Windows 2003 SP1 improves the Netsh command to let you specify the “firewall” argument to access the firewall configuration. Netsh lets you
* configure the default state of Windows Firewall (Off, On, On with no exceptions)
* configure which exceptions should be enabled, including the scope of each exception and whether exceptions are enabled on all interfaces or per-interface
* configure logging options
* configure the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) handling options
* manage the exceptions list
For example, to enable the firewall, use the command
netsh firewall set opmode enable
