mini-rant: Opening ports on WMC to get Extender to work

[george14215]

I can't believe configuring an Extender on WMC doesn't automatically open the right ports on Microsoft's own firewall. I had to go manually add firewall openings per this page:

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/ ... y-firewall

Am I missing something? Or is this what everyone does?

[barnabas1969]

Those instructions are for a "third party" firewall, meaning non-Microsoft firewall software. I've never had to manually open a port in the Microsoft firewall for an extender.

[george14215]

Those instructions are for a "third party" firewall, meaning non-Microsoft firewall software. I've never had to manually open a port in the Microsoft firewall for an extender.

My Xbox 360 could not connect to my WMC until I manually opened up those ports in Microsoft's built-in firewall per that document.

Perhaps there's a default firewall setting (which I have turned off) that opens up all ports if you say you're connected to a private network. Just guessing...

[barnabas1969]

When you connected your PC to the network, did you choose "Home" as the type of network?

[barnabas1969]

Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center, you should see something like this:

If it doesn't say "Home network" on the left side, click the link and choose "Home".

[george14215]

Ah, I'm guessing this is it. Thanks, barnabas!

[barnabas1969]

I believe the firewall rules are automatically setup when you first connect the extender (when you enter the 8-digit code displayed on the extender). On my desktop PC, these rules are not enabled, and not all of them exist. But on my HPTC, they are setup as shown in the pictures below:

[barnabas1969]

Sorry, I see that my image cut-off some of the local port numbers and the allowed computers. Here's a shot that shows the fields that you can't see in the Inbound rules pic above: