A Program Named “Unspecified” Appears in the Exceptions List

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

This problem most commonly occurs when you use the netsh command to add a program to the exceptions list.

Cause

When you use the netsh command to add programs to the exceptions list, you have the option of specifying the display name for the program. If you do not specify a display name, Windows Firewall uses “Unspecified” as the display name.

Solution

You can fix this problem by using the netsh command to add the application to the exceptions list with the proper display name. To do this, you need to know the name and path to the executable (.exe) file that is associated with the “unspecified” program.

To identify the path and file name of a program in the exceptions list

  1. Open Windows Firewall, and then click the Exceptions tab.

  2. Click Unspecified, and then click Edit.

  3. Look in Path to see the path and file name of the .exe file.

After you identify the path and file name, you can change the display name of the program.

To change the display name of a program in the exceptions list

  1. At the command prompt, type the following:

    netsh firewall set allowedprogram program = program path and file name name = display name

    Where program path and file name is the path and file name of the executable file and display name is the display name that you want to use for the program.

  2. Press ENTER.