another Windows Firewall Control?

My regular computer, 2nd attempt ...

Code:

Starting
Configuring WFC service
Configuring the program folder
Expanding
> Could not delete the file:: [b]C:\Windows\security\restore.dat[/b]
(that's obvious because I have no C:\Windows at all)
There were errors during the installation
(then there looks to be another line which I'm unable to scroll to?)

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> [*]wfcs.exe is a service. Did you check and see if it appeared under Window administrative tools > services?

It does not.

> [*]If it was there, was it running?

Not there, so not running...

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I think the Installation status window helps . <---

 

> LATER EDIT: Based on your latest post, does it work ?

No, not on my regular computer, though it did on my Mule.


Event Viewer, WFC:

11/05/2012

Code:

Can't subscribe to Windows Service.
System.ServiceModel.EndpointNotFoundException: There was no endpoint listening at net.pipe://localhost/dcc45d858500a39a2297a0c6 that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details. ---> System.IO.PipeException: The pipe endpoint 'net.pipe://localhost/dcc45d858500a39a2297a0c6' could not be found on your local machine. 
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

Server stack trace: 
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.PipeConnectionInitiator.GetPipeName(Uri uri)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.NamedPipeConnectionPoolRegistry.NamedPipeConnectionPool.GetPoolKey(EndpointAddress address, Uri via)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ConnectionPoolHelper.TakeConnection(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ConnectionPoolHelper.EstablishConnection(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientFramingDuplexSessionChannel.OnOpen(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.OnOpen(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.CallOnceManager.CallOnce(TimeSpan timeout, CallOnceManager cascade)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.EnsureOpened(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message)

Exception rethrown at [0]: 
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
   at WindowsFirewallControl.IProxy.Subscribe()
   at WindowsFirewallControl.ProxyClient.Subscribe()

> (i'm going to assume that all of the above are identical, though i did not actually check)

Yes, they were dup's, above & below, same entries, just different times. Removed.

11/07/2012

Code:

Can not subscribe to Windows Firewall Control Service.
There was no endpoint listening at net.pipe://localhost/dcc45d858500a39a2297a0c0 that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details.

 

I will change this path. It assumes that you have this folder. Where do you have Windows installed ? The service is not installed because the installer stops at this step. The next step is to install the service, but it won't be installed anymore because it detected an error.

WFC can't subscribe to Windows Firewall Control Service because the service is not running and does not listen on: net.pipe://localhost/dcc45d858500a39a2297a0c0

No service, no connection, WFC not working.

Where do you have Windows Installed ?

 

> Where do you have Windows Installed ?

E:.
So in my case it would be, E:\Windows\security\.

BTW, "E:" is my System Drive, not C: (This specific post, https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2132422&postcount=1152)

And I (try to) install nothing to my system drive. ... And of course I have redirected %TMP%.

 

It does not matter if you have Windows installed on E:\ drive. At boot, it is automatically switched to C:\ to maintain the compatibility.

I have updated the installer and the updater. Now, it should install fine on your computer too. Please, download and try to install the stable beta version 3.7.1.2:

http://binisoft.org/download/3712/wfc.exe

What is fixed in version 3.7.1.2:
- New: The installer and the updater were rewritten to include a logging feature to track down the possible errors that may occur during the installation or the update.
- Fixed: The installer can't continue if it can't save the backup policy at installation. This file is used at uninstallation to restore the previous set of rules if the user chooses to revert to the state beforehand installing the program.
- Fixed: The uninstaller of the program does not work if the Windows Firewall Control Service is not available or if the uninstall key from Windows Registry was deleted accidentally.
- Fixed: Shell Integration state is recognized properly.
- Fixed: Some default inbound rules from can't be modified because they use special keywords instead of port numbers as local ports. Example: RPC, Teredo, etc.
- Fixed: The program crashes on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 if the user clicks on the Export Policy button because the GUI is not available. This happens if the program has the option "Disable visual themes" checked in the Compatibility tab.

Please let me know if this version works for you.

Thank you for your support and your patience.
Alexandru

 

Success, thank you .

Code:

Directory of C:\DEV\FIREWALL\Windows Firewall Control

11/09/2012  06:37 PM           163,840 restore.dat
11/09/2012  02:50 PM           684,184 wfc.exe
11/09/2012  06:37 PM           146,584 wfcs.exe

 

I am glad that it finally worked for you too. The file restore.dat is a *.wfw file which is saved at the installation. This is the policy of Windows Firewall (the rules) which is saved for backup. So, it seems after all that the logging feature was helpful.

Have a nice week-end.

 

Update Disabled Program

Having a problem with latest version, just updated to the current latest after a system restart and the update process seems to have stopped the program from working; icon disappears during the update process then reappears after the update window closes, but clicking on icon, the main window appears like in the following image. Also checked services and it states the following during this situation:

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/MrElectrifyer/Random%20Stuff/WFCDisabledServiceStillRunning.png

The following attempts had no effect:
- Restarting the service
- Exit the program via the notification area context menu and restart it via a shortcut (or directly in explorer)
- Exit program and stop service then restart program via a shortcut (or directly in explorer)

Gonna attempt a restart and see what comes up.

 

I had that already with the update to the previous version........a reboot solved it....

 

A reboot doesn't appear to have solved it, still appears all grayed out :| Anyway to backup the rules/policies manually? Looking to uninstall then re-install it; doesn't seem to allow just re-installing it

---EDIT---

Backed up policies via Windows Firewall with Advanced Options, began uninstalling it just to see it actually has the option to keep the policies as they are -.- Re-installed it and everything is working as they were before though, one super-minor problem I noticed during installation is the Build Date is outdated

 

There was a problem on some computers with the updater when updating to version 3.7.1.0. The problem is that the updater can't uninstall properly the previous service. From your screenshots, the service was from version 3.7.0.5 and the GUI from version 3.7.1.0. This is the reason why the GUI was disabled. Version 3.7.1.0 requires a clean install.

The build date is ok. In Europe we say 05.11.2012. This means 5th of November 2012. In America, you read this as 11th of May 2012.

 

Hello,

I thing I need to ask about and one suggestion...

First, on Windows 8, you can have a local account or have it set-up to sync to an account online. When I first boot up, I of course log into my machine with the account set-up to do the syncing since I do not have it set to a local account. I can log in fine. The Action Center does prompt from time to time for me to enter my password again I assume for security as far as the syncing. Whenever I have to enter this password once I have logged on my system, I am told by Windows that my network is not available, so I cannot log back into this unless I drop the profile setting on WFC down to Low or No Filtering. So obviously this process is being blocked but I am not receiving any pop-up in learning mode to let me create a rule. As I have no idea what process to create this rule for, each time I have to re-enter my password, I must drop my profile settings down. This appears to be some kind of a bug... Any ideas?

Now for my suggestion: When you right click on the WFC tray icon, you are given the option to either go to the Control Panel or Manage Rules. To me this is redundant since left clicking already takes you to the Control Panel. IMHO I believe you should change this back to the previous function of left click to Control Panel and right click to Manage Rules. The current right click serves no purpose as all it does is add an extra click to the process. I much prefer the previous method to the way it is now.

Keep up the great work!

 

For this problem, try to create a rule to allow C:\windows\system32\settingsynchost.exe on port 443 on TCP protocol and see if the problem persists.

The purpose of the context menu is to offer a quick way to Exit the program. As you already saw, the Exit button does not exist anymore on the main window of WFC. Many users have complained that the Exit button is not placed very intuitive. This is the reason why the right click on the notify icon has changed. This will not change back.

 

Version 3.7.2.0 released

What's new:
- New: The installer and the updater were rewritten to include a logging feature to track down the possible errors that may occur during the installation or the update.
- Fixed: The installer can't continue if it can't save the backup policy file restore.dat. This file is used at uninstallation to restore the previous set of rules if the user chooses to revert to the state beforehand installing the program.
- Fixed: The uninstaller of the program does not work if the Windows Firewall Control Service is not available or if the uninstall key from Windows Registry was deleted accidentally.
- Fixed: Shell Integration state is recognized properly.
- Fixed: Tray icon is not properly set after importing a policy if the previous
profile was not Low Filtering.
- Fixed: Some default inbound rules from can't be modified because they use special keywords instead of port numbers as local ports. Example: RPC, Teredo, etc.
- Fixed: The program crashes on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 if the user clicks on the Export Policy button because the GUI is not available. This happens if the program has the option "Disable visual themes" checked in the Compatibility tab.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 25f27aff0e5f6d42d0c45e61276cf073

Installation notes:
A fresh install is recommended. With the updater of the last version a few users encountered problems during the updating process. To do a clean install, follow these steps:
1. Uninstall the current version of WFC from Programs and Features from Control Panel. Choose to keep the current settings.
2. Download the latest version and install it. You will see that it looks a bit different.
3. This is it. Your rules are the same and you are using the latest version.
4. If you choose to use the updater and the program does not update properly start from step 1.

Your feedback is welcome. Any other problems will be fixed in the next release. The list of new features is open. If you will suggest a new good feature, it will be implemented.

Thank you for your support,
Alexandru

 

Hello,

That fixed it, thanks as I did not know which process to allow.

That just shows that I never exit out of WFC, did not even notice that there. It makes more sense now that I know that.

 

Awesome update; would later versions be able to use the updater or would they also require a clean install?

Attempted using the update process and it resulted in a similar but stranger situation to the grayed out state; when I attempted uninstalling it (using Progams and Features), it instead kept launching the program Luckily, I had Revo Uninstaller Pro; an advanced uninstaller with a "Force Uninstall" option

Force Uninstalled it, and attempted re-installing, first thing I noticed in the process was that it is uninstalling the service; guess that wasn't uninstalled by revo. It lied it completed the installation successfully lol and started up the program with a yellow exclamation shield icon with foot note stating it couldn't connect to the service Checked the services and it stated it couldn't find the specified file.

Attempted uninstalling it again (with Revo), this time the uninstaller popped up as expected, performed the uninstall as expected. Re-installed and everything is working as expected again

BTW, just a little suggestion, mind implementing an option to scan through the entries for duplicates? This is what is missing in pretty much every firewall program I've come across, would really come in handy. The algorithm could have different check box options to scan for duplicates like by name & protocol (because there's usually 2 protocols, tcp and udp, per name), location or both of them. A hint stating that "Selecting both options, and depending on both your computer performance and how many rules you have configured, this process could take a while to complete" should do just fine in informing the user of what to expect.

 

The next version will be able to update this version properly. The service from version 3.7.0.5 and 3.7.1.0 couldn't be updated. From the next version the updater will work fine again. Actually it works fine now too, but for some reason, on some systems it doesn't.

Right now there is a button in Manage Rules window which helps the user to find and delete invalid rules for the programs that do not exist anymore. A feature to find duplicates rules sounds good. I will think about it.

 

Awesome, looking forward to it

While you're at it, one minor suggestion for the UI is regarding the notification window. At the moment, the user has to do three clicks in order to temporarily allow a program through the firewall. A possible way of saving 2 clicks is to list both the "Always Allow" and "Temporarily Allow" options separately in an "Allow" frame box and the "Keep Blocking" option in a "Block" frame box.

 

Thank you!
I did not need to do a clean install.
Using the Updater worked flawlessly.
But I had no problems updating before, anyway.

 

I didn't discovered yet why on some systems the updater doesn't work. The updater works also on my test systems. But from thousands of users of WFC, 6 of them have reported that they had problems when updating version 3.7.0.5. Thank you for your feedback.

 

Version 3.7.3.0 released

What's new:
- New: Added support for creating a temporary rule from the notification dialog with one single mouse click. (requested)
- New: Profiles menu in the context menu of the system tray icon (requested)
- New: Added support for creating and modifying rules for *.scr file extension. Some screen savers connect to the Internet and display various info. (requested)
- Fixed: The profile synchronization is lost if the user modifies the profile from Windows Firewall or from other source. The synchronization is done from this version on every mouse click on the notify icon.
- Fixed: The installer crashes if it is executed with limited rights on a computer where WFC was not previous installed.

Download location: http://binisoft.org/download/wfc.exe
MD5: 6e9a3941952d29ccd5138398a7cd7903

Installation notes:
This new version should update properly the previous version. It does on my 3 computers and in 4 virtual machines with different versions of Windows installed. If the updater can't update the previous version please let me know.

Your feedback is welcome. The list of new features is open. If you will suggest a new good feature and it can be done, I will implement it.

Thank you for your support,
Alexandru

 

There is something odd about digital signatures in this version. When I right clicked wfc.exe and run as administrator, a yellow mark will appear (same as programs without signatures) but when I right click and look for digital signatures in its properties, there is a signature. I checked the hash and it is 6e9a3941952d29ccd5138398a7cd7903

 

I can't find the previous certificate that I used to sign previous versions. This is a new certificate. It will appear BiniSoft.org after you install the program. The file is safe if it is downloaded from binisoft.org. I am the only person who has access to the binisoft.org domain and I am the only person who can upload files.

 

I know. . I just find it weird that a program that has a valid signature will throw a yellow warning in a UAC prompt.

 

Something is wrong with digital signature.