Windows Firewall-Action Center says Firewall not turned on

I keep getting this security notification in the Action Center saying: "Firewall and Network Protection - Turn on Windows Firewall" (see attached screenshots).

4 of the attached screenshots says/indicate that the firewall is turned on, but the security notification still pops up saying to turn on "Windows Firewall".

The settings for the security notifications says "turn off all notifications for windows security". I just want to turn off the notification for the "Windows Firewall" notification. I do not want to turn off all security notifications.

I can not seem to find a solution to this problem.

Windows version: 2004 (OS build 19041.450)

Open Control Panel --> Security and Maintenance --> Change Security and Maintenance settings --> Network Firewall.

Additional information: this notification about turning on the firewall started after the May OS update to 2004(I waited until the notification that the May 2004 updated was ready to install(installed on 19 July, 2020). Maybe Microsoft didn't get all the bugs worked out yet.

If you look at the 2nd screenshot(the green one) it says that firewall needs to be turned on. The other 4 screenshots says/tell me that the firewall is turned on.

I just ran a program in PowerShell that said it would re-register the Action Center that might clear up some problems in the Action Center(notifications). Well, that did not solve the problem.

As for going thru the Control Panel, then Security and Maintenance, it just tells me to go to Windows Security to view the firewall settings(which are in the attached screenshots.

About one month ago, I posted this same question(with all the same screenshots) to the Microsoft Community Forum and I am still waiting for an answer.

One last thing, I can not turn off the firewall notification without turning off all security notifications(not acceptable).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

I did a repair install of Windows 10 with an in-place Upgrade last week, and the week before that I did a Reset this PC. These 2 Win 10 repairs did not solve the problem.

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I did a repair install of Windows 10 with an in-place Upgrade last week. The week before that, I did a Reset this PC. Both of these repairs did not solve the problem.

Have you restored Firewall default settings?

To reset the Windows Firewall to its default settings, do the following:

• Open Control Panel.
• Click on System and Security.
• Click on Windows Firewall.
• On the left pane, click the Restore defaults link.
• Click the Restore defaults button.
• Click Yes to confirm.

I have no item in the Control Panel called System and Security but an item called Security and Maintenance. But as I said before, when clicking on Security and Maintenance, it tells me to go to Windows Security to view the firewall settings.

I went ahead and click on Restore defaults(did this about a week ago) and within 1 minute the notification popped up telling to turn on Windows Firewall because it is turned off.

All of these suggestions in this thread I have previously done before being suggested in this thread, but nothing has fixed the problem.

Its not a Windows 10 bug have you scanned for malware infection.

Also have you run Sfc /Scannow command?

Do you have any other security software installed?



a. Open the Command Prompt (Admin).

b. Run the following command lines:

1. netsh advfirewall reset

2. net start mpsdrv

3. net start bfe

4. net start mpssvc

5. regsvr32 firewallapi.dll



c. Confirm any box that comes up by clicking OK. The result on the last entry should say that it succeeded.

I have run sfc /scannow several times in the last couple of weeks. Just ran it again and it said "did not find any integrity violations.

Also ran 3 different options of DISM: CheckHealth; ScanHealth and RestoreHealth with an ISO image for the source: install.esd.

For the command prompt(admin): #1 came back: ok; #2, 3 and 4 said: has already been started; and #5 said: succeeded.

I have scanned for malware infections: none were found.

Other security: Sophos Home Premium; CCleaner and I run Microsoft Defender Antivirus Periodic Scanner every other day.

Sophos Home Premium if it includes its own firewall function, it will shuts down the Windows Firewall when it runs.