Firewall hangs in initializing stage

[PDW65]

I am unable to fully install PCTools Firewall Plus.This is after multiple attempts.All is well until after rebooting to finalize the process...the gray colored PCTFWP tray icon will hang on the initializing phase and I will eventually just go to safe mode uninstall the entire program. Help! Thank You

[Support]

Thank you for contacting PC Tools.

Please follow the instructions below to manually Uninstall PC Tools Firewall Plus.


Please reboot your computer into Safe Mode and perform the steps below.


How to Shutdown and Restart the Computer in Safe Mode:
__________________________________________________ _____

1. Click on the Start button menu on your Task Bar
2. Select Shut Down from the menu (''Turn off Computer'' in XP). The 'Shut Down Windows' dialog box will appear.
3. Select Shut down (or, ''Turn Off'' in XP) and click the Yes (or OK) button
4. When the computer starts back up, begin immediately by pressing the F8 key repeatedly until the Windows Startup menu appears with various options
5. By using the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard, select 'Safe Mode'. Do not select 'Safe Mode with networking' or any other modes
6. Login to your account (if asked)
7. Wait and eventually Windows will start in Safe Mode


Uninstall PC Tools Firewall Plus.
____________________________

1. Goto start menu > run > services.msc > Ok
2. In the services list - Locate PC Tools Firewall Plus, right click it and Stop(if applicable)
1. Goto start menu > run > type in: regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PCTools - Delete "Personal Firewall"
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PCTools - Delete "Personal Firewall"
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall - Delete "PC Tools Firewall Plus_is1"
5. Navigate to C:\Program Files - Delete the "PC Tools Firewall Plus" folder
6. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\ - Delete the "PC Tools" folder
7. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers - Delete "pctmp.sys" and "pctssipc.sys" files



Uninstall and reboot and check for proper cleanup:
__________________________________________________ ____

1. Check in ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Services’ that there is no entry for PC Tools Firewall (PCToolsFirewallPlus)
2. Check in ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Services’ that there is no entry PC Tools Firewall driver (pctfw1)
3. Right click on ‘My Network Place’ choose Properties and then right click on ‘Local Area Connection’ and choose properties and check if in the general tab you have an entry for ‘PCTools Firewall Driver’ and if so click on uninstall and reboot
4. Go to c:\Program Files\ and delete the folder ‘PC Tools Firewall Plus’
5. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\ - Delete the "PC Tools" folder
6. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers - Delete "pctmp.sys" and "pctssipc.sys" files

[Support]

After please download and Install Firewall plus in Safe mode.

Download & Install
_____________________

Please download the latest version of PC Tools Firewall Plus on
http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

[PDW65]

Thank you for the reply, however I did exactly as you suggested and yet the problem remains...hanging in initializing phase. I very much want to install this firewall! Any more ideas for installation? Thank You

[PDW65]

Can someone please reply to my question about PC Tools firewall hanging during the initializing phase? Thank You

[Peterben]

Hi PCTools :)

I have the same problem as PDW65.

I have done exactly as SUPPORT said above, by uninstalling and then reinstalling in safe mode (PCTools firewall plus version 6.0.0.86).

What happens is the same. The firewall hangs in initializing stage and the Icon stays gray for a couple of minutes. Then a popup apears saying"PC Tools Firewall Plus is currently disabled...". I leave the popup marked in "Enable Firewall" and press the OK button. Then the main window of the program opens and I can see that the "Firewall protection is OFF". The icon in the tray gets coloured with a red circle and a X in it. I've tried to enable from the tray and from the main window, but nothing happens.

About my system. It is a clean install of windows xp pro sp3 intel duo 2 E8400 with 4gb mem. on a Asrock penryn1600SLI-110db mobo.
After installing the mobo drivers( and rebooted) I installed Avira antivirus (and rebooted) and then I installed the firewall plus 6.0.0.86 (and got the above mentioned problems). And yes, I did it with Administrator rights.

I just tried to install it on 2 other pc's (clean install of xp pro's) for friends, and the same thing happened. I installed online amor for them instead (sorry guys).

I have another PC, also xp pro, but it is an old installation( about 1 year). It was running with Comodo's suite CIS. but i uninstalled it and installed PCTools firewall instead and it runs great there. I did not even install it in safe mode. Just like any other program I just started the installer.

So what can I see is different between my 2 PC's(one working and one not working). On the PC that is working, and when I enter the "Local Area Connection" in the "General"-tab I can see that it has installed the "PC Tools Firewall Driver". It did not do that on the PC that is not working.

I used the same firewall version on both v.6.0.0.86. Also both PC's have same NIC's. Both have a Intel Pro /1000 GT Desktop Adapter.

I have included a copy of the firewallwrapper file. hopefully it can help.


Looking forward to hearing from you.

Peter

[AChen]

Thanks for the FirewallWrapper.txt. We'll check this out further.
Do you have any other security programs installed?

[Peterben]

Hello AChen :)

About if I have other security programs installed.
No only Avira antivirus as mentioned. It is free edition Product version 9.0.0.418 02-12-2009

I do remember that during install of Avira, you can choose between normal startup or secure startup. I chose secure startup. it apparently startup earlier than in normal mode.

Also I would like to say that the firewallwrapper.txt is when it did not had the "PC Tools Firewall Driver" installed. Later I found in this forum where to point for the .inf file, so it would load the "PC Tools Firewall Driver". surely it did load it, but it would still have the same initializing problem.

*UPDATE on where I found how to install the driver manually.
I found it here at http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50341&page=2
hdavid wrote it in comment 14 time: 02-06-2008, 02:19 AM

Thanks

PeterBen

[hdavid]

When the GUI of the FW (the tray icon) seems not to be initialized properly its good idea to look at the file FirewallSDK.txt (better send it to us) because usually it indicate a problem in the initialization of the FW service (could be driver load problem etc). This file exists in the main root of the FW installation directory.

[Peterben]

Hi AChen and hdavid :)

I have found your BUG, why it won't install correctly.
Then I thought, wow I'm the only one in the whole world who knows, right now, how to correct it.

So here goes:
hdavid you asked for FirewallSDK.txt. That didn't help because it only told me that the "PC Tools Firewall Driver" was not installed, which I allready knew from my first post on this page. The file contained 5 lines:
2010/01/11 20:34:54.125 00588: Error:CNdisDriverInterface::LoadPluginDriver: PCTFW-DNS driver not installed
2010/01/11 20:34:54.140 00588: Error:CNdisDnsInterface::DnsConnect(): LoadPluginDriver(PCTFW-DNS) failed
2010/01/11 20:34:54.140 00588: Error:Failed to open dns plugin driver (DnsPluginConnect)
2010/01/11 20:34:54.140 00588: Error:Failed to start NDIS driver
2010/01/11 20:34:54.140 00588: Error:FirewallSDKManager::Start(): FWLIB initialization failed



So I started looking around and found Install.log.txt.

Allready from its first line, I knew that it was wrong. The first line is here:
WinMain(32): Command line (/Install /Silent NDISLoc="C:\Programmer\Flles filer\PC Tools\NDIS\")

My windows xp is a Danish version, so the differens in between the English and the Danish default path is:
(Danish) C:\Programmer\Fælles filer\PC Tools\...
is the same as
(English) C:\Program Files\Common Files\PC Tools\...

As you can see, there is missing the danish letter 'æ' in the path-word 'Flles' from Install.log.txt.


So how did I manage to install it correctly?
I installed it, then I created the folder 'Flles filer' in 'C:\Programmer\'.
Then I copied the contents of 'PC Tools' including its subfolders from C:\Programmer\Fælles filer\PC Tools\,
to C:\Programmer\Flles filer\PC Tools\.
(At this time the "PC Tools Firewall Driver" is still not installed.)

Then I installed PCTools firewall plus version 6.0.0.86 again, on top of the previous installed.
And now just before the program wanted to restart my computer I checked for the "PC Tools Firewall Driver" driver.
It had now installed it correctly. So I restarted my computer.
This time the firewall worked flawless.

So it apears to be just a language problem.


Anyway, I include the following files

When the installtion did not work:
FirewallSDK (not working).txt
Install.log (not working).txt


And when the installation worked:
Install.log (working).txt
No need for the FirewallSDK.txt-file since it is empty!!!!!

Please note that in the file Install.log (working).txt, it is still using/pointing to the wrong path.
which should have been: C:\Programmer\Fælles filer\PC Tools\...
and NOT: C:\Programmer\Flles filer\PC Tools\...


And to the developers, here are the 3 special Danish letters in small and big (in case they ever need them again): :D
æ Æ
ø Ø
å Å


Peter B.

[hdavid]

Thk, this is valuable information, we will look into that. and you are right I forgot to also ask for the install.log.txt file that would be the next this I would have asked you but you were faster than me.
By the way we are already testing the fix and will release it soon :-)

Thanks for the input again

[Peterben]

Hi AChen and hdavid :)

First, thank you both for all your help.
I'm glad I got it fixed. I really like this firewall.
I really hope that PCTools never drop those logging/debugging files.
They are their own weight worth in gold.

Happy New Year to all.

Peter

[Peterben]

Hi Achen and hdavid :)

I just installed the new version of the firewall v6.0.0.88.
It installed just fine. So I can confirm that on a XP pro with the Danish language, the new version works.
I also checked the install.log.txt and it is now using the correct path, so thank you very much.
Also I would like to say that I think it was very quickly fixed, from the moment the error was found, until the new release came out.

Only one thing, on your main firewall page ( http://www.pctools.com/firewall/ ), it still says that this new release is from September 1, 2009. Just a minor detail. :D

Peter Bengtsson

[hdavid]

Glad its working for you, we are trying to be as responsive as possible. With regards to the date, the policy is to update the release date when there is a major version change. September 1, 2009 is when version 6 was first released. After that it was BUG fixes so we do not change the date of the major release.

[Anupam]

Glad its working for you, we are trying to be as responsive as possible. With regards to the date, the policy is to update the release date when there is a major version change. September 1, 2009 is when version 6 was first released. After that it was BUG fixes so we do not change the date of the major release.

Not to sound intruding... but I don't think that's the right policy. The release date should show the date of release of the current version... because as you can see, presently, it causes confusion. People might hesitate to download the new version, when they see the release date. People who are not aware of the forum, and do not follow it, might get confused, and might not download the latest version, just because of the release date.