Windows Defender Firewall: Allow local program exceptions: registry value AllowUserPrefMerge (DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications)ComputerHKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications

Policy ID: WF_AllowedProgramsLocal_Name_1
Scope: Computer Configuration
Supported on: At least Windows XP Professional with SP2
Source: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category: Network › Network Connections › Windows Defender Firewall › Domain Profile

Registry

AllowUserPrefMerge

REG_DWORDComputer

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications Current key

Enabled value: 1
Disabled value: 0

Apply with .reg · CMD · PowerShell

.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications]

; Options (use only one)
; Enabled
"AllowUserPrefMerge"=dword:00000001
; Disabled
"AllowUserPrefMerge"=dword:00000000

CMD

:: Options (use only one)

:: Enabled
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications" /v "AllowUserPrefMerge" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
:: Disabled
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications" /v "AllowUserPrefMerge" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

PowerShell

# Common: create the key
New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications' -Force | Out-Null

# Options (use only one)
# Enabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications' -Name 'AllowUserPrefMerge' -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null
# Disabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications' -Name 'AllowUserPrefMerge' -PropertyType DWord -Value 0 -Force | Out-Null