Enabling IPv6 in Microsoft Windows-based Firewalls
Most of the settings available in the basic Windows Firewall are IP-agnostic, so filtering rules apply equally to IPv4 and IPv6. This has been the case since the Windows Firewall became IPv6-aware in Windows XP Service Pack 2. Even in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, most filtering rules are still either port-oriented (specified IP ports) or application-oriented (specified applications that use those ports).
The predefined Inbound and Outbound Rules are IP-agnostic by default. Only Scope Settings made when configuring custom Inbound or Outbound Rules will be IP-protocol specific (specified IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or address ranges in the Scope Settings tab). Making Scope Settings in different Microsoft Windows versions is done as follows:
XP is shown here,
XP SP2 and SP3 is shown here,
Vista is shown here,
Windows 7 is shown here,
Windows 8/8.1 is shown here,
and Windows 10/11 is shown here and here.
Documentation for Scope Settings in different Microsoft Windows versions is available as follows:
XP SP2 and SP3 is available here,
Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7, and Server 2008 R2 is available here,
Windows Server 2012 is available here, and
Windows Server 2016 (and later) and Windows 8 (and later) is available here.
Disabling IPv6 in Microsoft Windows-based Firewalls
Rather than disabling IPv6 in the firewall (for the few individual custom Inbound or Outbound Rules that may have been configured as IP-protocol specific), it is a better practice to selectively disable it in the operating system. See the “Disabling IPv6 in Microsoft Windows” article for the appropriate version of Windows in the IP Transport section.