Windows Firewall won't turn ON even with SMART Firewall turned OFF

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

A Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition  (SEP SBE) policy has been created in the Management Console to disable the Smart Firewall. Windows Firewall still cannot be enabled.

This feature is being controlled by another product.

Cause

When the Smart Firewall is disabled the feature is only being turned off, not completely removed. This results in the Smart Firewall being set to a state where it allows all incoming and outgoing traffic but the firewall is still present on the system.

Resolution

There are no supported methods of reverting to the Windows Firewall while SEP Cloud is installed; the Smart Firewall can only be removed by completely uninstalling the product.