7/16/22, 8:28 AM How to Allow Pings (ICMP Echo Requests) Through Your Windows Firewall

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How-To Geek

How to Allow Pings (ICMP Echo Requests)

Through Your Windows Firewall
WALTER GLENN @wjglenn

UPDATED
DEC 15, 2020, 4:55 PM EDT
| 5 MIN READ

When Windows Firewall is enabled with default settings, you can’t use
the ping command from another device to see if your PC is alive.
Here’s how to change that.

The ping command works by sending special packets known as

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Requests to a target
device, and then waiting for that device to send back an ICMP Echo
Reply packet. This not only lets you test whether a network-connected
device is active, but it also measures the response time and displays
that for you, as well. By default, Windows Firewall with Advanced
Security blocks ICMP Echo Requests from the network. Sure, you
could take the drastic step of disabling the firewall for testing
purposes, but a simpler solution is just to create an exception that
allows ICMP requests through the firewall. We’re going to show you
how to do that both from the Command Prompt and the Windows
Firewall with Advanced Security interface. (Note that, if you have an
antivirus with a firewall or another type of third-party firewall program
installed, you’ll need to open ports in that firewall instead of the built-
in Windows Firewall.)

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The instructions in this article should work for Windows 7, 8, and 10.
We’ll point out where there are any major differences.

Warning: Creating exceptions and opening ports through your firewall

does open up security risks. Allowing ping requests isn’t too big a
deal, but it’s usually best to block anything you don’t need.

RELATED: Using Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

Allow Ping Requests by Using the

Command Prompt
The fastest way to create an exception for ping requests is with the
Command Prompt. You’ll need to open it with admin privileges. To do
so in Windows 8 and 10, press Windows+X and then select
“Command Prompt (Admin).” In Windows 7, hit Start and type
“command prompt.” Right-click the resulting entry and choose “Run as
Administrator.”

To enable ping requests, you’re going to create two exceptions to

allow traffic through the firewall—one for ICMPv4 requests and one

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for ICMPv6 requests. To create the ICMPv4 exception, type (or copy
and paste) the following command at the prompt and then hit Enter:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="ICMP Allow incoming V

And to create the ICMPv6 exception, use this command:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="ICMP Allow incoming V

The changes will take place immediately—no need to restart your PC

or anything. Now, if you ping your PC from a remote device, you
should get an actual result.

To disable ping requests again, you’ll need to disable both exceptions

you created. For the ICMPv4 exception, type (or copy and paste) this
command at the prompt and hit Enter:

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netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="ICMP Allow incoming V

And to disable ICMPv6 requests, use this command:

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netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="ICMP Allow incoming V

When requests are blocked, ping requests to your PC will be met with
a “Request timed out” error.

Note that when using the commands we just covered, you can use
any name for the rule you want. However, when you go to disable a

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rule, you’ll want to use the same rule name as when you created it. If
you forget the name of the rule, you can use the Command Prompt to
see a list of all rules. Just type the following command and hit Enter:

netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all

You’ll see lots of rules listed, but scroll back up to the top of the list
and you should see any rules you’ve created right at the top.

Allow Ping Requests by Using Windows

Firewall With Advanced Security
While the Command Prompt is the quickest way to add an exception
to your firewall for ping requests, you can also do this in the graphic
interface using the “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” app.
Hit Start, type “windows firewall with,” and then launch “Windows
Firewall with Advanced Security.”

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You’re going to create two new rules—one for allowing ICMPv4

requests and one for allowing ICMPv6 requests. In the left pane, right-
click “Inbound Rules” and choose “New Rule.”

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In the “New Inbound Rule Wizard” window, select “Custom” and then
click “Next.”

On the next page, make sure “All programs” is selected and then click
“Next.”

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On the next page, choose “ICMPv4” from the “Protocol type”

dropdown and then click the “Customize” button.

In the “Customize ICMP Settings” window, select the “Specific ICMP

types” option. In the list of ICMP types, enable “Echo Request” and
then click “OK.”

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Back in the “New Inbound Rule Wizard” window, you’re ready to click

“Next.”

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On the next page, it’s easiest to just make sure that the “Any IP
address” options are selected for both local and remote IP addresses.
If you want, you can configure specific IP addresses to which your PC
will respond to a ping request. Other ping requests are ignored. This
lets you narrow things down a bit so that only certain devices will be
able to ping your PC. You can also configure separate lists of
approved IP addresses for your local and remote (Internet) networks.
However you set it up, click “Next” when you’re done.

On the next page, make sure that the “Allow the connection” option is
enabled and then click “Next.”

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The next page allows you some control over when the rule is active. If
you want the rule to apply no matter what type of network it’s
connected to, leave the options at their default and just click “Next.”
However, if your PC is not part of a business (and doesn’t connect to
a domain), or if you prefer it not respond to ping requests when it’s
connected to a public network, feel free to disable those options.

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Finally, you need to give your new rule a name, and optionally a
description. However, we do recommend that you at least get the text
“ICMPv4” in there because you’ll also be creating a second rule for
allowing ICMPv6 requests. Choose whatever makes sense to you and
then click “Finish.”

Unfortunately, you’re not quite done yet. It’s a good idea to go ahead
and create a second rule that allows incoming ICMPv6 requests.
Mostly, it’s a good just-in-case measure. People tend to use IPv4
addresses when issuing ping commands, but some networking apps
use IPv6. Might as well have your bases covered.

Follow the same steps we just went over and set all the options
exactly the same as we did for the ICMPv4 rule. However, when you
get to the ports and protocols page, select “ICMPv6” from the
dropdown instead of “ICMPv4.” That—and creating a different name
for the rule—are the only two things that change.

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When you have the two new rules in place, you can close the
“Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” app. No need to restart
your PC or anything. Your PC should immediately begin responding to
pings.

If you ever want to disable all this, you could go back and delete those
two rules. However, you might be better off just disabling the rules
instead. That way, you can re-enable them without recreating them. In
the “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” app, select “Inbound
Rules” on the left, and locate the rules you made in the middle pane.
Right-click a rule and choose “Disable” to prevent ping requests from
passing through the firewall.

Allowing ping requests to reach your PC is not something everyone

will need to do. But, if you’re doing any kind of network
troubleshooting, ping can be a valuable tool. It’s also pretty easy to
turn on and off once you have things set up.

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WALTER GLENN

Walter Glenn is a former Editorial Director for How-

To Geek and its sister sites. He has more than 30
years of experience in the computer industry and
over 20 years as a technical writer and editor. He's
written hundreds of articles for How-To Geek and
edited thousands. He's authored or co-authored over 30 computer-
related books in more than a dozen languages for publishers like
Microsoft Press, O'Reilly, and Osborne/McGraw-Hill. He's also written
hundreds of white papers, articles, user manuals, and courseware
over the years. READ FULL BIO »

How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Since we launched in
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