Tech Forum

My last experience with the provisioning process (Mar 25 2019) is that it does not install Sophos. When I used it on a different computer a month ago, Sophos was installed, although it may have been BigFix doing it after the fact, as I was not paying that much attention to what was installed in the windows post install (WPI) process. The WPI config.js on the latest computer (dated Sep 5 2018) contains no mention of Sophos, other than turning off the Windows Firewall for a Sophos installation. Is the Sophos install the responsibility of BigFix, and is it sometimes hit-and miss? Another possibility is that I configure new clerk computers at home where there is slightly better internet speed than in our outlying units and maybe Sophos won't install unless the computer is behind a Church firewall. But, as I said, the last computer I tried this on installed Sophos.

I'm not sure how it's supposed it work. There's no mention of it in the setup instructions.

But I do see Sophos as a separate download in the computer section of the Help Center.

Also, now that I have manually installed sophos endpoint protection, should I turn windows firewall back on? From what I can see it does not appear that Sophos endpoint protection includes a firewall. Sophos status > about shows Core agent 2.3.0, Endpoint advanced 10.8.3.441, Sophos Intercept X 2.0.14 but no firewall and there are none of the controls I would expect for a firewall. An internet search as to whether or not Sophos no longer includes a firewall was also inconclusive.

I would leave it be. If Sophos turned the firewall off, then it has replaced it with something else.

Actually, Sophos did not turn off the Windows firewall, the provisioning tool did. After installing Sophos, Windows 10 does not see it as a firewall and continues to complain that the firewall is turned off.
On further investigation I discovered that Sophos includes something they are calling the "Sophos Endpoint Firewall". You can find this by double-clicking the Sophos Icon and selecting "About" in the lower right hand corner of the status screen. From there click on the "Run Diagnostic Tool" button. In the new window that opens select "installed components" In the right hand pane you can see among other things the "Sophos Endpoint Firewall", but hovering over the green check mark icon indicates that the firewall has "No associated services or drivers." which would be strange for a true firewall. Also, running the "services" app doesn't show anything that looks like a Sophos firewall. In previous versions of Sophos there was an explicit Sophos Client Firewall service.
In what I can find online (Sophos community forums etc.) there is some vague indication that Sophos either controls or cooperates with the Windows firewall, but so far I haven't found anything definitive as to whether or not the windows firewall should be turned on or off.

I'd call support and check with them. Something may have changed and not everything got updated.