Topic: Windows Firewall unaccesible?  (Read 2910 times)

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Offline NJAntman

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Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« on: September 06, 2014, 01:03:40 pm »
Trying to correct a Steam error and I'm following suggested fixes including shutting down the Windows Firewall (XP SP3). But when I try to open the Windows Firewall thru Control Panel I get the error window titled "Windows Firewall" and the message "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings.".

WTF. Does that sound normal or should I be thinking about reinstalling XP?
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Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2014, 08:12:06 pm »
Thanks for the reply and resolve.

Tried both dll re-registers but no joy. Even tried the sharedaccess fix-it (http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedaccess.htm) further on in your link but now getting following error when trying to access Windows Firewall: " Windows Firewall settings cannot be displayed because the associated service is not running. Do you want to start the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Service? " Selecting "Yes" leads to "Windows cannot start the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Service." .

I see another fix at end of the link, "Method 1: Call the "Setup API InstallHinfSection" function to install Windows Firewall ".
Look legit?
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Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2014, 07:43:28 pm »
Nothing major installed, last major change was new version of Avira refusing to install leaving me with just Spybot and MalwareBytes running.

Thanks for the new links, going to give  "http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/135134-45-windows-firewall" a try. See ya on the flip side?
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Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2014, 08:00:23 pm »
So here is what I got with that:
WARNING: Could not obtain host information from machine: [AMD-DESKTOP]. Some commands may not be available. Server execution failed

Succesfully reset the Winsock Catalog. You must restart the machine in order to complete the reset.

But still no change in error messages when trying to access the Firewall.

Gonna go to plan B: "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920074". I'll let you know.
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Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2014, 08:17:06 pm »
And with that I got a VERY SLOW:
WARNING: Could not obtain host information from machine: [AMD-DESKTOP]. Some commands may not be available. Server execution failed
OK

Then typing in "firewall.cpl" at the command prompt brought up the same error messages as before.


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Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2014, 09:38:24 pm »
May need to be a member to read as I can't see the reply. Are they suggesting a MalwareBytes uninstall?
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Offline Javora

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2014, 07:48:25 am »
Ugh.  That is a real PITA to.  If you must go Registry diving remember to make a back up of the Registry first.  Otherwise you may end up reinstalling/reloading Win XP after all.

Offline NJAntman

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Re: Windows Firewall unaccesible?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2014, 09:16:43 pm »
I did have Avira running on this machine, but it crapped out and stopped working when the latest version was released. Guessing this could be an Avira registry problem perhaps?
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