To check Windows Firewall status on Windows 11 or 10, open the Windows Security app and select Firewall & network protection . You'll see three network profiles, Domain, Private and Public, each saying "Firewall is on" or "Firewall is off", with your current network marked (active) . For a one-line answer, run netsh advfirewall show allprofiles state in Command Prompt, or Get-NetFirewallProfile | Select-Object Name, Enabled in PowerShell. The profile that matters most is the active one.

The quick check is easy. The confusing part comes afterwards: the firewall shows "on" but an app still can't connect, or it says another program is in charge, or PowerShell reports settings as "NotConfigured". This guide covers all of that, plus how to turn the firewall back on without breaking anything.…