macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Hello,Someone suggested I post in here. My topic can be found at http://www.besttechie.net/forums/index.php...=9057&st=15.Basically, the issue is I can't mess with my firewall settings in Windows XP. It says something about Group Policy, which makes no sense because group policy isn't available in Windows XP Home.Any thoughts?Thank you for your time! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Troubleshooting the Windows XP SP2 Firewall in Your Home NetworkConfiguration options aren't availableIf the options on the General, Exceptions, and Advanced tabs aren't available (they're grayed out), it means you are not logged on to the computer with a user account that has administrative permissions. A user with administrative permissions must log on to the computer to change the firewall options, or to change your user account to an administrative account. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 I am the Administrator, and the only account on the computer. The second article is only for SP1. I am running SP2.Any other thoughts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 (edited) How to turn on or turn off the firewall in Windows XPEnable Windows Firewall in Windows XP SP21. Click Start, click Run, type Firewall.cpl, and then click OK.2. On the General tab, click On (recommended), and then click OK Edited July 5, 2006 by TheTerrorist_75 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 That is exactly what I cannot do. The settings are grayed out, and it says that they are this way for my protection, under Group Policy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Try booting into the Safe Mode Administrator account. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Good idea. I just did, but Windows can't start the firewall service. Something like ICS or ISC service, I guess because it's in safe mode. I did safe mode with networking, but couldn't get online. I also noticed alot of things were disabled, like there wasn't any start menu and some things were just blank, such as Search. I did however make plenty of shortcuts to get to them again, such as Windows Firewall settings.Thoughts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Also, do you have an AIM SN? or would you mind jumping on the besttechie channel via Geeks to Go? Here is linkage: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?automodule=javairc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 What anti-virus program are you using and does it have it's own firewall? In Services check Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to see if it's set to Automatic and running. Also check to see if it's dependencies (Network Connection, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)) are set to Automatic and running. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 As of today, I am using AVG. Yesterday, I removed Norton 06 and all of it's componants. I choose not to use other firewalls beside's Windows, however, if Windows firewall is ever turned off, then I will have to use something else. It is currently ON, but I do not have easy access to change it.I checked services. Everything you mentioned is running, but I'm not sure about automatic. How do I tell? The one thing that is NOT running is RPC Locator. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 (edited) Norton! I believe that is your problem. There may still be files left behind causing the issue. To change a Service to Automatic double click on the service and under the General tab change the Startup type: box to Automatic, click Start button, clcik Apply then click OK. RPC Locater should be set to Manual. The regular RPC = Automatic. Network Connection and WMI both Automatic.Using the Norton Removal Tool Edited July 5, 2006 by TheTerrorist_75 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 I ran the Norton removal tool. I don't know exactly what you mean by the general tab and changing the startup types. I'm in msconfig. Is that right?Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
medab1 Posted July 6, 2006 Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 (edited) I ran the Norton removal tool. I don't know exactly what you mean by the general tab and changing the startup types. I'm in msconfig. Is that right?Thanks! Edited July 6, 2006 by medab1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Ok, thanks for claification. I set everything to what you said. No difference. Any more ideas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 (edited) I would try: How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install. You would need to redownload WinXP updates. The only other thing I could think of is to disable the WinXP firewall and use one of the free ones such as Zone Alarm. Edited July 7, 2006 by TheTerrorist_75 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 I doubt an repair install will help as this appears to be a SP2 issue. If 'pre-sp2' firewall worked; but uninstaling and reinstalling SP2 didn't help, it seems something else is messed up. You could try the repair install, as you won't lose any of your data. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Hi Everyone,I worked with macfreeman7 this past weekend trying to clean everything up. I remotely connected to his machine and did a bunch of stuff. Let me try and recap what I did, but like I said it was a ton so I might miss one or two things.1. I made sure his machine was completely virus/trojan/malware/rootkit free and it seems to be now.2. I uninstalled Norton and installed AVG for him.3. I ran a bunch of registry edits pertaining to the Windows Firewall.4. I reset the Windows Firewall 5. I also had him uninstall and reinstall SP2 and as Matt stated above the firewall worked in SP1 and not in SP2.6. I tried to edit some permissions but since it's XP Home it really wouldn't do much.7. Restarted the firewall serviceI believe that was everything.. I did not have him do a repair install, because I figured the SP2 uninstall/reinstall would have done the same thing as it however I could be wrong.B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Just thought of another thing we could try is creating a new Administrator account and see if the firewall works on that one. Maybe his account is corrupt? Worth a shot before the repair install. B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Just thought of another thing we could try is creating a new Administrator account and see if the firewall works on that one. Maybe his account is corrupt? Worth a shot before the repair install. B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 It was pretty badly infected. Though with todays infections anything could happen to a PC that has been comprimised.B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Just to add to what Jeff said: We also uninstalled Windows Defender, because of it's tie into the Firewall. That didn't help either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Yep, we did that as well.B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 I would remove SP2 then do a repair install. With the removal of so much malware plus Norton and Windows Defender the registry may be totally corrupted. I don't know if even chkdsk and/or sfc could fix it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
macfreeman7 Posted July 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 I will try these ideas and get back to you guys. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brian2001nd Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I will try these ideas and get back to you guys.Here's what you have to do: 1. run regedit to edit the registry 2. go to this location in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft3. there should be a windowsfirewall key listed under Microsoft, delete just the entire windows firewall key, do not mess with the others.4. Reboot and all should be fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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