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[Kerio 2.x] Edit conf file, outside kerio ?

Here's the catch... Kerio 2.x was a superb piece of work, and knows how to defend itself... meaning that, if you change the disk copy of the rules with the firewall running, it'll check the file, at shutdown, notice it doesn't match the copy in memory, assume it's been tampered with, and overwrite it with the... same ruleset you started with. What you have to do is stop the firewall service manually, copy in the edited ruleset, then restart the firewall service or reboot... that's been discussed, before. Also, note, the rulestes are encrypted... I used to know how to decrypt and re-encrypt them, but I've pretty much encrpted that part of my brain, using the "passage of time" algorithm --- somebody may be able to help, though. Meanwhile, best practice, I've found, is to always keep a recent backup copy on the disk. That way, you can always import and resave the backup as your default ruleset, with minimal loss... wish you luck, hope you can work something out...
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Semper Eadem
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Ils ont change ma chanson ma
Ils ont change ma chanson
C'est la seule chose que je peuz faire
Et ce n'est pas bon ma
Ils ont change ma chanson.
...

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I already figured all that, out.



I could not start the firewall back up because of those two bad rules. It would get to the point where it was loading up the ruleset, then went into a forever loop, repeating the error messages for those rules, first one, then the other then back to the first, then back to the second... Etc...

The way I got my firewall back was to use msconfig to cause the firewall not to try to start on startup. Rebooted the computer.

Then with the firewall not running. I deleted the current conf file. Renamed my most recent backup to the same name as the file I just deleted...

Then started it manually. It started just fine. But man, I had a lot of work trying to catch up on the changes I'd made since that backup.

I have not gotten anywhere near being caught up.

I'd like to know how to unencrypt the file that is causing problems, edit it to remove those two rules, then re-encrypt it so I can use it again.

reply to Luka1
I'll see if I can locate the instructions for decryption... if so, I'll post them for you...

Thank you.

reply to Luka1
Start the registry editor (start)(run) enter "regedit"
Find the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Kerio\Personal Firewall
Click on [edit][new]
Choose "DWORD Value"
Enter "EncrDisabled" as the name of the new key
Click on [edit][modify] and enter "1"(hex) as the value
Reboot

The only problem with this registry change is that KPF will try to load, now assume a non-encrypted conf file, but user has encrypted conf files, right?

reply to Luka1
No, that's it... Kerio will decrypt the file, when it restarts, but it will also warn you that your file's not encrypted, at every start up, until you remove the key or change it to "0", then it will re-encrypt at next startup... it's not advisable, really, to run it that way as a long term thing... when you change the key back, it will re-encrypt the file. I'm not vouching for the precise methodology, I still haven't found my old notes on that specific issue, but it strikes me as the right approach.
--
Semper Eadem
--
Ils ont change ma chanson ma
Ils ont change ma chanson
C'est la seule chose que je peuz faire
Et ce n'est pas bon ma
Ils ont change ma chanson.
...

You're right...

I would have thought that, upon restart with the registry key set to disable encryption, and an encrypted conf file, KPF would have failed.

But, after a quick test, I see KPF handles this without a problem ... upon restart, KPF will load the encrypted conf file and save as text.

I am curious if the OP will be able to load the problematic conf file using this approach.

reply to noway1

Applies to Tiny 2 too? Nope...

reply to ezdsl

Re: [Kerio 2.x] Edit conf file, outside kerio ?