Allows administrators to use the Windows Defender Firewall component in Control Panel to define a local port exceptions list. Windows Defender Firewall uses two port exceptions lists; the other is defined by the "Windows Defender Firewall: Define inbound port exceptions" policy setting.
If you enable this policy setting, the Windows Defender Firewall component in Control Panel allows administrators to define a local port exceptions list.
If you disable this policy setting, the Windows Defender Firewall component in Control Panel does not allow administrators to define a local port exceptions list. However, local administrators will still be allowed to create firewall rules in the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in. If you wish to prevent all locally created rules from applying, use the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in and configure Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security to specify that local firewall rules should not apply.
| Registry Hive | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE |
| Registry Path | SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\GloballyOpenPorts |
| Value Name | AllowUserPrefMerge |
| Value Type | REG_DWORD |
| Enabled Value | 1 |
| Disabled Value | 0 |