Windows Phone App / Not connecting ?

[gustavoringler]

I installed HG v336 in my Windows 7 desktop computer... I can access the control interface via http:\localhost....  this desktop PC is in my home network, IP 192.168.1.102

I installed the Windows Phone 8 app ... the W8 phone is connected via WiFi to my home network... however, when I try to connect to the home genie service, I get an error ("failed to connect to home genie")...

The info I'm providing in the "settings" in the phone is just the IP address of the computer running HG (192.168.1.102)...username & password are blank, as I am not using username & password in HG in the desktop computer either...

Any ideas or suggestions on what can be preventing the WPhone8 app to connect ?

Thanks!!
Gus

[nolio]

Hi,
Are you sure HG listen on your IP 192.168.1.102 ?
You can use the following command line to know :
netstat
Could you please paste the result of this command please ?

Bye

[dani]

Hi,

Can you try to connect to HG PC by another browser in your network ?
Perhaps the Windows 8 firewall blocks http access of your PC.

Cheers
Dani

[Gene]

The new WP app release is needed (1.0.0.28) with hg >= r336. It is waiting for certification from WP Store.
I had to resubmit it today, hopefully it will be available next week.

g.

[nolio]

Hi gustavoringler,

To wait the windows phone application, you can connect to HG on your windows phone by the url :
http://192.168.1.102

Bye

[gustavoringler]

Hi Nolio,

Thanks for your answer !

What you said is true...however, it only works if I turn off the Windows Firewall...If I keep the firewall on, unfortunately it doesn't work...
I did check, and I have HG declared as one of the apps that can go through the firewall... but for whatever reason, as I mentioned, I cannot connect to HG from any device in the network unless the firewall if off...
And I would like to avoid turning the firewall off if possible...

Thoughts ?
Regards,
Gus

[dani]

Has I thought,

You have to open the port for HomeGenie in your firewall

Cheers
Dani

[nolio]

You have to configure the firewall to authorize the port 80 like something like that :
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-open-a-port-in-the-windows-7-firewall.html

[Britton]

I've had the same problem.  Using Windows 7 Home Premium on a network with wired connections and Wifi to the Windows phone (Nokia lumia 928.)  I can get the phone to connect using a service address of 192.168.0.12 (which is the same address of Homegenie on the desktop computer.) This works only when the desktop Windows firewall is turned off.  Putting the various Homegenie programs into the firewall settings still does not allow for connection with the firewall on.  Not good.

I would like to make the phone connection though the internet instead of through my home network.  Can anyone steer me in the right direction to do this with Windows 7 Home Premium?

Will appreciate any help.

[Britton]

In regard to my prior post, I am now able to connect my Windows Phone with the Windows 7 firewall turned on.  It required opening TCP port 80 in all profiles.  I still need to figure out how to connect the phone with a connection through the Internet.  Any help appreciated.

[bkenobi]

In order to connect to your computer from the internet, you need to point the phone to the computer's IP.  But, since you are probably behind a router, you need to redirect traffic from your external internet IP to your internal intranet IP through port forwarding.  This is router specific, but basically you will change the port forwarding option for port 80 (for instance) on your router to port 80 on your computer.  There's lots of guides out there on how to do this, so I won't try to give that kind of detail (and likely get it wrong).

[Britton]

Hi bkenobi,

Thanks for the help.  Now I know it's possible and will keep trying.

[Britton]

To follow up, I now have my Windows Phone connected to Home Genie on my Windows 7 computer through the Internet.  This thanks to the help of  bkenobi and others here on this forum. 

To do this:

I put my computer external IP address into the phone settings.  (This was obtained at:  http://www.whatsmyip.org )

Configured my router to forward port 80 to the computer internal IP address (192.168.0.12).

Configured the Window 7 firewall to pass port 80 to all programs and services.  I am worried that this will affect the security of my computer but it is the only way I could find that would allow the firewall to pass port 80.

Other than the security issue, the Windows Phone app seems to work great. 

[bkenobi]

Any time you put a computer on the internet, there is a security concern (even when you are behind a router and use Windows firewall).  This risk is very small generally unless you are a target for some reason (government, fortune 500 business, etc).  An individual user has much less to worry about, but should always do the minimum steps to keep casual hacking attempts at bay (no one can really stop a dedicated hacking organization).

That being said, if you are concerned about security (or just want to know more) there are some good resources that you could check out.  I'd just go to Google and put in "computer security" or "Windows security" for starters.  I wouldn't lose sleep over it unless you rely on the system for your livelihood or you keep critical documents on the system without a backup.  But, fire or home invasions have similar risks.

[dutchie]

My internetprovider doesn't allow portforwarding in any way   
Been trying redirecting ports but it resulted in a slow and instable connection.

But I also noticed that when I put the IPaddress/port directly in the browser of my WP8.0 Phone I get a message this isn't supported