Windows firewall blocking filesharing

[crossmr]

Well this is an obvious firewall issue, but no reason why. File and printer sharing is checked to be allowed, yet when I attempt to browse to my vista home premium laptop from my XP Pro desktop, it fails.

As soon as I turn off the firewall, its all good, so no chance its anything else.

Properties reveals nothing, and I'm not sure why it would be blocking it.

[Scarecrow Man]

What firewall do you use?

This page may help: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/e...e/vista_fp.mspx

[crossmr]

What firewall do you use?

This page may help: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/e...e/vista_fp.mspx

The included firewall in Vista. its currently disabled so it will work, but enabled, with the box checked for file and printer sharing, it doesn't work.

[AlanHo]

Mine is working OK after changing some settings

Control panel

Windows firewall

Change settings

Click exceptions tab

Tick following items

... Network discovery

... Routing and remote access

... Wireless portable devices

It may not be necessary to tick all the above items - but it has worked for me.

[crossmr]

Mine is working OK after changing some settings

Control panel

Windows firewall

Change settings

Click exceptions tab

Tick following items

... Network discovery

... Routing and remote access

... Wireless portable devices

It may not be necessary to tick all the above items - but it has worked for me.

I've ticked those 3 things (network discovery was already ticked) and still nothing.

Currently ticked are:

Core Networking

File and Printer Sharing

Network Discovery

Routing and Remote Access

Windows live messenger (and the phone one)

Wireless Portable Devices

For fun, I've tried checking EVERY box available, and it makes no difference. It still doesn't permit to browse the the share. As soon as the firewall is disabled though, the share is available.

[nellie2]

Have you tried specifying the IP of the address you are trying to see? Allow that IP and the firewall should let it through

[crossmr]

Have you tried specifying the IP of the address you are trying to see? Allow that IP and the firewall should let it through

I created a rule which allows all incoming connects from this PC and it did the trick. However, this is less than ideal as you can imagine. Shouldn't enabling the exception for file and print sharing be enough? This is a laptop, and I'd hate to constantly have to modify rules on the fly to enable sharing for whatever remote host is the flavour of the day.

[crossmr]

I've actually tracked this problem down, and the problem is something I was tossing around with a friend yesterday:

Even with file and print sharing enabled, if the request comes from outside your subnet, it will be blocked.

I have a routed network in my home. The wireless devices (2 laptops, and a Wii) are kept separate from the 2 desktops and the media center. This is for ease of troubleshooting (logs are much less messy).

I enabled the rule to permit all connections from the desktop and it was good.

I tried browsing the share of laptop A from Laptop B and it worked with the firewall enabled, and no special rule for that device.

I realize my home network is a little more complicated than most, but that is something that should be in the documentation somewhere.