Possible Fix for Locked Down Enterprise Computers

from Stardock Forums

I had Multiplicity running on my home computer, connecting to my work laptop--both on my desk. Both running on the same Wifi using "Private" settings.

My home computer got a nasty virus, which migrated to my work laptop when I tried to use a thumb drive to reinstall Windows on my Home.

About that time, we got an over-zealous new IT guy at work, who made a bunch of changes to our security, some of which, he didn't understand the ramifications of.

Long story short, when I got everything rebuilt, I could no longer connect to my work computer using Multiplicity. Couldn't even ping my laptop, which told me right there it was a Firewall issue.

I am an "Admin" on my laptop but it wouldn't let me allow any program exceptions on Windows Firewall. I kept telling my IT guy the issue was a Group Policy issue but he either didn't believe me or didn't care to fix it.

Two days later, after much digging around various possible fixes online, I stumbled onto making a policy exception on my local computer, which you can do if you're an admin EVEN IF there's an overriding Group Policy at the Enterprise level.

But first, to do that, I tried running "Group Policy Editor" on my laptop, but it wouldn't run without the Remote Server Administration Tools, which I installed. Then installed, "Group Policy Editor." 

Once that was installed, all it took was this simple change and voila! Hope this saves someone else a ton of time.

multiplicity
4,215 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Not 100% sure but I think that opens your computer up to all inbound connections, good & bad.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting bobj420, reply 2

Not 100% sure but I think that opens your computer up to all inbound connections, good & bad.
End of bobj420's quote

Because MP is local, this would only be true if there was a local threat.  People forget sometimes (all the time really) that their own router is already denying non-requested inbound Internet traffic - the local PC doing the same thing is redundant and unnecessary - again, if you trust the local network you are already on.

What he (one) could do to mitigate that further is just to allow inbound traffic on the ports that MP operates on, noted here:

https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#movemousesecondary

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager