HDD that is enabled after bootup cannot communicate with the internet?

win10x64 - 21H1 19043.1237
os on m.2
xampp and login server emulator run on 2nd HDD,portable versions
HDD is in a removable dock/bay

If I.......
boot up,wait for desktop
start xampp,start db server
info flows between them and the internet fine,no problems.

now here's the weird part,at least for me.

If I.........disable the HDD,shutdown.or shutdown then pull out the HDD.......
boot up,wait for desktop
enable HDD or push HDD back into enclosure.
start xampp,start db server
NO info flows between them and the internet??????????
xampp works fine on localhost
pc has assigned IP,HDD has assigned drive letter,ports are forwarded.

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Unless the HDD with xampp on it is attached and enabled during boot xampp seemingly cannot open port 80

OS or xampp problem?

The 2 should have nothing to do with each other. My assumption would be that there must be some bad code in XAMPP.

Does internet access work everywhere else whether or not this drive is present? If only thing that behaves this way is that one program, I would tend to point my finger at it.

I think there is a special procedure to install xampp on removable devices. Also check Access xampp from External Hard Disk.

MaloK said:

I think there is a special procedure to install xampp on removable devices. Also check Access xampp from External Hard Disk.

Pretty sure I am already using a portable version but to check I downloaded one and tried,same thing it doesn't open port 80.

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hsehestedt said:

The 2 should have nothing to do with each other. My assumption would be that there must be some bad code in XAMPP.

Does internet access work everywhere else whether or not this drive is present? If only thing that behaves this way is that one program, I would tend to point my finger at it.

internet is fine regardless

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is it windows firewall related?
delete the 3 rules,apache/mysql/fesl
try again,firewall window pops up,allow/allow/allow
everything works
pull drive out,put drive back in
no firewall window and things stopped working
delete rules
try again,firewall window pops up,allowx3,all working

checking the rule I see nothing that would single out this behaviour

Try to create a port based rule for port 80 only, instead of a program based rule.

MaloK said:

Try to create a port based rule for port 80 only, instead of a program based rule.

As in a rule that just opens port 80 for all?

Yes, Once your port 80 is binded to Xampp it is impossible for another program to bind that port without interrupting Xampp. It doesn't appear as a major security lost in my mind.

MaloK said:

Yes, Once your port 80 is binded to Xampp it is impossible for another program to bind that port without interrupting Xampp. It doesn't appear as a major security lost in my mind.

its no less secure. 80 is open one way or another. i agree tho on your answer. its how i have my server setup. the firewall only really needs the port open, not an app assigned to open it etc

tomdsr said:

its no less secure. 80 is open one way or another. i agree tho on your answer. its how i have my server setup. the firewall only really needs the port open, not an app assigned to open it etc

Unfortunately that only takes care of 1 port for xampp,it also uses mysql port 3306.
Then fesl uses many ports so just opening port 80 does work fully.

What about turning off firewall altogether?

Indi said:

Unfortunately that only takes care of 1 port for xampp,it also uses mysql port 3306.
Then fesl uses many ports so just opening port 80 does work fully.

What about turning off firewall altogether?

never do that. you only need 80 open. mysql talks to xamp internally, you should not have it open to the outside world. on my site, the sql server is a different computer. the sql server, is not open to the internet, and only accepts connections from the 192.168.1.x range so its only internal.