Firewall exception code just works for outgoing connections - c++

Question

I took this code from the web to add a firewall exception for my application:
STDAPI AddApplicationToExceptionListW( const WCHAR* strGameExeFullPath, const WCHAR* strFriendlyAppName )
{
HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
bool bCleanupCOM = false;
BSTR bstrFriendlyAppName = NULL;
BSTR bstrGameExeFullPath = NULL;
INetFwAuthorizedApplication* pFwApp = NULL;
INetFwAuthorizedApplications* pFwApps = NULL;
INetFwProfile* pFwProfile = NULL;
#ifdef SHOW_DEBUG_MSGBOXES
WCHAR sz[1024];
StringCchPrintf( sz, 1024, L"strFriendlyAppName='%s' strGameExeFullPath='%s'", strFriendlyAppName, strGameExeFullPath );
MessageBox( NULL, sz, L"AddApplicationToExceptionListW", MB_OK );
#endif
if( strGameExeFullPath == NULL || strFriendlyAppName == NULL )
{
assert( false );
return E_INVALIDARG;
}
bstrGameExeFullPath = SysAllocString( strGameExeFullPath );
bstrFriendlyAppName = SysAllocString( strFriendlyAppName );
if( bstrGameExeFullPath == NULL || bstrFriendlyAppName == NULL )
{
hr = E_OUTOFMEMORY;
goto LCleanup;
}
hr = CoInitialize( 0 );
bCleanupCOM = SUCCEEDED( hr );
pFwProfile = GetFirewallProfile();
if( pFwProfile == NULL )
{
hr = E_FAIL;
goto LCleanup;
}
hr = pFwProfile->get_AuthorizedApplications( &pFwApps );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Create an instance of an authorized application.
hr = CoCreateInstance( __uuidof( NetFwAuthorizedApplication ), NULL,
CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, __uuidof( INetFwAuthorizedApplication ), ( void** )&pFwApp );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Set the process image file name.
hr = pFwApp->put_ProcessImageFileName( bstrGameExeFullPath );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Set the application friendly name.
hr = pFwApp->put_Name( bstrFriendlyAppName );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Add the application to the collection.
hr = pFwApps->Add( pFwApp );
LCleanup:
if( bstrFriendlyAppName ) SysFreeString( bstrFriendlyAppName );
if( bstrGameExeFullPath ) SysFreeString( bstrGameExeFullPath );
if( pFwApp ) pFwApp->Release();
if( pFwApps ) pFwApps->Release();
if( pFwProfile ) pFwProfile->Release();
if( bCleanupCOM ) CoUninitialize();
return hr;
}
Everything works great when I try to send data through the Windows firewall, but incoming connections are still blocked. So I have to disable my firewall to recieve data. I thought, that exception would allow all connections (outgoing and incoming)...
Does somebody know what I should add to this code so I can recieve incoming data?

Answer 1

It is not enough to just add the application by itself. The firewall has no way of discovering which port(s) the application is listening on for inbound connections. You have to tell the firewall which port(s) the application is using. You do that via the INetFwProfile::GloballyOpenPorts collection, eg:
INetFwOpenPorts *pFwPorts = NULL;
INetFwOpenPort *pFWPort = NULL;
...
hr = pFwProfile->get_GloballyOpenPorts( &pFwPorts );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Create an instance of an open port.
hr = CoCreateInstance( __uuidof( NetFwOpenPort ), NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, __uuidof( INetFwOpenPort ), ( void** )&pFwPort );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Set the port number.
hr = pFWPort->put_Port( ... );
if( FAILED( hr ) )
goto LCleanup;
// Add the port to the collection.
hr = pFwPorts->Add( pFwPort );
...
if( pFwPort ) pFwPort->Release();
if( pFwPorts ) pFwPorts->Release();

Answer 2

In my case the solution was deleting the firewall rules that blocked my application. I don't know where these rules came from, but now it finally works.