Troubleshooting Firewall Issues

When web services become inaccessible or experience connectivity issues, systematic troubleshooting helps identify whether firewall rules are the cause.

Use Windows Firewall troubleshooting tools:

# Test specific port connectivity
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName localhost -Port 80

# Check if firewall is blocking
netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all | findstr /i "80"

# Monitor real-time firewall activity
netsh trace start scenario=netconnection capture=yes tracefile=firewall.etl provider=Microsoft-Windows-Windows-Firewall-With-Advanced-Security

# Stop trace
netsh trace stop

Temporarily disable firewall for testing:

# Disable firewall temporarily (DANGEROUS - only for testing)
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False

# Re-enable immediately after testing
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled True