Windows 8 Still fighting the firewall.

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'm still trying to get the firewall service to start.

I did all of the things listed below, including the automatic, and manual fix.....

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This firewall issue is commonly found on vista and windows 7 (64 BIT OS)
It is recommended to contact malware removal forums to remove it first and try the fix
Run the services repair tool by ESET

http://kb.eset.com/library/ESET/KB Team Only/Malware/ServicesRepair.exe
Restart the PC.Firewall and critical missing services should work.

Manual Fix
Download both the registry files
Windows firewall - *Firewall
Base filtering engine - *BFE
Launch them,You should get a UAC prompt now
Click YES *& Restart your PC

Now,Press Windows+ R key and type

regedit and click ok

go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\BFE

Right click on it-permissions

Click on ADD and type

Everyone and click ok

Now Click on Everyone

Below you have permission for users

Select full control and click ok

Now,open RUN and type

services.msc and click ok

start base filtering engine service and then windows firewall service

If you still have this error
Windows could not start Windows Firewall on local Computer. See event log, if non-windows services contact vendor. Error code 5.

Download and launch this key,click YES
Shared access
give full control permission to this key similar to previous one

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess

Right click on it -permissions

Click on Add and type

Everyone and select Full control
You should able to start firewall now
You may also be missing security center windows defender ,BITS and windows update
services

Download

Security center *-wscsvc
Windows defender - windefend
BITS * *- *BITS
Windows update *- *wuauserv
Launch them and click YES when you get a UAC prompt

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Ok I did all this I confirmed that the BFE is running.
But I still get these same error messages when I try and start the service.





Does anyone have any idea what it's asking for, I don't have any idea what user it's looking for.

If someone needs to see something else let me know and I'll post it.

I'd ignore this but Windows 8 won't let you download anything from the store unless the firewall is running. I've seen info that states that Windows 8.1 will be available through the app store, If that's the only way, I'll have to resolve this before then.

I've found many posts from people having similar problems, the post above was supposed to be a fix, but it didn't work for me.

I went back and confirmed that all of the changes were made to the registry.

Mike

 

[MikeHawthorne]

 

[Trouble]

Still guessing but, let's just take the error message at face value and take a look and see.
Open Task Manager
Select the Processes Tab
Scroll down to Windows processes
Start expanding Service Host processes until you find the service host process containing the firewall service. (mine was Service Host: Local Service (No Network)(4)
The four processes running there were
Base Filtering Engine
Diagnostic Policy Service
Network Connected Devices Auto-Setup
Windows Firewall
Make a note and then open the services console (services.msc)
Double click each of the services and select the "Log On" tab
All of mine showed the same
This account: Local Service
See if any of yours differ.
Regards
Randy

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi Randy

I'll try that.

Mike

 

[ginovat]

Mike, I read your previous posts about your firewall troubles. I have a fix that will work, but it will give all accounts the same rights. I don’t know if this is what you want, but it should solve the problem. Send me a pm if you want to try this method.
I say that because, I’m a new member and all of my posts have to be manually approved before they go “live”. Sometimes this can take a while, but it is quite understandable. (we all have personal lives)

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi Guys

I've done what Randy suggested...



Only 2 service shown.



The Firewall Service was different but only because I had changed it looking for something that would work.

I changed it back so it was the same as the BFE service, which was the same as Randy's Local Service.

That changed the error message back to what I was getting to start with.



When I go to Event Log I get exactly what I got to start with, Access Denied.



Mike

Gintonic

I'll send you a private message if you want but you can just send the process to me, via private message, or post it here.
I'm not in a huge hurry I've been working on this for months!

I'm pretty sure that what caused this was installing Net Framework 1.1 which I needed for some software.
It created a user account when it installed and that's when the problems started but I haven't found anyway to correct it.

Maybe it would help someone else too.

I only have one person who uses this computer (Me) so I don't care how many accounts have access.

I've found a lot of people having this problem in Windows 8 when I searched.

Ps. Here's what I currently see in Accounts.

 

[Trouble]

Sorry that didn't seem to work for you Mike.
And yes.... the whole idea of having a forum such as this is to share information so that everyone might benefit.

 

[ginovat]

Mike, tweaking.com has a great all in one tool that solves a lot of common but frustrating pc problems. Here’s the link.
Click on the direct download link for the installer. Install the program. Then disable any antivirus and security software. The program has many functions which are listed in steps. It works with Windows XP, 2003 Server, Vista, 2008 Server, 7, 8 (32 & 64 Bit). Since your system is clean and you already have your registry backed up you don’t need any of those functions.
You only need the “start repairs” function.

1. It has a malware checker
2. Check disk function
3. System file checker function
4. System restore function and registry backup function.

Open the program and click the tab that says “start repairs”. Only check the following:

Reset registry permissions
Reset file permissions
Repair WMI
Repair windows firewall
Restore Important Windows Services
Set Windows Services To Default Startup
All of these items are tied in to the firewall
Plus add anything else that you know is wrong
Press start and allow the program to do its thing
Reboot the system and that’s it.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi Guys

Well I tried that, it looked like it was working I could follow some of what it was doing.
Changing permissions to the currently logged in account.

Changed registry setting, permissions etc. I saw it set BFE and stuff like that.

Problem is when I got done restarted and tried to start Firewall Services I still got the same Permission Denied message in event viewer.

The only thing I had it try to fix was Windows Firewall.

I'll look at it some more tomorrow, now it's getting too late.

Mike

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Went back today and went through the whole thing again.

The only thing that I couldn't do was reset registry permissions.
It states that it is disabled in Windows 8 because of problems with the app store.

It took a long time, but when I got done and restarted the firewall didn't start and when I tried to start the service I got the same message "Access Denied".

Looks like I'm just going to have to live with it.

In all the years of working on computers I have to say this is one of very few problems that I haven't found a solution for.

I'll wait until Windows Blue comes out and if I have to I'll do a total reinstall at that time.
There's nothing on my C:\ drive except Windows and some Adobe software, (which I always place in the default location because it always has to be reinstalled anyway) so I don't have to worry about my data or other installed software like games etc.

For now I'll put Comodo back in, it actually works better than the Windows firewall.
Why they made it so that you can't download anything unless the firewall is turned on is kind of crazy, especially when I see a lot of people having problems with it.

But that's Microsoft.

Mike

Ps. I just came back to say that while I didn't get the firewall fixed my computer hasn't run this good in a long time.

After going through everything defragmentation, registry cleaned up etc. it's like a fresh install on a new computer, everything I click on is instantaneous with no lag.

 

[ginovat]

Unfortunately, reset registry permissions was the most important change that needed to be made. Quite possibly that alone would have solved the problem. If you are like me and hate to have unresolved problems on your computer, here’s one more trick.
There is a semi manual way of resetting the registry from the command line, but it takes a few minutes. First you need to download and install SubInACL from here.

SubInACL is a command-line tool that enables administrators to obtain security information about files, registry keys, and services, and transfer this information from user to user, from local or global group to group, and from domain to domain.

Please take note of what directory you choose for the program to install. You will need to know when you run a command prompt. Create a file with the name reset.cmd under C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools folder or wherever you chose to install it. Open the file in notepad and add the following lines:
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f
Save and exit your file
Now you need to open command prompt with elevated privileges and run the following command
cd “C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools”
(depends on where you installed it)
after this press enter and enter the following command
reset.cmd
after entering this please press enter
after a few minutes by processing subinacl, the permission will be reset. Then restart the computer. One important note, while the terminal is running , you will see "access denied" continually scrolling down the screen. This is normal because the changes won't happen until you reboot. It would be a good idea to disable all security software while running the command prompt. Keep in mind that you must use the command line with elevated rights in order for it to work. For more background information, you can go to Windowsreference.com The author has the same “fix” listed on the site, but he had one typo regarding the cmd line prompt.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi Gintonic

I tried this process.
I installed the software in the location you indicated in your post for the sake of keeping it simple.



I created the Rest.cmd file and placed it in tools...



I opened the command prompt as admin and typed in the command....



That is the message I get everytime.

What am I missing?

Mike

 

[ginovat]

Why is system32 directory listed as parent directory of program files?
C:\ Windows\system32>Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools is what the terminal says. It should say:
C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I have no idea, if I login as admin it always goes to this default directory.

If I don't login as admin it goes to C:\users\my name>

It won't let me go to a C:\ location, if I type in C:\ it says basically the same thing.

How would I create another access to the command windows that just starts at C:\?

Mike

 

[Trouble]

you are going to have to navigate manually.
first get back to the root of C by typing cd\ and hit enter
then type cd program files\windows resource kits\tools
space between cd and program

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Thanks trouble that worked but it didn't solve the problem...



I see that Gintonics instruction said to type CD, I missed that.
It's been a long time since dos.

I think that I'm putting C:\ in when I don't have to...



Well that didn't work either.

Mike

 

[Trouble]

because you didn't type cd prior to the rest of the command. You have to tell it that you want to Change Directories..... hence the cd and the space

 

[MikeHawthorne]

That worked it's doing it now, lets hope my computer doesn't go down. LOL

 

[Trouble]

and according to your earlier screen shot the file(s) are not in Program Files (x86) but in just plain old program files.
So once you have arrived at the root of C by typing cd\
then type
cd program files\windows resource Kits\tools
hit enter and then type the name of your .cmd file

 

[ginovat]

Hopefully, this should work. If not, there are a few more ways that we can attack this. I’ve gotta run but I will try to check back on the forum in the morning.