I know I’ve been pumping out OS X tips for a while now, but I’ve got something for you XP readers soon enough. This quickie will take a stab at fixing OS X’s built in firewall. The firewall may often get its settings changed my other programs which need some port configuration that may ultimately down the firewall. If OS X tells you the firewall is unavailable, this fix may be for you.
Open up a Terminal session via Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
sudo ipfw flush
y
After the first line is entered you might be asked for an administrative password. This is normal as the sudo command gives you root privileges but must first authorize you. Make sure to press enter after typing the second line. These two commands will tell OS X to rewrite the firewall rules and flush them, or setting the firewall to pre-defined values. A proper execution of the command lines will result in Flushed all rules.
Now, go back to System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall and click Start. You may now close the terminal.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it really useful to turn on the firewall on OSX? I thought there are no virus or spy for mac?
I am a new user of Macintosh since September. so i m not sure about it.
Firewalls won’t protect you viruses but they do close off any ports you are not using which a malicious person or piece of software may try to exploit. It is always a good idea to use a software or hardware firewall regardless of what operating system you are using. However, hardware firewalls are ultimately the best kind of protection you can get.
I tried this and it doesnt seem to work for me i made sure all my brickhouse folders have been uninstalled and everything. I still down have acess to the firewall. When i run ipfw flush it denys the flush.
it is not a good as i thought it would b an it has not solved my problem just yet
thanx, that helped me
firewall was unavailable (though no other firewall software was installed on the machine, as far as I know).
Thanks so much, this fixed my locked firewall problem.
hey i play americans army and i’ve been havin problems they say ignoring mp5 tools some guys told me it was firewall problems if u have any info that would be great