Windows Messenger up against XP Firewall

[baser5nature]

When I have XP's native firewall activated, I cannot send files through windows messenger... nor can i use whiteboard, etc... odly enough... i can receive files from others...

How do i configure the firewall or my connection so that this will work? Is it possible to configure XP's firewall?

 

[chastity]

I'm guessing that by the fact you said Windows Messenger you are using version 4.x. As for the firewall I don't know, I don't use it and I check the help about it and it didn't give me any answers.

 

[Cosmin]

sure , u can but u must first understand those checked or unchecked options ..

 

[baser5nature]

ok...

i've activated ports 6890 through 6900 using the ICMP settings tab... but have yet to try to send a file to someone no one online for me yet... soon enough though... but what confuses me is that XP's internet connection firewall is supposed to be a UPnP firewall. Apparently this type of firewall is supposed to automatically open and close ports as needed... which would make sense given that i'm using a M$ instant messaging service behind a M$ firewall... but for some reason... this doesn't happen... could it have anything to do with SP1??? or any of the seemingly dozens of security fixes for WinXP?

 

[baser5nature]

windows messenger 4.7.0105 by the way

 

[frothymilkshake]

moo

Good inquiry, I encounter the same issue too.

 

[Elroy Jetson]

xp's firewall is for inbound traffic only, it does not block any outgoing traffic. The fact that you can receive files shows that the firewall is not blocking anything in this case.

if you turn the firewall off, does it work? if not, it might be a temporary messenger server thing. dunno.

but as for a firewall, try something different to monitor you outbound traffic, eg kerio

EJ

 

[baser5nature]

adding the following ports in the "Local Area Connection->Advanced->Services" tab:

1863
5060
6890 --> 6900

worked for me... I thought it was strange that the firewall was blocking outbound too... i had that problem before on my old ocmputer too... i never looked into fixing it though since i didn't use it much... sometimes file transfer comes in handy though over messenger...

I just hope i'm not sacrificing a great deal of security opening these ports... off to check that out now...
i'll post back to let you know...

 

[pappcam]

If your ISP uses NAT (Network Adress Translation) then you can't use Messenger to send files. You can only recieve them. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[baser5nature]

dear fellow canadian...
i don't think you are totally wrong...

i used symantec's online security check and it said i was A ok... for all my ports... so i guess i'm ok...

 

[chastity]

Well I'm glad you figured out your problem baser5nature. As to pappcam statement I don't know ISP's used NAT but I think if you upgrade to MSN Messneger version 5 you should be able to send files via a NAT. I've done it so I'm pretty sure it works.

 

[Killfox]

Speaking of MSN Messenger ... how is it different than Windows Messenger? Can you use voice chat and a webcam?