Import and Export Windows Firewall Configurations

Windows Firewall is very important part of all Microsoft Operating Systems. It provides extra protection layer frommalware, viruses and other unwanted threats. Firewalls also blocks prohibited programs from accessing the system and networks. Only per-defined and authorized applications are allowed to communicate between networks

Most organizations that use clients running Windows 7 apply firewall rules through Group Policy. In the event that you need to support a number of stand-alone clients running Windows 7, you can replicate complex firewall configurations using the WFAS Import Policy and Export Policy options. 

Importing and exporting policy also allows you to save the current firewall configuration state before you make changes to it. Exported policy files use the .wfw extension. Exported policies use a binary format, not Extensible Markup Language (XML) format like many other Windows 7 configuration files. You can also export and import firewall policies in the same .wfw format using the netsh advfirewall export or netsh advfirewall import commands.