Windows Messenger 5.1 Audio/Video/Application Sharing/Whiteboard, UPnP, XP SP2

jwdaigle_at_hotmail.com
Date: 01/19/05 

Date: 18 Jan 2005 18:02:29 -0800

I have read most (I think all :-)) messages related to Windows
Messenger running behind a firewall/NAT, and think I am starting to
understand what needs to be in place. I just wanted to check my
understanding and ask a few clarifying questions. I am hoping that
Jonathan Kay (who is AWESOME in this NG) might read this post and give
his thoughts.

- In order for the "non text" features (Audio, Video, etc) to work from
behind a firewall, the firewall/router MUST support UPnP, and Windows
Firewall must be configured to allow the UPnP framework to pass through
packets so the router can exchange information with XP as to what ports
to open, etc. You do this by allowing the "UPnP Framework" exception
and ensure that "Dont allow exceptions" is not checked.
- Windows Messenger must also be enabled as an exception in Windows
Firewall.
- NetMeeting must also be enabled as an exception in Windows Firewall.
- If your router/firewall's IP address is not routable on the internet
(ie, it begins with 192.168 for instance), these features will not
work. This can happen if your ISP uses NAT'd addresses for its
customers. This is because the IP address mapping provided by UPnP
doesnt know what its "real" IP address is, which means the other side
of the Messenger communication (ie, the other user you are conferencing
with) cannot be given a routable IP address to send packets to.

And now what I am less sure about :-)

- I have read that Messenger must be running with administrative
priveleges for this to work (I assume so that it can have proper
permissions to work with UPnP), but if I am understanding the UPnP
stuff well enough, it appears that it works as a limited user as well.
This is based on my observations of going to My Network Places/View
Network Connections/Internet Connection/Properties/Settings and
noticing that msmsgs.exe has mapped some ports (presumably through
UPnP). This works both under a limited account and an admin type user.
- It also seems that "cascading" works with UPnP. ie, with Windows
Firewall on (which is UPnP enabled), and a hardware router/firewall (in
my case a WRT54G which supports UPnP with latest firmware 3.1.3), the
router/firewall seems to pick up the port mappings etc (again, as
evidenced by the "Internet Connection" UI).

So my questions are:

- is there anything else I need to do?
- Does Messenger, when logged on as a limited user, interact properly
with UPnP, or do I need to run it as an admin user?
- If after doing all this, things still dont work, is there any way to
troubleshoot it?
- Does the Internet Connection UI provide any useful information as far
as what ports are being mapped to troubleshoot?
Thanks for any insight,

Joe

Relevant Pages

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