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The XG Series hardware appliances will reach end-of-life (EOL) on March 31, 2025. Click here to see the XG to XGS migration documentation.

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Install Sophos Firewall on Windows

You can deploy a Sophos Firewall ISO image on a Windows server.

Download the ISO

To download the .zip file containing the software (ISO) image for deploying Sophos Firewall on a Windows server, do as follows:

  1. Go to Firewall Installers.
  2. Scroll to Software Installers: Firewall OS Software ISO for Intel Hardware.
  3. Click Download.

Prepare the USB drive

To prepare a USB drive to install the ISO, do as follows:

  1. Insert a standard USB drive that has the specified minimum space.
  2. Download a disk imaging utility, such as Win32 Disk Imager.
  3. Start the utility. The utility looks for IMG files. To allow the utility to find the downloaded ISO file, change the file filter to *.*.
  4. Select the Sophos Firewall .ISO file.

  5. Select the USB drive as the destination.

    Warning

    Installing the ISO will erase the USB drive's existing data.

  6. Write the ISO to the USB drive.

Install Sophos Firewall

To install Sophos Firewall on the server, do as follows:

  1. You may need to change the BIOS settings for the USB drive to start.
  2. Connect a monitor, keyboard, and a serial cable to the server.
  3. Type y when prompted and press Enter.
  4. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  5. When installation is complete, remove the USB drive and restart the server. A first-time restart will take a few minutes.

Configure Sophos Firewall.

To power on and configure the virtual firewall, do as follows:

  1. Enter https://172.16.16.16:4444 into your web browser to connect to the firewall.

  2. Select Start to open the setup assistant and complete basic setup and registration.

    Restriction

    The setup assistant won't start if you've changed the default password from the CLI console. You can complete the basic setup manually or reset the firewall to default to use the setup assistant.

To manage your Sophos Firewall licenses and subscriptions, see Licensing.