Group Policy controlling firewall on XP Home Ed.

I’m so glad you guys are here and willing to help those of us who aren’t geek-gifted!

I inherited a Dell P4, running: XP SP2 Home Ed., Norton AV, and XP’s firewall, and I’m using Firefox. I didn’t inherit any CD’s with the machine. (I can supply more info if you’ll tell me what’s needed.)

The Problem:
I want to disable XP’s firewall so I can install a better one, but the firewall on/off buttons are disabled and a message says: For your protection, some settings are controlled by Group Policy.

Learned this refers to settings that were deployed over a network, a byproduct of which is local administrators can’t change some settings.

Also learned Group Policy settings can be changed locally using gpedit.msc and an interface. The interface is present but gpedit.msc isn’t; learned it’s not included with XP Home Ed.

I read that the above are tools to edit the applicable registry entries, and that they can also be edited manually. Found no specific info on how to do so AND the only thing I know about the registry is that I can seriously screw up the computer if I mess it up.

So I’m stuck and I’d be really grateful for guidance! Thanks!

 

Whoa!

I agree that someone (or some program) must've done some reg hacking to do that!
As you said, XP Home edition doesn't come with the group policy editor (although I've heard that you can take it from a XP Pro box, and it will work fine), nor does it have the ability to join a domain, and be subject the the domain group policies.

Are you trying to do this on a user account with administrative rights?

If so, I might try simply disabling the Windows Firewall service, rather than mucking about in the registry. We can do this IF you are NOT using internet connection sharing (ICS).

Are you on a network, with internet shared between computers? If so, is it via a router?

If this is the case, we are okay, and can follow these steps:

1. Right-click 'My Computer' and select 'Manage'
2. On the 'Computer Management' window, expand 'Services And Applications'
3. Right click the 'Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing' service, and select 'Properties'
4. On the drop down menu next to 'Startup Type', select 'Disabled'
5. Press the 'Stop' button
6. Apply your settings

Remember, we ONLY want to do this if we are NOT sharing internet on your network WITHOUT the use of a router.

Any problems, just post back.

 

Yes, logged on as an administrator, no, it's not on a network.

Tried your suggestion, got as far as step 2.

There's no 'Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing' service listed in 'Services and Applications' in 'Computer Management'.

Other ideas?

(Also, I'm trying to find out more about the history of this computer. I wasn't figuring the registry was hacked, my guess is a past user had gpedit.msc and set the policy.)

 

You might try this, http://windowsxp.mvps.org/resetfwpol.htm

Steve

 

Thank you, that did the trick!! Thanks to both of you for taking the time to help me out.

(Now I'll get busy running all the malware scans ... )

 

Good deal

Steve