I have a Win7 OS PC connected to the Internet by a Virgin Cable Modem and a Buffalo WHR G300N Router which I have just updated to DD-WRT. On my Home Network I have another PC with the XP Home OS and a Panasonic Viera TV all wired via Cat5 Fast Ethernet Cable.
Prior to updating to the DD-WRT yesterday software all of my Home Network items worked. Since the update I have internet access on this PC the main Win7 OS one but I cannot see the Win XP Home PC and although I have Internet access on the Viera Link TV I cannot view the files on my main PC via the DLNA connection on the TV.
After updating to DD-WRT I got a Comodo pop up saying a new network has been discovered which I allowed. Now I see in my Comodo Network Zones I have three entries now, compared to two previously. Now in Comodo I have "Loopback Zone, IP In [127.0.0.1 / 255.0.0.0] as well as Home #1 [192.168.1.107 / 255.255.255.0] and Home #3 [192.168.1.1 / 255.255.255.0] In the Windows 7 Network and Sharing Center I see that my PC is now connected through Network #3 when it was Network #1 previously. I have set rules in Comodo for both home networks to attempt a solution but other than this my main PC I still cannot see the other devices on my home network.
Is there a way in which I could resolve this situation, perhaps by deleting all networks except the Loopback Zone in both Windows and Comodo and starting afresh?. Any advice/help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Made a paragraph structure for a better read. Eric
Erik, here are the screenshots of the Global Rules, Network Zones in Comodo and Network sharing in Win7.
Radaghast, I updated the router to DD-WRT as I am thinking of joining AirVPN all changes are since I did that yesterday. I have internet access and this PC works very well I just don’t have access to the Win XP PC and TV on my network. Prior to DD-WRT update the windows network and sharing center said #1. I got a Comodo pop up during/after the update about detecting a new network which I okayed but think now that maybe I shouldn’t have.
I also did an ipconfig /all command prompt and got the following info.
IPv4 Address = 192.168.1.107(preferred)
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway = 192.168.1.1
DHCP server = 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers = 8.26.56.26 & 8.20.247.20 (Comodo Secure Servers)
Net Bios over Tcpip = Enabled
Windows Ip Config:
Host Name = Home-PC
Node Type = Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled = No
Wins Proxy Enabled = No
From what I see the CIS Global and Applications rules are like they should be. Unless the Firewall logs show CIS is blocking incoming traffic from your LAN I don’t think the problem is with CIS.
Like you stated, the only thing that changed is the firmware from your router. That makes me suspect the router for the moment.
As Eric suggested, your basic rules seem ok, although I’d imagine you could dispense with the ‘Home #3’ zone and Global rule, as they appear to have been superseded by ‘Home #1’ - Probably worth checking the setup tab in DD-WRT firmware for ‘Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)’. As far as the new network prompt in CIS and the network change in Windows, I’d guess this was because the MAC address of the router changed.
With regard to the XP box and your TV, do they use DHCP? If so, it’s probably worth forcing a refresh of their IP addresses. It’s probably also worth checking the DD-WRT LAN tab for the Active client list.
This is where I get confused Radaghast, I added the Home #3 Rule myself as I thought that was the problem ie Windows connecting from the PC to the internet via Network 3 and Comodo only showing the loopback Zone and Home #1. I spent the whole day yesterday on this and the Router and Comodo are configured correctly. I have internet access on my other PC as well as on the Viera TV. I cannot get the DLNA access from the TV to my main PC and the main PC sees the Router and WMP sharing/streaming service but is somehow not doing it and doesn’t see the other PC on the network. I am certain now that the problem lays with the Windows 7 Home Network set up but cannot figure it out yet. I have gone through the services and everything that should be switched on is but it isn’t working.
It sounds like you’ve managed to get some things working However, I’m surprised to hear you say you’re using Windows Media Player, as you don’t appear to have any firewall rules to support it. Are you using Safe mode?
With regard to Home #1 and #3, as I said earlier, they cover the same address range, so you only need one. Basically if you have:
192.168.1.x / 255.255.255.0
For simplicity, the usable addresses covered are:
192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254
It’s also worth pointing out that you added your #3 range as a zone and you added a Global rule but you didn’t add it as an application rule. Fortunately, it’s unnecessary.
On the subject of the change to the Windows network, as I mentioned, this is likely because the MAC address of the gateway (router) changed. If you recall from your previous thread, the network number is fairly inconsequential, however, if you’re using a Windows Homegroup, it may have an impact. What kind of sharing are you using?
I’m not 100% sure yet but I have found that the problem could be to do with the Windows Firewall. It seems to me that when you add a new Home/Work/Public network in Win7 that the Windows Firewall starts as a default. It had also restarted itself in Services. I have switched it off again and am in the process of attempting to get the main PC to find the other two applications.
I use VLC Player as my default audio/video player on my PC’s but had to use WMP streaming in order to get the DLNS to show on my TV. It is a pain as I have an svchost entry to WMP which uses a lot of resources and I am certain that is what causes it to show up to 99.9% usage on the Comodo Summary screen but when I switched it off previously I couldn’t get access to the DLNA until I switched it on again.
On another matter, now that I have upgraded the Buffalo router to DD-WRT should I leave the ICS Internet Connection Services switched on in Win7 Services, or does the router take care of the ICS apps as well and I no longer need it?..
I can’t say I’ve seen this happen when changing network types, however, the firewall, at least part of it, will turn itself on if you disable Network discovery. With regard to the firewall services, you should really leave them enabled, they won’t interfere with CIS and the Windows firewall can still be disabled.
I use VLC Player as my default audio/video player on my PC's but had to use WMP streaming in order to get the DLNS to show on my TV. It is a pain as I have an svchost entry to WMP which uses a lot of resources and I am certain that is what causes it to show up to 99.9% usage on the Comodo Summary screen but when I switched it off previously I couldn't get access to the DLNA until I switched it on again.
You can stream from VLC and it supports DLNA. I’m still curious why you don’t have any rules for WMP. I’d have thought, at the least, you’d have a rule for the windows media player network service…
On another matter, now that I have upgraded the Buffalo router to DD-WRT should I leave the ICS Internet Connection Services switched on in Win7 Services, or does the router take care of the ICS apps as well and I no longer need it?..
You no longer need ICS, the router replaces that functionality.
I guess if you have WMP working, then leave as is. I just would have thought to see a rules for wmplayer.exe and wmpnetwk.exe, both of which, with the help of svchost and the System process, usually need SSDP/UPnP to support streaming.
It isn’t working properly though. It used to stream media to my DLNA outlet on the TV but not anymore, that is what I am trying to fix. I can get internet access on the TV to YouTube, BBC iPlayer etc on the Internet access but when I click on the DLNA one I get a “cannot find a server on this network message”. I have tried re-installing the Home Group etc etc but I can’t seem to figure it out at all. It was working fine before I upgraded to DD-WRT and I have internet access on all devices but the problem lays in the Home Group settings I am sure.
Strictly speaking, you don’t need a Homegroup to support streaming, in fact, a Homegroup is really only useful when sharing resources between Windows 7 PCs. I’d try:
Removing your Home #3 zone and Global rule
Leaving the Homegroup - Use ‘Work’ for now.
Disabling, temporally, the Block IP In Global rule
making sure the IP address settings are correct on the TV
Checking your Streaming settings in WMP
Enabling VLC, on the XP box and seeing if you can get a stream from WMP
However, I’m surprised to hear you say you’re using Windows Media Player, as you don’t appear to have any firewall rules to support it. Are you using Safe mode?