Policy
Windows Defender Firewall: Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP
Allows inbound file and printer sharing. To do this, Windows Defender Firewall opens UDP ports 137 and 138, and TCP ports 139 and 445. If you enable this policy setting, Windows Defender Firewall opens these ports so that this computer can receive print jobs and requests for access to shared files. You must specify the IP addresses or subnets from which these incoming messages are allowed. In the Windows Defender Firewall component of Control Panel, the "File and Printer Sharing" check box is selected and administrators cannot clear it. If you disable this policy setting, Windows Defender Firewall blocks these ports, which prevents this computer from sharing files and printers. If an administrator attempts to open any of these ports by adding them to a local port exceptions list, Windows Defender Firewall does not open the port. In the Windows Defender Firewall component of Control Panel, the "File and Printer Sharing" check box is cleared and administrators cannot select it. If you do not configure this policy setting, Windows Defender Firewall does not open these ports. Therefore, the computer cannot share files or printers unless an administrator uses other policy settings to open the required ports. In the Windows Defender Firewall component of Control Panel, the "File and Printer Sharing" check box is cleared. Administrators can change this check box. Note: If any policy setting opens TCP port 445, Windows Defender Firewall allows inbound ICMP echo requests (the message sent by the Ping utility), even if the "Windows Defender Firewall: Allow ICMP exceptions" policy setting would block them. Policy settings that can open TCP port 445 include "Windows Defender Firewall: Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception," "Windows Defender Firewall: Allow inbound remote administration exception," and "Windows Defender Firewall: Define inbound port exceptions."
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Scope | Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | Path SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\Services\FileAndPrint Value name Enabled | REG_DWORD | HKLM 1 | HKLM 0 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Scope | Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | Allow unsolicited incoming messages from these IP addresses: ID WF_Scope_Name | text | Path SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\Services\FileAndPrint Value name RemoteAddresses Type REG_SZ | None |