Vista - can't turn on firewall

[Guest]

In Vista Business, the firewall is off and I have found nothing that will
enable it.

One of the messages goes something like "due to an undentified problem
windows cannot display firewall settings". Another is that ... can't turn on
Windows Firewall...

At one time, OneCare was installed on this machine but has been removed. I
have gone through the uninstall and cleanup routines to no avail.

I have looked through several suggestions here, but most seem to be for XP,
not Vista, or they just dead-end with no solution.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Spirit]

Start - in Search - services see if Windows Firewall service is
AUTOMATIC

If so set to manual - reboot and go back and reset to Automatic - Reboot
then check again to ensure it is still on Automatic

If not set to Automatic then set to Automatic - reboot and go back and check
to make sure it still is on Automatic.

Then Start - Search - wf.msc

Finally - Control Panel - Security - Windows Firewall

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, however, I see no such service as Windows Firewall, or
any service that mentions firewall.

 

[Mr. Arnold]

In Vista Business, the firewall is off and I have found nothing that will
enable it.

One of the messages goes something like "due to an undentified problem
windows cannot display firewall settings". Another is that ... can't turn
on
Windows Firewall...

At one time, OneCare was installed on this machine but has been removed.
I
have gone through the uninstall and cleanup routines to no avail.

I have looked through several suggestions here, but most seem to be for
XP,
not Vista, or they just dead-end with no solution.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

That command below works on Vista as well as XP. You should see if resetting
the FW will correct the problem.

NETSH FIREWALL RESET

http://www.winxptutor.com/sp2/resetfw.htm

And, I read your reply post to the other poster. The FW service is there off
of Control Panel/Admin Tools\Services

You must right-click the Command Prompt line in Accessories and Run as
Administrator, in order to issue Netsh command.

 

[Guest]

When I run the command "netsh firewall reset", as administrator, I get the
message "The service has not been started."

Off of Control Panel/Admin tools, I see an entry for "Windows Firewall with
Advanced Security". When I click on it, I get a message that "There was an
error opening the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in", and a
message about restarting the Firewall service. The error code is 0x6D9

 

[Mr. Arnold]

When I run the command "netsh firewall reset", as administrator, I get the
message "The service has not been started."

Off of Control Panel/Admin tools, I see an entry for "Windows Firewall
with
Advanced Security". When I click on it, I get a message that "There was an
error opening the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in", and a
message about restarting the Firewall service. The error code is 0x6D9

Off of Control Panel/Admin tools/*Services* what is the status of the
Windows Firewall *Service*? First, re-boot the machine and then go to
*Services* and find out what the status of the Windows FW service is, and if
it's stopped then start it. It should also be set on Automatic start when
the machine is booted.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply.
If I go to Control Panel/Admin Tools/Services - I see a list of all the
services and their status. There is no item in the list that has a name of
"Windows Firewall", there is no item in the list that has the word "Firewall"
in it. There is no firewall service there to start/stop/restart, or anything
else. It is not in the list.

There is a list of many services, in alphabetical order -
....
Fax
Function Discovery Provider Host
....
Windows Event Log
Windows Image Aquisition (WIA)
....

This is after completely shutting down, powering up, and using "Run as
Administrator".

Is this the services you are talking about, or is there some other piece I
am missing?

 

[Mr. Arnold]

Thanks for the reply.
If I go to Control Panel/Admin Tools/Services - I see a list of all the
services and their status. There is no item in the list that has a name
of
"Windows Firewall", there is no item in the list that has the word
"Firewall"
in it. There is no firewall service there to start/stop/restart, or
anything
else. It is not in the list.

There is a list of many services, in alphabetical order -
...
Fax
Function Discovery Provider Host
...
Windows Event Log
Windows Image Aquisition (WIA)
...

This is after completely shutting down, powering up, and using "Run as
Administrator".

Is this the services you are talking about, or is there some other piece I
am missing?

Well it's a problem for you. The Windows FW service should be listed as a
service. How did Vista get on the machine? Do you install it or did it come
pre-installed? And was it running before you started having problems? Do you
have the Vista install DVD, because it looks like you might have to install
it?

 

[Guest]

I understand it is a problem for me, that is why I posted on this site -
hoping to gain some insight from someone who may have traveled the same path.

It was installed by me and it was working fine for several months. It was
up/down graded from XP. I have the installation CD. This problem just
started and it may be related to uninstalling OneCare, but don't know that.

Having come to the conclusion I have a problem, any thoughts on if a repair
will fix this, and will it lose all current settings?

 

[Mr. Arnold]

I understand it is a problem for me, that is why I posted on this site -
hoping to gain some insight from someone who may have traveled the same
path.

It was installed by me and it was working fine for several months. It was
up/down graded from XP. I have the installation CD. This problem just
started and it may be related to uninstalling OneCare, but don't know
that.

Having come to the conclusion I have a problem, any thoughts on if a
repair
will fix this, and will it lose all current settings?

I suggest you stick the install DVD in the trey and boot off the DVD. You'll
take the upgrade or repair path and lay down the O/S again. Using the
upgrade path, it will lay down the O/S fresh again, but it will not destroy
existing applications or settings the machine already has in place.

I'll also make this suggestion to you. If it's not broke, then you don't fix
it, not with the Vista O/S at this point and time.

 

[rlmesq]

I suggest you stick the install DVD in the trey and boot off the DVD. You'll take the upgrade or repair path and lay down the O/S again. Using the upgrade path, it will lay down the O/S fresh again, but it will not destroy existing applications or settings the machine already has in place.

I've been following this thread and similar ones because my Lenovo notebook, running Vista Business, had developed the same firewall problem. Since some other poor soul may Google this thread, I thought I'd register and add my solution.

Arnold's suggestion to run the Upgrade path cured the problem. I would note, though, that it didn't work when I tried to boot from the DVD because Upgrade was disabled; I had to start Vista normally, then run Setup from the DVD.

It appears that only a couple of settings were affected. Internet Explorer was reset as the default browser, instead of Firefox, and the desktop shortcuts to a couple of hard drive partitions disappeared.

Otherwise, everything's working fine.