Reset firewall settings?



  • My sister was having trouble streaming media from our Windows Home Server, the server was not visible to the XBox 360.

    Logged on with remote desktop to the server to check the settings, toggled Windows Media Connect off/off, which usually does the trick, but no joy.

    Started looking at the firewall settings, in case some windows/HP update blocked WMC. All the required ports looked open.

    Except for the message that the windows firewall setting were corrupt, and would I like to reset them to the defaults?

    I clicked yes.

    Server is headless, only configurable via remote desktop, and guess what ports are not open by the 'Default' firewall rules on WHS?

    Going to try booting the main HD on my desktop machine tonight; or see if I can somehow apply correct firewall settings to the boot drive without actually booting it. Otherwise it's reinstall from scratch.



  • You don't have a monitor you can use with the server? Or shell out the money for a little IP KVM switch.



  • @bgodot said:

    Server is headless, only configurable via remote desktop
    Same thought as morbs . . . transplant a head on it?  Is this a true server-class machine or a repurposed desktop or homebuilt machine?  A true server-class machine would likely have a lights-out/remote interface board that would allow you to act like you're on the console.  If you have access to the HD, seems like you have enough access to be able to take one of those paths.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    Microsoft seems to think that home users don't need to use remote desktop. I can understand starting with it turned off, but it makes administering the kids' machines a lot harder. But for a server OS, you'd think this would be on by default.



  •  It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495


  • @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495

    Oh. Wait, so it's running a Windows desktop but it doesn't have a video port? Didn't they think it was possible something might get screwed up and would need a video port to fix it?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Didn't they think it was possible something might get screwed up and would need a video port to fix it?

    It's a Windows server, there's no way anything could go wrong with it.



  • @bgodot said:

    It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into.
    Only accessible via Remote Desktop and the default firewall rules block this? What muppet designed this box?



  • If you can't fix it, look into 'server restore' versus 'factory restore' ... 'server restore' will restore the server system operating system without disturbing your backups or shares. 'factory restore' will wipe the system.

    @morbiuswilters said:

    @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495

    Oh. Wait, so it's running a Windows desktop but it doesn't have a video port? Didn't they think it was possible something might get screwed up and would need a video port to fix it?

    Microsoft's OEMs were coaxed into making completely headless 'appliances' running the Windows Home Server software. The WHS Console actually uses RDP so I don't know how the 'default' would be to close that port ... but of course, you aren't supposed to normally be futzing around in the desktop and clicking on all these arcane popups. :)  BTW, the normal mode of fixing his original problem would be a 'server restore'.  Since WHS v1 is built on top of Windows Server 2003, it probably took those defaults.



  • @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495
    Are you blind?  It's right there on the back, bottom, next to the fan.


  • If the admin shares are still open, you can try something like gencontrol. It's a VNC program that copies itself to the root of the remote marchine and starts up the VNC server on it.

    Though, come to think of it, Windows Firewall might block VNC. Worth a shot though. Good luck.

    I once turned off the network card of a headless machine that was at the back of a full storage closet (though I could reach the front power button with some effort). That was fun.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495
    Are you blind?  It's right there on the back, bottom, next to the fan.

    Do you mean the eSata port? That's no video port.


    There is such thing as a usb video card which can be had for less than $50.



  • @dubbreak said:

    @Sutherlands said:

    @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495
    Are you blind?  It's right there on the back, bottom, next to the fan.
    Do you mean the eSata port? That's no video port.

    There is such thing as a usb video card which can be had for less than $50.
    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.


  • @Sutherlands said:

    @dubbreak said:

    @Sutherlands said:

    @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495
    Are you blind?  It's right there on the back, bottom, next to the fan.
    Do you mean the eSata port? That's no video port.

    There is such thing as a usb video card which can be had for less than $50.
    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.

    Oh, the ethernet port? But his firewall probably won't let the videos go out through the ethernet port..



  • I have a couple of headless media servers.. Home Server Console (instaled on a client) should be able to talk to the box event without general RDP enabled.


  • :belt_onion:

    @DOA said:

    @bgodot said:

    It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into.
    Only accessible via Remote Desktop and the default firewall rules block this? What muppet designed this box?

    Apparently HP did :)



  • @Sutherlands said:

    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.
     

    The power connector? I guess running 110/240V into your monitor's VGA cable might make something appear on it!



  • @dubbreak said:

    There is such thing as a usb video card which can be had for less than $50
     

    I had that thought too, but then there is the problem of installing the drivers: I doubt a 9 year old OS would have the drivers for those fan-dangled things!



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

    I have a couple of headless media servers.. Home Server Console (instaled on a client) should be able to talk to the box event without general RDP enabled.

    It might work if the general remote desktop service isn't generally enabled, but it's not going to work if the RDP port is blocked by the the firewall!



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Oh. Wait, so it's running a Windows desktop but it doesn't have a video port?
     

    http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-06-24/

    Side WTF: in the search results, the Dilbert strips come with a convenient "embed" link which pops up a window containing some HTML code to paste wherever you require - and the popup even has a big red "Copy to clipboard" button. However:

    • The beginning of the text is <a href="http://dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.
    • The "copy to clipboard" feature doesn't actually copy anything to the clipboard.
    • The "embed" feature doesn't appear when you're just looking at a single strip rather than search results.


     





  • Just connect a keyboard to it and press the appropriate sequence of keystrokes to disable the firewall!



  • @Strolskon said:

    Just connect a keyboard to it and press the appropriate sequence of keystrokes to disable the firewall!
    One of my friends used to have the Xbox 360 dashboard (one of the older designs) memorized well enough to configure stuff without looking. It was a useful skill when Xbox's still couldn't properly detect supported output resolutions and would always send 1080p to a 720p TV which would just display "Signal Format Not Supported."



  • Heh.

    Manufacturer's price: $699.99

    Amazon's price: $2,499.99

    Such a bargain!



  • Win2003 you say? What ports are actually open?

    If SMB/CIFS is still open (you can get write access to a network share like C$), use psexec to run a cmd shell on it

    The command you'd want to type first is netsh firewall help.

    Yes, you can configure Windows Firewall without requiring a GUI.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.


    Please God tell me you're trolling. The only 'port' next to the fan is an IEC power socket. Plugging anything other than power into that socket will do the square root of chuff all*, since logically the server will not itself be receiving any power by dint of doing this.


    * except potentially frying whatever is connected, if the power socket has any Large Capacitors connected to the other side of it (i.e. within the server case).



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    @Sutherlands said:

    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.

    Please God tell me you're trolling. The only 'port' next to the fan is an IEC power socket. Plugging anything other than power into that socket will do the square root of chuff all*, since logically the server will not itself be receiving any power by dint of doing this.

    * except potentially frying whatever is connected, if the power socket has any Large Capacitors connected to the other side of it (i.e. within the server case).

    Oh, that's a power connector?  Gah, they look so similar!


  • @Cad Delworth said:

    @Sutherlands said:

    I said next to the fan, not next to the button, or above the fan, or next to the usbs.


    Please God tell me you're trolling. The only 'port' next to the fan is an IEC power socket. Plugging anything other than power into that socket will do the square root of chuff all*, since logically the server will not itself be receiving any power by dint of doing this.


    * except potentially frying whatever is connected, if the power socket has any Large Capacitors connected to the other side of it (i.e. within the server case).

    Well, you need an adapter, duh. You can pick up 120VAC <-> VGA adapters at Radio Shack.



  • @mallard said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:
    I have a couple of headless media servers.. Home Server Console (instaled on a client) should be able to talk to the box event without general RDP enabled.

    It might work if the general remote desktop service isn't generally enabled, but it's not going to work if the RDP port is blocked by the the firewall!

    The versions of Windows Home Server that I evaluated did NOT use RDP or the normal RDP ports for the Home Server Console application...this may have changed, but I have not heard of it, nor needed to research it. If that is still true, then it is completely possible to have RDP disabled AND blocked - yet still use the Console Application...



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

    @mallard said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:
    I have a couple of headless media servers.. Home Server Console (instaled on a client) should be able to talk to the box event without general RDP enabled.

    It might work if the general remote desktop service isn't generally enabled, but it's not going to work if the RDP port is blocked by the the firewall!

    The versions of Windows Home Server that I evaluated did NOT use RDP or the normal RDP ports for the Home Server Console application...this may have changed, but I have not heard of it, nor needed to research it. If that is still true, then it is completely possible to have RDP disabled AND blocked - yet still use the Console Application...

    The version of WHS I messed about with on one of my servers before deciding it was rubbish and switching to full WS2003 most certainly did and the documentation I can find seems to support me on this one.

    e.g. "The configuration interface, called the Home Server Console, is delivered as a Remote Desktop Protocol application to remote PCs - while the application runs on the server itself, the UI is rendered on the remote system." (Wikipedia)

    "I have recently altered the port that my home server listens on for rdp to something other than the default 3389. Obviously, the home server console connects using this port. I need to change the port that the console connects with and cannot find it anywhere." http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/whssoftware/thread/b3348b4d-3d57-4212-bc84-a1b5a9ddd340

    "These tell the browser based RDP session to use HomeServerConsole.exe as the "shell", with a command line parameter to tell it not to show the Minimize and Exit buttons." http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/dougknox/remote-desktop-access-windows-home-server.aspx



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @bgodot said:

     It has no video ports, or any expansion slot to add a video card into. Images of the available ports are in this article.

    http://computershopper.com/storage/reviews/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495

    Oh. Wait, so it's running a Windows desktop but it doesn't have a video port? Didn't they think it was possible something might get screwed up and would need a video port to fix it?

    I was once on a project which tried to use some mac minis with xp in a net. Not my first server OS choice given max 10 concurrent TCP connections but the choice wasn't mine..They thought it was practical with a graphics card in the macs in case something went wrong. Turns out that xp refuses to boot headless. We had to coax it into believing that a display was connected by bridging pins on the VGA connector. Fun times. See linky if you don't take my word for it :)


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