THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

This will not let me disable the Windows Firewall. I do this and it is still greyed out under the control panel option. It also asks me to save a file. Does it matter where this goes?

It's not supposed to let you disable the firewall. This allows you to group policy it. If you want to disable it, http://msmvps.com/kwsupport/archive/2004/08/27/12477.aspx follow that. This file noted above needs to be applied on the SERVER.

OK. This may seem like a silly question. But how come you can disable the firewall on a standalone system, but not one that is on a domain? I was assuming there was a way to handle this from the server.

You can ... via group policy. Apply that xp2 policy patch AND the group policy editing patch and then edit the domain policy on the server. When the machine comes "off" the LAN they are using their own policy, when they go "on" the lan they are on the domain policy.

My server must be controlling this. I ran that reg hack that you linked to and everything remains the same.

What are the patches I need for the server?

You've rebooted?

This is the other hotfix you need.
842933 - "The following entry in the [strings] section is too long and has been truncated" error message when you try to modify or to view GPOs in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, or Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=842933

That's what I thought you meant. I downloaded it and applied it to the server. Then i ran mmc from the server, made the changes outlined. Rebooted the server and the workstation. I still get the same thing. This is strange.

I just noticed the settings in my workstation's registry have changed back to "1" in both the "EnableFirewall" areas. So it does appear the server is controlling this.

Here are some screenshots I took, showing the firewall settings being disabled in the GPO. There is also a screenshot of the firewall settings (in the control panel) still having the disable option greyed out.

http://www.alltech-computers.net/screenshots/Image1.jpg

http://www.alltech-computers.net/screenshots/Image2.jpg

http://www.alltech-computers.net/screenshots/Image3.jpg

Finally! Here is the fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=872769

Download the file and apply it to the SBS 2003 Server. Yod do not need to reboot the Server.

When I ran "gpupdate /force" from the command prompt on the workstation, the changes still had not taken effect.

After I rebooted, Windows said that my firewall was turned off, I just went into the settings and said I had a firewall and would monitor it myself.

You will also need to follow the instructions by Susan at the top of this article. I did this first.

That's it. I hope this helps others out there that may be experiencing the same problem.

That's our SBS enabled file that would come down via Windows update anyway. Sorry I assumed you already had installed that. That's part one, now go get the group policy hotfix as well.

It all seems to be working now. For some reason, I had to hack the registry also. I just wanted the stinking Windows Firewall off. And now it is, so I'm happy. I don't know if GPO is working properly or not. At this point it works, so I'm letting it be.

GPO adjustment worked fine if you follow Susan's great instructions. OB1FoShoB's screenshots should give newer players a hint of where to look in the GPO.