How To Check Your Firewall Windows 10

In the process of filtering Internet traffic, all firewalls have some type of logging feature that documents how the firewall handled diverse types of traffic. These logs can provide valuable information similar source and destination IP addresses, port numbers, and protocols. Yous can also apply the Windows Firewall log file to monitor TCP and UDP connections and packets that are blocked by the firewall.

Why and When Firewall Logging is Useful

1. To verify if newly added firewall rules work properly or to debug them if they do not work every bit expected.
2. To decide if Windows Firewall is the crusade of application failures — With the Firewall logging feature you tin can check for disabled port openings, dynamic port openings, analyze dropped packets with push and urgent flags and clarify dropped packets on the send path.
3. To help and identify malicious activity — With the Firewall logging feature y'all can bank check if whatsoever malicious activity is occurring within your network or not, although you must remember it does not provide the information needed to runway down the source of the activity.
4. If you notice repeated unsuccessful attempts to access your firewall and/or other loftier profile systems from one IP accost (or group of IP addresses), then you might want to write a dominion to drop all connections from that IP infinite (making sure that the IP address isn't beingness spoofed).
5. Outgoing connections coming from internal servers such as Web servers could exist an indication that someone is using your system to launch attacks against computers located on other networks.

How to Generate the Log File

By default, the log file is disabled, which means that no information is written to the log file. To create a log file press "Win key + R" to open the Run box. Type "wf.msc" and press Enter. The "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" screen appears. On the right side of the screen, click "Properties."

A new dialog box appears. At present click the "Private Profile" tab and select "Customize" in the "Logging Section."

A new window opens and from that screen choose your maximum log size, location, and whether to log only dropped packets, successful connection or both. A dropped parcel is a package that Windows Firewall has blocked. A successful connection refers both to incoming connections as well as any connection y'all have made over the Internet, but it doesn't always mean that an intruder has successfully continued to your figurer.

By default, Windows Firewall writes log entries to %SystemRoot%\System32\LogFiles\Firewall\Pfirewall.log and stores just the last 4 MB of data. In near production environments, this log will constantly write to your difficult disk, and if you change the size limit of the log file (to log activeness over a long period of fourth dimension) then it may cause a performance impact. For this reason, you should enable logging only when actively troubleshooting a problem and so immediately disable logging when you're finished.

Next, click the "Public Profile" tab and repeat the same steps you did for "Private Profile" tab. You've now turned on the log for both individual and public network connections. The log file will exist created in a W3C extended log format (.log) that you can examine with a text editor of your selection or import them into a spreadsheet. A unmarried log file can incorporate thousands of text entries, so if you are reading them through Notepad and then disable give-and-take wrapping to preserve the column formatting. If you are viewing the log file in a spreadsheet so all the fields will exist logically displayed in columns for easier assay.

On the chief "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" screen, scroll down until you lot encounter the "Monitoring" link. In the Details pane, under "Logging Settings", click the file path next to "File Name." The log opens in Notepad.

Interpreting the Windows Firewall log

The Windows Firewall security log contains two sections. The header provides static, descriptive data about the version of the log, and the fields available. The body of the log is the compiled information that is entered as a outcome of traffic that tries to cross the firewall. It is a dynamic list, and new entries keep actualization at the bottom of the log. The fields are written from left to correct across the page. The (-) is used when there is no entry available for the field.

According to the Microsoft Technet documentation the header of the log file contains:

Version — Displays which version of the Windows Firewall security log is installed.
Software — Displays the proper name of the software creating the log.
Fourth dimension — Indicates that all the timestamp information in the log are in local time.
Fields — Displays a list of fields that are available for security log entries, if information is bachelor.

While the body of the log file contains:

date — The date field identifies the engagement in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
time — The local time is displayed in the log file using the format HH:MM:SS. The hours are referenced in 24-hour format.
action — Every bit the firewall processes traffic, sure deportment are recorded. The logged deportment are DROP for dropping a connection, Open up for opening a connexion, CLOSE for closing a connection, OPEN-INBOUND for an inbound session opened to the local reckoner, and INFO-EVENTS-LOST for events candy by the Windows Firewall, but were not recorded in the security log.
protocol — The protocol used such equally TCP, UDP, or ICMP.
src-ip — Displays the source IP address (the IP accost of the computer attempting to plant communication).
dst-ip — Displays the destination IP address of a connectedness attempt.
src-port — The port number on the sending computer from which the connection was attempted.
dst-port — The port to which the sending computer was trying to make a connectedness.
size — Displays the bundle size in bytes.
tcpflags — Information almost TCP command flags in TCP headers.
tcpsyn — Displays the TCP sequence number in the packet.
tcpack — Displays the TCP acknowledgement number in the bundle.
tcpwin — Displays the TCP window size, in bytes, in the packet.
icmptype — Information well-nigh the ICMP messages.
icmpcode — Information almost the ICMP messages.
info — Displays an entry that depends on the type of action that occurred.
path — Displays the direction of the communication. The options bachelor are SEND, RECEIVE, Forrard, and UNKNOWN.

Every bit you notice, the log entry is indeed large and may have upward to 17 pieces of information associated with each effect. However, but the outset eight pieces of information are important for full general assay. With the details in your hand now y'all tin analyze the information for malicious activity or debug application failures.

If you suspect whatever malicious activeness, and so open up the log file in Notepad and filter all the log entries with Drib in the action field and note whether the destination IP address ends with a number other than 255. If yous find many such entries, and then take a note of the destination IP addresses of the packets. Once you lot have finished troubleshooting the problem, yous can disable the firewall logging.

Troubleshooting network issues can exist quite daunting at times and a recommended good practice when troubleshooting Windows Firewall is to enable the native logs. Although the Windows Firewall log file is non useful for analyzing the overall security of your network, it still remains a expert practise if you desire to monitor what is happening behind the scenes.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/220204/how-to-track-firewall-activity-with-the-windows-firewall-log/

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