Eddie_Eddie Posted July 27, 2011 Report Share Posted July 27, 2011 Hi I have recently took over the management of our small company network. We have about 22 workstations... 18 Windows 7 and 4 Windows XP SP3. For my Windows 7 machines windows firewall is switched on from the group policy management but the Windows XP SP3 workstations get the dreaded grey box and is switched off and I can't seem to figure out how to get this group of workstations switched on. I have tried a few things in Group Management with no success. I have tried various google links but can't find the answer. Can anyone help with this?ThanksBen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted July 27, 2011 Report Share Posted July 27, 2011 Are they XP Home or XP Pro ?Group Policy Editor is only available in XP ProfessionalIf they are Home workstations, look here :-/>http://ask.metafilter.com/39261/How-do-you-change-group-policy-on-windows-xp-home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie_Eddie Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Are they XP Home or XP Pro ?Group Policy Editor is only available in XP ProfessionalIf they are Home workstations, look here :-/>http://ask.metafilter.com/39261/How-do-you-change-group-policy-on-windows-xp-homeHi, they are all Windows XP Pro SP3... What Ive done so far is set up a separate group for all the windows Xp users. Then set up a new GPO, applied this group in the security filtering and delegation then added a WMI Query (found online and not sure if I need) 'select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where Caption = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"' to target XP machines. Then under the Computer configuration I have set: Administrative TemplatesNetwork/Network Connections/Windows Firewall/Domain ProfileWindows Firewall: Allow local program exceptions Enabled Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections Enabled Network/Network Connections/Windows Firewall/Standard ProfileWindows Firewall: Allow local program exceptions Enabled Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections Enabled But none of this works... I revisit an xp machine and get windows firewall switched off and managed by group policy...Any idea what I haven't tried?ThanksEddie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makcalable Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Hi Eddie was looking at your issue and think this "might" be of interest to you, it contains how to's and hot fixes too.... hope it helpsThis document explains how to configure the features of Windows Firewall on computers running Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Service Pack 2 (SP2) in a small or medium-sized business (SMB) environment. The environment might include domain controllers running Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, or Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The most efficient way to manage Windows Firewall settings in an organization's network is to use the Active Directory® directory service and configure Windows Firewall settings in Group Policy. Active Directory and Group Policy allow you to centrally configure settings for Windows Firewall and apply those settings to all Windows XP SP2 client computers. Windows XP SP2 includes new administrative templates for Group Policy objects (GPOs) to enhance security for your client computer and domain including functionality for Windows Firewall. To apply these templates you might have to install hotfixes, depending on the operating system of the domain server or workstation in use. After these templates are applied, any Group Policy updates will include settings for Windows Firewall. Group Policy updates are sent from the domain controller to all members of the domain and may also be requested by a domain member through the use of the GPUpdate utility. To configure Windows Firewall, use the Group Policy Object Editor while logged in as a member of the Domain Admins group or the Group Policy Creator/Owner security group. The following table lists the default settings for Windows Firewall.Click Here For Full Information on How to Configure Windows Firewall in a Small Business Environment Using Group PolicyMore Info Here & Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie_Eddie Posted August 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 Thanks for the link but this is all for Windows XP SP2 not SP3? If this does not matter and I can still do this all for SP3 I will start doing all the suggested but before I spend hours / testing/ disrupting the network I want to make sure I can do this for windows xp SP3?ThanksEddie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makcalable Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 This document is for SP2 and SP3 it seems it hasn't been updated... I can only suggest you give it a go as I am pretty sure this will solve your issue.However, I did stumble across a FIX for Windows XP Firewall Settings Grayed Out! Click Here Note; below was created for SP2.... but I really don't think it will matter as SP3 has the same system settings.Solution: Remove Firewall Group Policy from the registry.Note: Local Machine Administrator Rights may be required. If necessary contact your Network Administrator.Launch RegEdit.Delete the Registry Key:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall]To restore the Group Policy with Firewall On and grayed out. Launch RegEdit.Add the following information into the registry. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000001Click Here For Full GuideHope this fixes your issue eddie and be sure to let us know how you get on ;-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie_Eddie Posted August 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 This document is for SP2 and SP3 it seems it hasn't been updated... I can only suggest you give it a go as I am pretty sure this will solve your issue.However, I did stumble across a FIX for Windows XP Firewall Settings Grayed Out! Click Here Note; below was created for SP2.... but I really don't think it will matter as SP3 has the same system settings.Solution: Remove Firewall Group Policy from the registry.Note: Local Machine Administrator Rights may be required. If necessary contact your Network Administrator.Launch RegEdit.Delete the Registry Key:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall]To restore the Group Policy with Firewall On and grayed out. Launch RegEdit.Add the following information into the registry. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000001Click Here For Full GuideHope this fixes your issue eddie and be sure to let us know how you get on ;-)This worked great!!! thanks for all the posts :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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