No firewall is enabled after you upgrade a Windows Server 2003-based NAT/Basic Firewall router to Windows Server 2008

Consider the following scenario:

• You upgrade a Windows Server 2003-based server to Windows Server 2008.
• The Windows Server 2003-based server is enabled for Routing and Remote Access service as a network address translation (NAT)/Basic Firewall router.

In this scenario, the server has no firewall that is enabled in Windows Server 2008.

When a Windows Server 2003-based server is enabled for Routing and Remote Access service as a NAT/Basic Firewall router, the Windows Firewall feature on the server is disabled automatically. When the server is upgraded to Windows Server 2008, the Windows Firewall continues to be disabled. Also, the Basic Firewall feature has been removed in Windows Server 2008. Therefore, no firewall is enabled, and the server that is running Routing and Remote Access is unprotected.

To resolve this issue, manually enable the Windows Firewall feature in Windows Server 2008. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
   , type firewall.cpl in the Start Search box, click firewall.cpl in the Programs list.
   
   
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. Click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
3. On the General tab, click On, and then click OK.