A firewall works as a gatekeeper and blocks all unnecessary network ports. Every time an app or service tries to communicate outside your device, it checks if there’s a specific rule in the database to allow or deny network access. You’ll see a prompt to identify and grant or deny permission if it can’t find a rule. Sometimes well-known applications (for example, SQL Server and QuickBooks) will not work as expected because they’re getting blocked by the Microsoft Defender Firewall. When this happens, you’ll need to manually create a rule to allow them to access the network. This guide will teach you the steps to open a port to allow an app to communicate outside the network using the built-in firewall on Windows 10.

Open firewall port on Windows 10 Close firewall port on Windows 10

Open firewall port on Windows 10

To open one or more ports in the Windows firewall, use these steps: After you complete the steps, inbound connections will be allowed for the app through the port you open in the firewall.

Open outgoing port in Microsoft Defender Firewall

If the app needs a specific outbound port, you can use the same instructions, but instead of selecting Inbound Rules on step 4, you would choose the Outbound Rules options. To open an outbound firewall port on Windows 10, use these steps: Once you complete the steps, outbound connections will be allowed for your application through the port you open in the Windows firewall.

Close firewall port on Windows 10

To close the port in the Microsoft Defender Firewall, use these steps: After you complete the steps, the app or service will no longer have access to the network or internet because the Windows firewall will block it.

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