Firewall stops working after uninstalling AV and can't get fixed anymore *help*

Comodo Internet Security - CIS Firewall Help - CIS
21

tried it again with these steps, but failed again.
i couldn’t delete these CmdAgent keys whatever I try. But I think they are not the real problem:

(i have no AV installed in this attempt) i tried installing comodo firwall 10 again. the first time after installation it starts and works as expected. after reboot, the error is back and is not starting anymore.
When I say “yes” for the diagnostic tool to fix the errors in the comodo error prompt, it takes a while (like 5mins with internet connection on) and it tells me “no problems were found”. (of course there are problems!§$") However, Comodo FW 10 then starts up! it has almost all settings reset to default but it starts up and is working. HOWEVER, if i reboot the machine, it’s all back the old problem and error message… and I for sure can’t run a 5min diagnostic tool on start-up everytime just to make the Firewall work… so this is no solution, but some kind of discovery.

i still have no idea what the origin of this problem is. the event viewer tells me the cmdagent could not be started in a timely manner (30000ms) on boot. I even set this to something like 10mins in another attempt and it didn’t change anything.

I’m almost at the point of giving up… choosing another free or opensource FW so i can change my AV (actually my wish for a another AV discovered all these problems).

22

Ok, i just had my most intense session to fix this error. 6 hours nonstop, rebooted like a million times installing/deinstalling avast antivirus / comodo firewall versions.

I discovered a few new things, which I’m going to share now. However, the main problem is still not solved and I never had anything so obstinate to fix.

Let’s get back to the basic situation:
Comodo firewall 8.4 is installed. Avast Free Antivirus is installed.

This time i did not start with uninstalling any of these. I started with installing Comodo Firewall 10 online installer and did an upgrade to comodo fw 8.4. surprisingly it worked out, it did not try to uninstall the 8.4 version before. I did a reboot and it worked without the usual error.

So this time I had Comodo Firewall 10 (latest up2date version) running together with Avast Free Antivirus (latest version also). Note here: both work perfectly together, no errors or whatsoever.

The reason I’m having all this trouble is i want to get rid of Avast Antivirus. However, like i told you many times before, as soon as i uninstall it, Comodo FW stops working and every attempt in reinstalling a comodo firewall failed after that point (“Comodo Security Agent could not be started” on boot).

So let’s try it again with Comodo FW 10 installed. I uninstalled Avast Free Antivirus, rebooted… and ■■■■, the comodo error is back again like in all previous attempts.

My next attempts were to completely clean the system from everything comodo/avast related. I used both avast/comodo cleanup tools, manually deleted legacy drivers.
I even renamed the CmdAgent registry keys (the ones that could not be deleted) and after that the comodo uninstaller was not able to detect ANY comodo software on this computer. At this point i’m sure I never had such a free of avast/comodo system before.

Then I wanted to do a clean reinstall of comodo FW 10 with the online installer. I did that. it started up after installation, all default settings. it requires a reboot. i did that reboot. here we go: the comodo error on boot is back as in previous attempts.

However, when I click “yes” on diagnostic setup to fix this error and have no internet connection up, it takes about 1 minute (in contrary to 5 minutes when internet connection available) then it says something like “errors were found but could not get fixed automatically”. But THEN the comodo security agent service IS RUNNING. I can start the comodo firewall main-app.

When i run the diagnostic setup on this error after boot WITH internet connection available, it takes about 5-10minutes, then it says “no errors were found” and again the comodo security agent service is started - i can start the firewall main-app and it’s working. However in both cases and each time the diagnostics reset the firewall configuration to default.

This is the overview of the diagnostic .xml output when it had no internet connection. you can see, beside the network error, there is no error found:

So while the CmdAgent service is not able to start at boot-time it is starting up when running the diagnostic tool. In any case however, after the next reboot the error is back again.

I tried many more things this time, but they all had no effect on the results.

I don’t know who to blame here. Comodo for not being able to code a working CmdAgent driver? Or Avast for not being able to code an uninstaller which doesn’t affect other companys installed software?

I really have no idea anymore what could be done about this issue. I’ll wait a few days for your responses, but if no solution can be found, i’ll finally have to find one without any Comodo/Avast software involved.

23

The only thing left that I can think of is that the subkeys of the CmdAgent key have conflicting user right limitations. You could try to take ownership of the subkeys and remove them one by one before finally removing the CmdAgent key.

I had a similar problem once with a registry key for Google Updater if I recall correctly. It almost drove me up the wall.

It seems that Avast messes with that registry key of CIS. A truly odd situation.

24

I tried everything to get access to the subkeys of CmdAgent. nothing worked to get ownership or even read access to those. remote registry, regedit as Trusted Installer / System, etc. all without success. I could rename the parent “CmdAgent” key name to something like “xBAKxCmdAgent”. Therefor the system, the comodo uninstaller tool, does not recognize it anymore. The effect is the same as if it’s been deleted. So I don’t think the problem is the CmdAgent key anymore.

Summing it up again: I can upgrade to latest comodo firewall v10. uninstalling avast av then makes comodo startup fail again. running the comodo diagnostic dialog however starts the CmdAgent and lets the firewall app start again (lasting unit the next reboot…).

I wouldn’t count on a bug on Avasts side for sure, it could also be a fault in the comodo security agent service, which under certain circumstances isn’t able to start upon boot.

25

I contacted umesh and he will have his team look at the problem. They will try to reproduce the problem and may be in contact when they are not able to reproduce. They need the following information: OS, CIS version and Avast product name and version.

26

Thank you, every helping hand is welcome.

For the specs:
Win7x64 (with latest windows updates applied),
Avast Free Antivirus (latest program version: 17.9.2322 (build 17.9.3761.278)),
Comodo Firewall v8.4.0.5076 (only the firewall installed nothing else, all AV functions disabled, installed via offline installer back in time),
as explained: i was able to upgrade to latest Comodo Firewall v10 version with the online installer and don’t have issues until i uninstall Avast AV - so maybe the issue is not necessarily dependent on v8.4.

27

Hi Citcat,

Sorry for the trouble caused. Thanks for providing the requested information. We are trying to reproduce on our side. Will reach you if any further details are needed.

Kind Regards,
PremJK

28

Again some experiments:

I wanted to clone my system to another HD so I can test stuff without losing my main system all the time.

before i started i did some checkdisk scans… and it found some problems where it removed about 1500 unused security descriptions. I thought i finally found something that could be the reason of all the trouble… but later I used the cleaned os and the problems persisted.

I migrated my System partition to another smaller ssd disk using an imaging/cloning software. I was able to boot from this cloned disk without problems, but guess what… Comodo Firewall does not start - everything else does!
but the first time there is no error message (no “comodo security agent could not be started” error). But the systray icon is blank and does not respond. when i try to start CIS fw, it either does not respond or then gives agein the mentioned error message.
I decided to uninstall the FW (and use the fw cleanup tool afterwards) and let avast in peace. I reinstalled comodo fw v10 with the online installer. and back we are on boot with a double of “comodo security agent could not be started” error.

Interesting here: I didn’t do anything with Avast this time… just cloned my OS to another hard drive and Comodo FW went wild leaving an unrepairable OS.

I strongly believe Comodo produces problems with the kernel stuff it installs, or other deep-in-the-system stuff that only you (devs) know. it almost seems like some functions in comodo depend on disk-ids/serials.
How comes every other security software has no problems copying, migrating, reinstalling, etc, but the comodo firewall leaves nothing but trouble? it drives me nuts.

29

Another day another try… i made a manual system restore point to try different things with fast restore in mind if they would fail.

i decided to try something else. In Avast settings in the menu “troubleshooting” there are several options ticked. things like “rootkit detection” and the like.
see this screenshot here:

I decided to disable everything, so avast disables several deep-in-the-system detection features.
Then i rebooted.
And again “Comodo security agent could not be started” error showed up.
this time only once instead of twice, like in the other attempts.

This is a new and important discovery: Comodo security agent begins to fail just by disabling some of the detection features of Avast AV.

I tried the usual stuff like uninstalling, cleaning, reinstalling both avast and comodo but the error is again FINAL… There was no way getting it back working.

instead of restoring my hdd-backup, this time i tried to use my system restore point to set my system back to the initial state.
After a reboot everything was restored… everything? not really… Avast is back and working, but Comodo Firewall is starting with a blanked systray icon. when i click on it, nothing happens. when I kill the process and start cis.exe manually the error “comodo security agent could not be started” is popping up again.

So EVEN a system restore point is NOT able to get the system back working. It really takes a complete HDD backup to be restored successfully.

it’s needless to say that I’m sick of trying and wasting my time and while I’m still battling with this issue I’m also looking for alternative open source software which hopefully isn’t that bloated and causing that much trouble and if i find sufficient replacement products I’ll migrate to them.
i might not be able to look into this issue anymore after migration, though.

30

System restore is not always capable of restoring a previous situation. You would need a Time Machine feature for that.

For now I would suggest to stop testing and wait for feedback from Comodo to see if they are able to reproduce your case. You seem to tinker a lot with your system and we don’t know if that influences the case. New testing does not necessarily make the case more clear I am afraid. :-\

31

i came to the same conclusion… but i researched what system restore does. every file that’s changed after a restore point will get copied via shadow copy to a hidden volume at block level… that’s why i assumed installation/uninstalltion can be restored to previous state. though, documents are not affected and maybe comodo is dependent on some files that are not restored automatically then… i dont know.

I wish i could simply stop testing, but you gotta know that I’m struggling with the behavior and performance of Avast AV very badly in the meantime. I want to get rid of it as soon as possible, but I’m not able to uninstall it without losing the FW or wrecking my system. So if i hadn’t any issues in the meantime i could stand still and wait for solutions to come up… but it’s already going for quite some time now and my patience is wearing thin…

32

In practice system restore may not always live up to it’s expectations. :-\

I can totally understand your frustration and I can imagine you feel you’re hitting a brick wall time and again and again…

As to performance the only thing I can think of is to add everything CIS to the exclusions of Avast and vice versa. In CIS make sure everything Avast is added the exclusions of detect shellcode injections. Also make sure that all drivers of both Avast and CIS as to be found in system32/drivers are added to the exclusions as well as guard64.dll and guard32.dll.

I hope PremJK lets us know if they could reproduce the problem or might ask you to do a remote session.

33

there has been a program update for avast AV.
Current version is: 18.1.2326 (build 18.1.3800.0)

I tried the whole procedure with that version again: didn’t change anything. uninstalling Avast AV ruins Comodo Firewall installation and still can’t be fixed.

34

Try running: chkdsk /b

35

already been there, done that. didn’t help or change anything.

36

did you get any integrity violations with sfc /scannow ?

37

no integrity problems with sfc scannow.

38

CitCat. At February 6 Sergey Grechko sent you a pm asking to do a remote session. I got word you had not responded back to it. Could you check your pm and see if you received that pm?

39

Ah, I’m so sorry! I have not witnessed the PM, my focus was solely on this forum thread as I thought this was the center of communication!

[b]Unfortunately i have good and bad news now:

good - I don’t have any problems with comodo/avast software anymore.
bad - it’s NOT because the problem was solved, but because I got completely rid of both, Comodo and Avast software.[/b]

i can only recap:

Avast AV was the first source of problems. After a product update long ago it suddenly began to periodically scan my complete HDDs despite telling it not to do so. The user got no control over this behaviour it was kinda hardcoded despite setting it up to be as passive as possible. If you ever had something like a noisy 3TB hdd that the AV runs over every 3 hours or so and you can’t stop it you might imagine that this is driving you nuts over time. This was the reason for a long time now that I want to get rid of Avast AV software.

But as I tried to uninstall Avast AV Software the first time about 1 Year ago, i realized that it destroyed the Comodo Firewall installation (“Comodo Security Agent could not be started” errors). And i slowly and painfully realized that this error could not get fixed by any means beside restoring a complete hdd backup.

The trouble i had and the time I’ve lost in the past year trying to fix it stands in no relation to the benifits the software should have given me. I actually didn’t want to get rid of comodo firewall, because it was such a useful, handy tool. But I had no choice if I wanted to get rid of Avast AV. and to be honest… while trying to fix it, the comodo software (especially -but not only- the uninstaller) showed to be a hell of a bugged experience that I won’t miss.

well, what now? I’ve replaced both avast and comodo software with free open source alternatives now, so I’m not running any comodo or avast software anymore. And because I uninstalled Avast AV, my current OS is not capable of installing a Comodo product anymore without getting the said errors again.
I also don’t have backups anymore with Avast/Comodo installed, so there is no way of returning. I’m past the point of no return so to say. I got to live with the choice now but I’m feeling good and free again, because I know I’ll never have these troubles again!

Thanks for your support. I’m sorry that I can’t help to solve the problem directly anymore or find out if the problem was only on my side or on all similar setups. Life’s to short to waste it with these kind of problems. :wink:

Greetings

40

It is not caused by Avast. I have this exact same problem, same errors, same registry keys, same headache after headache trying to resolve the problem over at least 25 wasted hours of frustration. I have taken a path of troubleshooting that mirrors that of this thread. I have never had Avast. It has nothing to do with Avast. I don’t know how it is even possible for such a horrible and persistent problem like this to exist, that of simply removing installed software so that it can be reinstalled in order to be made functional again.

Unbelievable; and unbelievable that nobody at Comodo was able to help with this problem any further than recommending 3rd party system tools to clean registry entries that your software created. If this gets anywhere, I’m all ears…