Ran into a strange issue between my Windows 7 machine and Windows XP machine in regards to firewall settings.
I found out that I couldn't ping the IP 192.168.33.1 from 192.168.33.2 in a peer to peer network, but by disabling the firewall on the Windows XP system I could ping it. The problem was that for some reason Windows 7 looks for connectivity to the peer and I guess if it is unable to ping it, it comes up with an icon in the bottom toolbar showing network error or issue and that breaks file sharing and other data to pass thru.
I have file sharing enabled on the same work group network for the XP system so the Windows 7 system can access the data on the XP system, but the XP system can not access the Windows 7 file system, which is the way I want it. So even with file sharing added to firewall exceptions, with the firewall enabled it doesnt work.
The strange thing is that about 8 months ago I had both of these systems running peer to peer with both firewalls all set and running with no problems, so I am not sure if something changed as a result of a patch on the Windows 7 side since the Windows XP box hasnt taken any auto updates etc and was in storage until I needed it for tinkering again. Just very strange that the firewall has to be disabled on the XP system for the network to operate. *Also to note these 2 systems are linked thru a 5-port dumb switch, so its not like I have a Cisco High End piece of secure networking equipment in between that is adding to this mess.
For now I disabled the second NIC that has ties to the WWW so that the primary NIC can operate with firewall disabled and I dont have to worry about it getting attacked.
I went into Windows XP Firewall and its easy to allow specific ports to be open for an application etc, but I want to allow all traffic locally peer to peer with no restrictions on the Windows XP box private lan, and use the firewall only on the second NIC which has a physical connection to the web. Loking thru the Firewall options I didnt see any advanced options for this.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Do I need to ditch Microsofts Firewall and go with an alternative? If so which one, and is it free to use for home users?
