If you have a ton of different configurations set up on your Windows firewall and want to make a backup of all of your settings before you wipe everything or clean install Windows. This article will show you how to quickly and easily back up your Firewall data and restore it at a later date.
Takeaways:
- Can you back up your Firewall settings on Windows 10?
- Can you back up your Firewall settings on Windows 11?
- Learn how to back up and restore your Firewall Settings on Windows.
Table of Contents
How to Backup and Restore Windows Firewall Settings
While not that many people bother making any changes to Windows Firewall settings there is a small group of users that likes to make sure that certain things aren't "calling home" and breaking their functionality. For these people having a Firewall settings backup is super important as it saves hours and hours of time when setting up a new PC again.
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Open Windows Defender Firewall by pressing the Windows key and typing "Windows Defender Firewall". Select Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security from the search results.
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In the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security window, right-click on Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security in the left pane.
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Select Export Policy from the dropdown menu.
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Choose a location to save the file and give it a name, such as FirewallBackup.wfw, then click Save. This will back up your firewall settings, including all the rules.
Option 2: Using Command Prompt (Netsh)
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Open the Command Prompt by pressing the Windows key, typing "cmd", and selecting Run as administrator.
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In the Command Prompt, type a command to export your firewall settings. For example, if you want to save the file to a specific location, use this format:
netsh advfirewall export "C:\path\to\folder\firewall_backup.wfw
Make sure to replace
C:\path\to\folder with the actual folder where you want to save the backup and name the file something like firewall_backup.wfw
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Once you've entered the command, the system will confirm the firewall settings have been successfully exported.
Restoring the Backup
To restore the settings in the future, you can go to the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security window and select Import Policy, or use a similar command in the Command Prompt to import the firewall settings from your backup file. This is a straightforward way to back up and restore your firewall configuration in Windows 11!
Occasionally you may encounter errors with programs that aren't installed yet so make sure you have installed all the programs you want to block or grant access to. For example, if you don't have Adobe Photoshop installed and restore a backup that blocks outbound traffic from Adobe you may have errors. The same will apply if you are installing programs in to different locations so make sure everything matches.
