allow program access through a firewall

I am running Windows XP SP3 with the standard windows firewall on with exceptions. I have 4 comps on a home network through a wired router (2wire). Shared files and folders are all visible and accessible. No problem there.

I wish to allow one computer (B) to access a program on my computer (A). The software program I am attempting to use is designed to be installed (full installation) on one computer and have a secondary installation (client installation) on another computer which would then access information from and transfer information to the full installation on comp A.

The full install on comp A went fine but while trying to install the client installation on comp B it asks for an SQL server instance which I assign <Comp A>\ <software name> and then it returns an error saying connection invalid. So, on both machines, I updated SQL software to SQL 2008 and IE to 8 and installed all current Windows updates to no avail. Finally I decided it must be a security issue.

So I accessed the firewall on comp A and turned it off. Finally the client software was able to connect and install! I turned Firewall on comp A back on and attempted to start the program on comp B but it failed to start due to failed connection.:banghead So again I had to disable the firewall on comp A in order for comp B's client software to connect to the main software and start.

I want to run this program with my firewall enabled as it will be running for long periods of time.

I have tried all I can think of: I made a program exception in the firewall for every .exe file in the program folder of the software I'm trying to use and also opened UDP/TCP ports for the port the client software on comp B is attempting to use and even set the "scope" on both to comp B's IP.

Please help me make comp A allow a connection from the program on comp B! Thank you!

 

Hi Sioko Ti,

sometimes, Windows firewall doesn't update itself with the new settings until the pc is rebooted.

reboot both pc's.

Techsent

 

Rebooted both comps again. Still no connection. Error is "cannot establish a valid database connection". It still connects just fine if I turn off my firewall on comp A. What else can I do? How can I configure comp A's firewall to be ON and still allow a connection from software on comp B? Maybe I messed up somewhere? Thank you for your help techsent:wave