Does W10 Defender Firewall ignore rules?

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After a suspect update and rollback from a VPN provider, my browser traffic goes through Defender Firewall as expected, but Outlook and other MS apps fail.

Those apps get network access if I disable the Private Network setting in Firewall.

When I enable it, they don’t get through.

A quick check of the Inbound and Outbound rules looks good. The rows for the apps let “any” and “all” stuff through. I’m new to that interface, but it seem fairly clear.

What else shall I check?

This is a big deal. No “secure” Outlook client now, etc.

Best regards,

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Wow! Even Defender SmartScreen doesn’t go through.

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When are the apps blocked?
Are the blocked apps listed in Windows Firewall as allowed?

cheers, Paul

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@Paul T:

Thanks for asking!

The apps are blocked when they attempt to use the network.

In the Firewall list, I notice all of the blocked apps except SmartScreen. SmartScreen seems to be part of W10.

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In another forum, a respondent solicited a firewall log file. It’s attached.

Brave and another third-party app got through as configured. Outlook test messages failed.

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Piling on here: Windows Update can’t connect to the updates service. “We’ll try again later.”

To get patches (and 1909), I’m going to disable the firewall, and then enable it after those downloads are complete.

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Are you running a third-party update blocker?

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@PKCano: I believe I configured _something_ last August, in response to the patch clustermess then in progress, but I don’t recall if it was 3rd-party software or manual editing. I was using askwoody for guidance, and I probably subscribed to or bookmarked some of that traffic (perhaps including some from you). I’ll try to backtrack.

HOWEVER: I haven’t changed any third-party update blocking lately, certainly not within the past few weeks. The wacky behavior began early last week after a botched update from a VPN provider. After removal of their patch, my DNS remained set to their addresses rather than reverting to automatic selection, which their removal program was supposed to set.

That VPN provider pulled back their patch quickly, so they must’ve found something wrong with it. They haven’t told me yet what it was.

Another wrinkle: I ran the W10 monthly patches last Monday around the same time, so more than one thing was messing with parameters on this box.

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skeptamistic wrote:

In another forum, a respondent solicited a firewall log file

If you have posted this question elsewhere, please link to it so we can avoid duplicated effort.

cheers, Paul

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@PaulT: Thanks. It’s https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29197133/Does-Windows-10-Defender-Firewall-ignore-rules.html?anchor=questionAdd

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Have you tried a Network Reset? See Settings | Network & Internet | Status. In the right pane on the status pane, there is a link “Network reset”.

Also, have you reset the firewall? See How to Restore or Reset Windows Firewall settings to defaults.

--Joe

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@joep517: Have not tried that yet! I look forward to doing so next.

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@jeop517: Resetting the firewall seems to have cleared the symptom.

Thanks again to everyone for all the questions and suggestions!

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OBTW: Why did so much time elapse since I updated here?

A windstorm took down the electricity in my block and a few others nearby, and it just came back while I was at work.

A W10 patch was running when the juice failed. (Time for another UPS, I guess.)

Anyway, Windows Update now looks normal. It shows the botched patch from Sunday afternoon, then the successful version of the same patch.

The latest patches on this 1903 system are the September patches that the Master Patch List said are OK. I also took the Office security updates and, for good measure, the Windows Defender update this afternoon.

Nope, the Defender update did not change the original behavior, which is that browser traffic gets through the Private firewall, Outlook traffic does not, yet the browser (Brave) and Outlook have Allow rules in Inbound and Outbound in the Defender configuration.

So one thing changed: Windows Update is back to normal.

I haven’t noticed SmartScreen again yet (I just got home), so I look forward to testing it again.

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