Allow Apps through Windows Firewall with Command Line
You can setup a Windows Firewall rule with NETSH to allow a specific application inbound and/or outbound on any profile from an elevated command prompt run as administrator with the below syntax or something similar:
Confirm the full explicit paths of the programs you want to allow incoming and outgoing thru the Windows Firewall for all applicable profiles, and set them correctly for each where needed in program="<value>"
with the value needed there being the full path e.g. C:\path\path\app.exe
.
Setting up a Windows Firewall rules to allow an app inbound and outbound will help prevent the prompting of the Windows Firewall you may get each time an app is launched and asked you to allow it.
Allow App Outbound
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Skype Out" dir=out action=allow program="C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" enable=yes profile=domain,private,public
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Chrome Out" dir=out action=allow program="C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" enable=yes profile=domain,private,public
Allow App Inbound
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Skype In" dir=in action=allow program="C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" enable=yes profile=domain,private,public
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Chrome In" dir=in action=allow program="C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" enable=yes profile=domain,private,public
Further Resources