Vista Business - Firewall blocking RDP connections

[jdjm]

Hi All,

Got a strange issue that I have yet to resolve and wondering if anyone else has come across this issue.

SBS 2011 network with workstaions running 32 Bit Vista business. Issue occured with SBS 2003 also.

I will use RDP as an example but other networking features are also unavailable.

When a workstation is rebooted RDP connections are blocked by the firewall. I cannot ping the workstation\browse c$ etc

When I look at the firewall all exceptions are added ok. If I untick an exception click apply, tick it again and click apply all is ok.

Very strange.

Any ideas appreciated

Regards

Jon

 

[goombawaho]

RDP from what to what and ping from what to what - please clarify.

What firewall?

What network cards? (especially if they share a common one)

Have you updated the network card drivers?

 

[jdjm]

Hi Goombawaho,

RDP from the SBS 2011 server to the workstation.

Cannot ping the workstation form the server.

Windows firewall. No other firewalls installed.

Workstation has an Intel 82562V-2 on board network adapter. Server has a Broadcom BCM5716C network adapter.

No I havent updated the network card drivers

If I re add the exceptions in the firewall everthing works as expected. Reboot workstation - blocked.

Thanks

Jon

 

[goombawaho]

That makes no sense really. For fact-finding, can you reboot two of the workstations and set up a continuous ping from the server (as soon as they are rebooted) to the two workstations in separate CMD prompts to see when/how long the ping will crap out.

From two server CMD prompt windows
ping -t 192.168.1.20 (or whatever first computer ip address is)
ping -t 192.168.1.21 (or whatever second computer ip address is)

I would do ping via IP address first and then repeat reboot/ping test using host name to see if result is different.

Were you pinging by host name or IP address originally???

After the above test:
I would still update the network card drivers on the two workstations used to test and then re-test. Wait until AFTER the testing.
Third step would be to update the server network card drivers.

 

[jdjm]

I agree it makes no sense.

The ping will crap out at whatever point the firewall kicks in when Windows is loading. I am sure it is the firewall that is causing the issue.
I thought initially it was a rougue GP but it doesn't happen on all Workstations on the domain. Roughly half of them. The machines are all the same and have the same build.

Ping by host name or IP gives the same result.

I will update the drivers but I dont think this will make a difference. Will try anything though as you never know.

Waiting for someone to suggest binning Vista

 

[goombawaho]

Waiting for someone to suggest binning Vista

The thought of making that comment is never far from my tongue, but is it really constructive/funny after all these years?

I thought that maybe it was LATER after boot that the ping died, but it's as soon as the firewall gets loaded. If you update the network card driver and it doesn't work, can you disable the windows firewall and reboot just to make 100% sure it's that component causing the problem?

I don't know what to advise after that.
All the Windows Vista updates have been applied??
It couldn't be the switch that everything is connected to?? Brand/model?

Too strange. Maybe someone else has seen this.

 

[cdogg]

I'm not sure about Windows Vista, but in Windows 7, the "Network discovery" setting has caused us similar headaches. With this disabled, it is a hit and miss as to which workstations will have the problem.

1. Open Network and Sharing Center
2. Click Advanced sharing settings
3. Turn on network discovery


-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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[jdjm]

Thats an interesting thought.

Interestingly though my own Laptop has all network discovery options turned off, yet is still fully visible on the network whether I am in the office connected to the domain or at home connected to my own network.

I will certainly take a look and test.

Thanks