SP2… Great for security and protecting users but at what cost?
So I just installed Build **** of XP SP2 and I honestly can say that the improvements Microsoft have made for security and protecting users is great. I think it’ll help my Mom from getting herself into trouble. But at the same time it’s more than safe to say that Microsoft got way way ahead of itself in even thinking they had a post RC1 interim build on their hands. At best RC1 is more like Beta 1 and **** is like an interim build leading to Beta 2. It’s truly pathetic, and I’m glad that SP2 has been delayed since these crappy issues need to be resolved otherwise SP2 will soon be SP2a. First thing I did after I did a clean install of XP Pro a week or so ago on my Inspiron 8600 was install SP2 RC1… What happened? Well only two of my 6 system tray icons would load. I’d get service errors, My Network Places and Network Connections would never come up, and loads of other BS problems. So I immediately uninstalled it. I’m happy to say that **** seems to be working okay on the laptop now… But of course all isn’t Bliss with SP2… I installed it on my 2004 MCE. On first boot some of my system tray icons were missing. Quick Launch was missing and every other toolbar was turned off. That was a bitch because I had to rearrange all the icons I keep in my quick launch. Then I noticed Synergy wasn’t working even though I did get the prompt to unblock it and did. So I tried pulling up the settings for ICF but what do you think happens?
—————————
Windows Firewall
—————————
Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings.
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OK
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Great… What a pile of cow dung. I’m going to reboot right now and hopefully I’ll actually get to change my firewall settings, otherwise screw it, who needs security when I can’t even control that security I’ll just uninstall SP2 (note: I’m being facetious and I don’t actually mean that). 
[UPDATE: Well as I expected but hoped wouldn't be the case, the Windows Firewall settings still cannot be displayed. And the problem really is unidentifiable since the error doesn't even show up in the Event Viewer. 
]
May 4th, 2004 at 7:09 am
FWIW, I had the same error after the first run of this interim build.
It just as quickly disappeared after I grabbed some food…
sigh
May 27th, 2004 at 6:58 am
I just installed SP2 b 2096.. it’s been great. i’ve had some problems here and there, but all in all it’s wonderfull. things are faster.. windows open faster. etc etc. i dont know about your problems, but the only major OS related problem i got was that of the firewall settings not showing up.. (i’ve had problems with other softwares like stylexp and f-secure, but i fixed it and it’s aite now).. with the "Undefined Firewall Problem", just do this:
You need to register 2 DLLs. Type the following in command prompt.
First
regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\atl.dll
then
regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\hnetcfg.dll
I hope this helps you and all your readers.
Peace
Tea
November 3rd, 2004 at 11:43 am
I tried the above .dll commands to no avail.
I still get "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings" when I try to open the Windows XP Firewall. Wow, I can’t believe Microsoft have no answer to such a fundamental bug in their OS!!!
December 20th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
I spent most of a month trying to solve the same problem, including repairing WinXP. I finally had to uninstall SP2 until such a fix comes along. I now have this on a second system. I’ve tied this to either an exploit I received on both systems, or to drive cloning prior to installing SP2.
Does this jibe with anyone else?
NV
December 21st, 2004 at 6:30 pm
Found my solution. My exploit deleted the Firewall Service in leu of it’s own. The solution was to merge a registry entry from an uncorrupted system, which restores the windows firewall service and then reboot. The contents of the reg file are posted below the pound (###) signs. Copy and paste into a .reg file and merge into your registry.
Noah Vail
##################
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess]
"Type"=dword:00000020
"Start"=dword:00000002
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\
6b,00,20,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)"
"DependOnService"=hex(7):4e,00,65,00,74,00,6d,00,61,00,6e,00,00,00,57,00,69,00,\
6e,00,4d,00,67,00,6d,00,74,00,00,00,00,00
"DependOnGroup"=hex(7):00,00
"ObjectName"="LocalSystem"
"Description"="Provides network address translation, addressing, name resolution and/or intrusion prevention services for a home or small office network."
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Epoch]
"Epoch"=dword:00000d23
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters]
"ServiceDll"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
69,00,70,00,6e,00,61,00,74,00,68,00,6c,00,70,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,\
00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\DomainProfile]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List]
"%windir%\\system32\\sessmgr.exe"="%windir%\\system32\\sessmgr.exe:*:enabled:@xpsp2res.dll,-22019"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile]
"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List]
"%windir%\\system32\\sessmgr.exe"="%windir%\\system32\\sessmgr.exe:*:enabled:@xpsp2res.dll,-22019"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\
00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\
00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\
20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,\
00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,01,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Setup]
"ServiceUpgrade"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Setup\InterfacesUnfirewalledAtUpdate]
"{51F70032-BAFA-4F82-A8A5-6EC23B7B8F2C}"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Enum]
"0"="Root\\LEGACY_SHAREDACCESS\\0000"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001
April 2nd, 2005 at 9:37 pm
So this post was actually referring to an unreleased beta build of XP SP2, hence the **** for the build number. If you’re still getting this issue and you’re running SP2 then something must be up. My suggestion would be to uninstall SP2 (especially if you’ve forgotten to uninstall any previous beta builds before installing the final release RTM). Then after all that waiting, install SP2 once more. I personally have not had this problem on any of my 5 machines (not to mention those at work) since XP SP2 went gold.
April 2nd, 2005 at 9:41 pm
[This comment was posted by Jeff but was never saved due to an error.]
I tried the using the .reg, and I stopped getting the error. However, I’m not able to turn my XP firewall on or off, the option is stuck on off and is no longer a clickable radio button, and the security center shows the firewall set as running, despite it being switched off.
August 29th, 2005 at 11:53 pm
I just used noah vail’s .reg solution, and it worked!
I have been trying to fix this for a while, and wel, this worked. I hadn’t created a .reg file before, but figured I would just copy and paste from the "#############" on down into the notepad. Then I saved it as ".reg" file type "all files". Next, I located the saved file, dbl-clicked it, said yes, and whala! anyway, I thought I would explain how it worked, for those non-tech saavy among us… Thanks Noah Vail!
February 14th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
I had the similar problem not able to turn on and off firewall with the same notification. This regisry merging solution from Noah Vail solved my problem Thanks Noah!, hope i didnt mixed up my registry files too much. But would be good to know the core problem. I think my problem was triggered by spyware winsysban8.exe or mssearch.exe and so. After cleaning computer I was left with this firewall shit.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Noah,
For those of us who are well…’challenged’…could you please give me a step-by-step version of creating a .reg file, copy and past and merge the above?
Thanks.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Noah,
many thanks for your answer. Creating the .reg file and double-clicking it to get entered in the registor (or open the .reg file with regedit) just did the job !!
I can again enable/disable the Windows XP firewall.