Q. How do I enable a system running Windows Server 2008 Server Core to be pinged?

A. To enable the firewall exception for the Internet Control Message Protocol packets used during a Ping operation, run the command

netsh firewall set icmpsetting 8

Microsoft has announced that this syntax might be depreciated in a future version of Windows and recommends the new "netsh advfirewall" syntax. Using the new syntax, the command would be

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=
   "ICMP Allow incoming V4 echo request"
   protocol=icmpv4:8,any dir=in action=allow

 (The command wraps to several lines here for readability, but you should type it on one command line.) The advfirewall syntax is intended to allow more precise control of firewall rules. You can find more information about the new syntax in the Microsoft article “ How to use the "netsh advfirewall firewall" context…”