After installing CPF I couldn’t deactivate the Windows XP firewall: Both radio buttons (“Activate” and “deactivate”) were disabled, “Activate” was checked.
Could the reason perhaps be that I have activated the “protect CPF registry entries” in the “miscellaneous” options of CPF? Could this perhaps block also all changes to the Windows XP firewall settings?
On the other hand, after uninstalling CPF and restarting Windows XP, I still couldn’t deactivate the Windows XP firewall.
Klaus.
In the meantime I have seen that the CPF installation process presents a checkbox “Deactivate Windows firewall”, which is checked by default.
May this, perhaps, be the reason why the activate/deactivate radio buttons in the Windows firewall settings are both disabled thereafter (and remain disabled after uninstalling CPF)?
Klaus.
Klaus,
All it does is just what it says, simply deactivate the WinXP firewall. It should not interfere with reactivating it…
Perhaps this is a dumb question, but just to cover the bases… After uninstalling CPF, did you reboot?
LM
Many thanks for your hint, although it doesn’t help me finally.
When I installed CPF for the first time, I didn’t immediately reboot Windows but only after some further work.
When I installed CPF for the second time, I did reboot Windows immediately, the effect remaining the same.
Klaus.
Many things are solved by a reboot, but apparently not this time… 
Might try the following:
Go to Start/Run, type “services.msc”. OK.
Find the entry for Security Center. Change startup type to Disabled.
Reboot.
Go back to Start/Run, “services.msc”
Back to Security Center. Change startup type to Automatic.
Reboot.
That way you will have cycled the Security Center off and back on again, with reboots to reset the internal memory, etc. If that’s what’s keeping WinXP FW locked out, it should be reset. If not, you may have to rebuild the repository (which is not a big deal; in fact, there’s a script available here in Comodo forums for just that, since Security Center used to not recognize CPF).
LM
PS: While you’re in Services, check to make sure that the Windows Firewall entry has not been changed to Disabled instead of Automatic…
Hi LM,
switching the security center off and on with intermediate reboots didn’t help, unfortunately, nor did the batch script for resetting the security center repository: The firewall settings radio buttons remained disabled.
But I could successfully switch the “inactive” radio button to “on” by setting the registry key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\EnableFirewall” to “0”.
If nobody knows a better solution that re-enables the two radio buttons, then I’ll have to live with this solution, like it or not.
Many thanks for your efforts,
Klaus.
Well, I’m glad you got it resolved, but that’s a first for me, Klaus.
Probably be a good idea to report to Support (which is fully free), here: http://support.comodo.com
It’s possible they already know about it; if not, they will learn, and perhaps be able to shed some light on the situation. That’s what they’re there for, after all… ;D
LM