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samuel999

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Using VB6, How do I detect whether a certain port is closed on Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall?

I need to be able to have my Visual Basic 6 (VB6) application detect whether the machine it is running on has Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall (even better - any software firewall (e.g., ZoneLabs)) blocking inbound UDP traffic on port 8473.
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David Lee
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Hello samuel999,

how about sending a UDP request on port 8473 and wait for a certain time for an answer? If it times out, you can tell the user that the program didn't get a response and all firewalls should be turned off (or to change the configuration to let these requests through)...
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samuel999

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I'm trying to detect if a UDP packet on port 8473 sent from OUTSIDE this user's computer can be received by my application listening to that port while running locally on this user's computer.  

BlueDevilFan:  I like your first suggestion.  The API works well.  Your second suggestion, a port scanner:  Can that test my own computer as to whether certain ports are open to access FROM the OUTSIDE on the computer I'm running on, or will that just allow me to test whether ports on OTHER computers are open?

owitte:  A firewall doesn't necessarily block OUTBOUND traffic, just incoming traffic.  I'm trying to detect if I can receive incoming traffic on 8473, not if I can send outbound traffic.