Like many Linux distributions, and even Windows and macOS, Ubuntu comes with a firewall. This is a security feature that can prevent connections from unwanted sources on your system. Sometimes, though, you might want to disable it if you want to let all network traffic through. You might even want to open a specific port on your firewall for remote desktop connections, too. Well, Ubuntu’s default firewall configuration tool is known as Uncomplicated Firewall, better known as UFW. Usually, UFW is off by default, but you can configure it easily with the terminal.
How to disable the Ubuntu Firewall
Disabling the Ubuntu Firewall is an easy task that can almost be replicated to enable it. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open Terminal.
2. Check if the firewall is active:
sudo ufw status
3. If active, disable the firewall:
sudo ufw disable
It’s also possible to add or remove rules for the firewall using similar commands. If you want to open an SSH port on port 22, use the command sudo ufw allow 22. If you’re having issues, reset the firewall to its default state with sudo ufw reset. Ubuntu’s firewall is a basic yet powerful means to protect your system against outside threats.
How to enable the Ubuntu firewall
1. Open Terminal.
2. Check if the firewall is inactive:
sudo ufw status
3. Enable the firewall:
sudo ufw enable
The Ubuntu firewall will now be active and protecting your PC from connections not allowed by the configured rules.
Conclusion
As you can tell, there’s not much to disable the firewall on Ubuntu. It’s one of the more basic things you can do in the open-source operating system. This guide showed the basics of turning it on and off, resetting it, and even using it to enable a port. We hope you found it helpful, and if you’re the more technical type, you might want to check out how you can enable SSH on Ubuntu.