Windows Firewall

[hoemee]

Working on a friends computer...having trouble with the firewall..Upgraded ME to XP Pro and cannot access the firewall to change settings. It states that it is being controlled by group policy - I cannot turn it on or off, it is grayed out. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Ob1]

Originally Posted by hoemee Working on a friends computer...having trouble with the firewall..Upgraded ME to XP Pro and cannot access the firewall to change settings. It states that it is being controlled by group policy - I cannot turn it on or off, it is grayed out. Any ideas? Thanks

start run type gpedit.msc

navigate down to the standard profile and change any settings to "not configured"

then close gpedit console and click start>run>type "cmd" w/o the quotes and then type gpupdate /force in the command prompt.

you might have to restart your pc, but that should unlock windows firewall

[hoemee]

Thanks for the detailed info...all settings were at not configured.....typed in the command at the command prompt...still the same. It is showing it off, but I cannot change the selection to on.

[Ob1]

try restarting your computer, sometimes thats the only way to refresh group policy

[hoemee]

I did restart it, sorry forget to mention it - no help.......I am wiping out the hard drive and going to try a clean install.

Thanks

[glc]

That's the best solution - upgrades in place can be very problematic, especially if the system is not squeaky clean to begin with.

[hoemee]

This is an HP machine...started with the 3 disc restore process.......then I discovered that the licensed Xp pro disc my friend had was the full version...so fdisk, format and clean full install.

[glc]

Hopefully XP has native drivers for all the components and/or you can get drivers from HP.

[hoemee]

Ah, There's the rub...this didn't work out so good.....there were conflicts because the non-native drivers were not installed. Now I'm back to reinstalling(restoring) the HP discs...even the upgrade to XPpro was problematic....so looks like he will be stuck in Windows ME land until I have a chance to build him a new comoputer........gotta love these hp and compaqs...

[easg]

This solved the windows firewall problem for me.

Try this. Logon as an administrator and use regedit to open the registry
editor. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\ and if you see
a key under it for WindowsFirewall right click it and select delete. The go
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ and if you see a
key under it for Network Connections do the same. If you did make any
changes reboot your computer to see if that then helps.

[Ob1]

Originally Posted by easg This solved the windows firewall problem for me. Try this. Logon as an administrator and use regedit to open the registry editor. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\ and if you see a key under it for WindowsFirewall right click it and select delete. The go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ and if you see a key under it for Network Connections do the same. If you did make any changes reboot your computer to see if that then helps.

he has already wiped the drive and tried restoring it with the HP discs and a clean install with an XP disc. but thanks for the tip, ill have to try that.....