How to Disable Firewall Notifications in Windows 10/11

It is a security best practice to use a firewall, especially for businesses that have confidential customer data to protect. Enabling your firewall is a common security policy and procedure to protect you and your company.

How To Turn on The Firewall in Windows 10

You might be required to enable the Windows Firewall by your job. Or disable it to use alternative software based on your company’s security policies.

In Microsoft Windows 8 and 10, you get a pre-installed firewall utility. However, it could be disabled by default. You should always check that it is enabled since it is an important security feature for protecting your system. Below you can find the steps to follow to enable or disable this feature in these versions of Windows.

Enabling Your Windows Firewall

Caution: You should only have one software firewall enabled at a time. If you have an antivirus or other security program installed with its own firewall feature, make sure that you disabled that first.

1. Open the Control Panel in Windows.
2. Click on System and Security.
3. Click on Windows Firewall.
4. If your firewall is disabled, you’ll see Windows Firewall marked “Off.” To turn it on, in the left navigation pane, you can click on Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
5. In the Customize Settings window, select Turn on Windows Firewall and click OK.

Nice work! If you also have an Apple device, here’s the instructions you need to check your firewall settings for a Mac.

What Is A Firewall?

A firewall is a network security system that is designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network.

It is a security best practice to use a firewall, especially for businesses that have confidential customer data to protect. Enabling your firewall is a common security policy and procedure to protect you and your company.

You can implement a firewall in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Frequently, businesses use network firewalls to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet. Firewalls are especially important for protecting intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

Does your company have a policy about using firewalls?

How to Disable Firewall Notifications in Windows 10/11

By default, Windows Defender’s Firewall blocks all apps and programs that require incoming or outgoing network connections in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. When you launch a new program for the first time, you will usually receive a notification from Windows Firewall that asks for permission if the program should be allowed to run.

If you have already set up all apps that you need and no longer want Windows Firewall to allow any more new apps to have access (send or receive data) to the internet, you can disable all firewall notifications using one of the methods provided below.

Turn off firewall notifications in Windows 11/10 via Windows Security

The following guide assumes you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11 default Windows Defender’s Firewall. It won’t disable notifications brought up by any third-party firewall software. Follow the steps below to disable Windows Defender’s firewall notifications if you no longer want to allow any more new apps to have access to the internet.

1. Go to the Windows search bar and search for and open the Windows Security app.
2. In the Windows Security window, click on Firewall & network protection.
3. In the next screen, click on Firewall notification settings.
4. Under Notifications settings, click on manage notifications.
5. Here you can configure which notifications you want to stop Windows Security from sending to you and which to retain as it is. Under “Notify me when Windows Defender Firewall blocks a new app“, you can selectively disable firewall notifications from the domain, private or public network, or disable all notifications entirely by clicking on the toggle button to turn it off.

Disabling these options will only disable Windows Security from notifying you when it blocks an app or detects a problem. It won’t disable the Firewall. Windows Defender will still continue to protect your PC from incoming threats.

Disable firewall notifications via GPO

To disable firewall notifications in Windows 11 or 10 via Group Policy Object (GPO), follow the steps below.

1. Open Group Policy Editor by typing “gpedit” in the Windows 10 or Windows 11 search bar or Cortana.
2. In the group policy editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration >Windows Settings >Security Settings >Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security >Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security – Local Group Policy Object. In the right pane, click on “Windows Defender Firewall Properties“.
3. Select a Firewall profile (repeat step 3 and step 4 if you want to disable all notifications from all firewall profiles), then click on Customize.
4. Under Firewall settings and next to Display a notification option, select “No” to stop receiving notifications from this firewall profile.

Use command line

To quickly disable all Windows Defender’s firewall notifications for all profiles in Windows 10 or Windows 11, use the following command line in an administrator elevated command prompt or Windows PowerShell.

netsh firewall set notifications mode = disable profile = all

If you are using other third-party firewall software, to turn off the notifications of the firewall, you have to look for the relevant settings inside the firewall app itself. The firewall notifications settings in Windows Defender will not affect any third-party firewall program.

Why disable Windows firewall notifications?

While it’s important to have a firewall protecting your computer from unauthorized access and potentially malicious network traffic, the constant barrage of firewall notifications can be annoying and distracting. If you’re confident in the security of your computer and the applications you have installed, you may choose to turn off firewall notifications to avoid unnecessary interruptions.

Conclusion

Turning off the firewall notifications can be a helpful way to reduce distractions and improve your computer’s performance. Whether you choose to disable notifications entirely or selectively based on your preferences, it’s important to remember that the firewall is still active and protecting your computer from incoming threats. Be sure to regularly update your computer’s security software and take other steps to stay safe online.