Support articles

Find clear, step-by-step solutions to common WithSecure issues across installation, configuration, updates, and product performance.

Elements Firewall rule doesn’t work if a Windows User environment variable is used in the application path field

Issue:

When creating a firewall rules to Windows Defender firewall with the Elements Endpoint Protection profile's firewall feature, the firewall rule doesn't work if a Windows User environment variable is used in the application path field.

For example, the firewall rule doesn't work when trying to use %LOCALAPPDATA% %HOMEPATH% %TEMP% %USERPROFILE% %OneDrive% in the application path field. 

Resolution:

User Environment Variables are not supported by Windows Firewall. Microsoft documentation has the following entry:

IMPORTANT: Do not use environment variable strings that resolve only in the context of a certain user (for example, %USERPROFILE%). When these strings are evaluated by the service at runtime, the service is not running in the context of the user. The use of these strings can produce unexpected results.

Only limited System Environment Variables are supported by Windows Defender Firewall.