Windows Firewall Preventing Software Installation

Question

I am trying to install the PaperCut client via Group Policy. I have the package all set up under Computer Configuration>Software Settings>Software Installation and I have the MSI file saved in an accessible network share. Everything seems to be set up correctly but Windows Firewall on the client side seems to be blocking the software from being installed. I was able to confirm this: If I disable the firewall, force a gpupdate and reboot, the program installs in 10 - 15 minutes. If I leave the firewall enabled and force the update, the program doesn't install. I'm assuming that there is some sort of firewall behavior that I can change via Group Policy but I am unsure of which setting(s) to change. Thank you in advance for the help.

Answer 1

Hello @Matt Georgetti ,

Thank you so much for posting here.

According to our description, the Windows firewall on the clients is blocking the software from being installed. There is no problem with the software installation. The main problem is the windows firewall.

Based on my experience, as the MSI file is saved in network share. The client should have access to the network share via SMB protocol. If we leave the firewall enabled, could we access the network share? And could we ping the IP address of network share path?

If not, we could have a check of the Windows Firewall and check whether the SMB related ports are open(check inbound rules on the file server and outbound rules on the clients). If we could not ping, please make sure that ICMP is enabled.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/internet-firewalls-prevent-browsing-file-sharing

Best regards,
Hannah Xiong

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