restore Windows Firewall settings, all of the changes you have made to Windows Firewall are undone (deleted) and all Windows Firewall settings are reset to their original configuration. All of the exceptions in the Windows Firewall exceptions list are deleted. All optional settings, such as log file settings, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) settings, and the notification setting, are reset to their default configuration. Restoring the default settings will turn on Windows Firewall for all network connections, which might cause some programs to stop working. This ensures that your computer is protected by Windows Firewall when you restore default settings. Restoring the default settings might also cause Internet Connection Sharing and Network Bridge to stop working correctly.

Note

If you used a Netfw.inf file to automate the configuration of Windows Firewall settings, the settings that you specified in Netfw.inf are reapplied to the computer when you restore Windows Firewall default settings. Any Windows Firewall settings that you specified in an answer file, such as Unattend.txt, are deleted and are not restored. If you want to restore the Windows Firewall settings that you configured during installation with an answer file, you must configure the settings manually.

When to perform this task

You might need to restore Windows Firewall default settings when you change a server's role or reconfigure a server. In this case, it might be easier to configure Windows Firewall from its default configuration instead of manually rolling back all of the configuration changes you have applied to the computer.

Task requirements

No special tools are required to complete this task.

Task procedures

To complete this task, perform the following procedure:

Restore Windows Firewall Default Settings

See Also

Concepts

Configuring Windows Firewall with SCW
Enabling and Disabling Windows Firewall
Known Issues for Managing Resets, Startup, and Shutdown