1 Gb NIC (router supports 10/100/1000 base T + 802.11N wireless connections)
Polaris
Notebook
4 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium
802.11N wireless
I have the N360 5.x 3 user license version, and have it installed and fully updated on both machines. Since I set up Aragorn in September, I've been trying to get the Windows 7 Homegroup functionality to work. It seems to work for short periods of time while I have the firewall on both machines temporarily disabled. I've been searching this forum and others since September looking for a solution, but the best one that I've found (besides uninstalling N360 and using something else) is to edit the trust between the two computers in "My Network." This leads me to another problem: Polaris seems to see Aragorn in the Network Security Map and I'm able to set the trust to full for Aragorn, but Aragorn never seems to see Polaris listed there. Even when I add Polaris manually through IP or MAC address, Polaris is always listed as offline. (Each time I've done the manual add, I've set Polaris to full trust, but that doesn't seem to make any difference.)
When using the Windows network browser, I can sometimes see Polaris from Aragorn, but Aragorn can't be seen from Polaris.
Any ideas as to what's going on and how to resolve these issues? Could this be partially an issue between Win 7 Ultimate and Home Premium? Why would my notebook (Polaris) always be listed as offline in the Network Security/Trust map? (I've confirmed that it's connected to the proper network on multiple occasions.)
That's the thing, I've gone through on both machines, and set both the individual machines and the entire network to full trust without resolving this issue. That was one of the first things I did, in fact, and spent yet another hour on confirming the settings before posting. I've been trying to get this to work properly for months, and I'd consider myself an advanced user. (I've been programming since 83, use multiple operating systems, build computers, have administered networks, servers, etc..)
I now have Homegroup working, but not in what I would deem the correct or most secure way, so I'd love to get a better solution. On Aragorn (the desktop), I added a firewall rule that accepted all TCP and UDP connections to and from that machine to and from my local subnet. Given that this is a home network, this probably isn't a big deal, but I'm one of those people that would rather be a little more cautious than having such a wide open firewall rule. If, by some chance, someone with a wifi connection managed to get past the MAC filters and other security in my router to successfully get on my network, they'd be pretty much free to target this desktop.
Thanks for the update; glad you have found at least a workable kluge. I have not seen this issue fail to respond to the correct Trust Control settings before--and since it only worked "for short periods of time" before when you disabled the Norton firewalls on the two machines, it seems likely there's an underlying Windows issue, or something else that's peculiar to your configuration. You have impressive skills in the right areas to fix this (slightly better and likely a lot more current than mine!) so I'm not sure what else we can do!
Good luck--and I hear you on the security concerns. Fortunately, unless you're a key person in a high-profile corporation, independently wealthy, and/or work for a large government agency you're probably not going to have anybody particularly professional trying to break into your home network. Cybercriminals are, by and large, like any other criminals: they don't make their jobs any harder than they have to be by going after targets that have even rudimentary protections up; they go after the folks who are naive enough to have unpassworded routers hanging out there for all the world to see.
You really shouldn't have to make custom firewall rules to allow communication on your LAN. I would suggest rebuilding your Network Security Map by taking your devices offline and using the Purge option (you should manually remove devices you added through Trust Control before purging to make sure they are removed). Then, reopen the Network Security Map and bring the devices on your LAN back online. The map should see them as they are connected. Instructions for purging the network are here:
Also, if you disable the rule you made manually and turn OFF the 'Stealth Blocked Ports' setting in the two firewalls, does this allow the systems to communicate fully?
You really shouldn't have to make custom firewall rules to allow communication on your LAN. I would suggest rebuilding your Network Security Map by taking your devices offline and using the Purge option (you should manually remove devices you added through Trust Control before purging to make sure they are removed). Then, reopen the Network Security Map and bring the devices on your LAN back online. The map should see them as they are connected. Instructions for purging the network are here:
I tried purging the network maps on both systems multiple times without results. I agree that I shouldn't have to do a custom firewall rule, but it's the only way that I've been able to get the two systems to see each other with the firewall still enabled.
Also, if you disable the rule you made manually and turn OFF the 'Stealth Blocked Ports' setting in the two firewalls, does this allow the systems to communicate fully?
Yes, IPv6 is fully supported and enabled in my router's firmware, DD-WRT v24-sp2 (08/07/10) std-nokaid on a Linksys WRT310N (Version 1). I'll check the "Stealth Blocked Ports" portion when I get the opportunity in a couple of days; I have a final and three papers due this week.
Turning "Stealth Blocked Ports" off seems to be the answer, I was able to see/join the Home Group from both machines, and able to browse and transfer files back and forth. Still, it seems to me that this is a bit of functionality that should be directly supported in N360, but I'm not going to complain about this solution. Thanks for your assistance!
Glad to hear it worked! Remember, this functionality is directly available, as millions use Norton 360 without having to go through all these gyrations. Most don't even have to go through the Trust Control bit we started out with. There's just something unique about your network or configuration that is requiring this extra step. Kudos to dbrisendine for figuring out the solution--and happy holidays to you!
1 Gb NIC (router supports 10/100/1000 base T + 802.11N wireless connections)
Polaris
Notebook
4 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium
802.11N wireless
I have the N360 5.x 3 user license version, and have it installed and fully updated on both machines. Since I set up Aragorn in September, I've been trying to get the Windows 7 Homegroup functionality to work. It seems to work for short periods of time while I have the firewall on both machines temporarily disabled. I've been searching this forum and others since September looking for a solution, but the best one that I've found (besides uninstalling N360 and using something else) is to edit the trust between the two computers in "My Network." This leads me to another problem: Polaris seems to see Aragorn in the Network Security Map and I'm able to set the trust to full for Aragorn, but Aragorn never seems to see Polaris listed there. Even when I add Polaris manually through IP or MAC address, Polaris is always listed as offline. (Each time I've done the manual add, I've set Polaris to full trust, but that doesn't seem to make any difference.)
When using the Windows network browser, I can sometimes see Polaris from Aragorn, but Aragorn can't be seen from Polaris.
Any ideas as to what's going on and how to resolve these issues? Could this be partially an issue between Win 7 Ultimate and Home Premium? Why would my notebook (Polaris) always be listed as offline in the Network Security/Trust map? (I've confirmed that it's connected to the proper network on multiple occasions.)
you're probably not going to have anybody particularly professional trying to break into your home network. Cybercriminals are, by and large, like any other criminals: they don't make their jobs any harder than they have to be by going after targets that have even rudimentary protections up; they go after the folks who are naive enough to have unpassworded routers hanging out there for all the world to see.