GamingServices UWP app

[bnyson]

Hello,

Recently I noticed, that despite having the Microsoft.GamingServices UWP app unblocked, sometimes the

"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.GamingServices_36.113.14003.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\gamingservices.exe"

file would be still blocked, while some connections are being allowed, for the same file.

I'm not sure if it's just microsoft handling their own UWP apps wrong, or something else.

[pylorak]

Hi,
First, please make sure that port-based blocklists are disabled in TinyWall. If this does not solve the problem, what would help greatly is if you can capture a screenshot of the connections window once with gamingservices blocked and once where it connected. Doesn't need to happen at the same time of course. Make sure Path, Ports and IP addresses are visible in your screenshots.

[bnyson]

Hi, First, please make sure that port-based blocklists are disabled in TinyWall. If this does not solve the problem, what would help greatly is if you can capture a screenshot of the connections window once with gamingservices blocked and once where it connected. Doesn't need to happen at the same time of course. Make sure Path, Ports and IP addresses are visible in your screenshots.

Alright, I will try to catch it once again.

[bnyson]

Hi, First, please make sure that port-based blocklists are disabled in TinyWall. If this does not solve the problem, what would help greatly is if you can capture a screenshot of the connections window once with gamingservices blocked and once where it connected. Doesn't need to happen at the same time of course. Make sure Path, Ports and IP addresses are visible in your screenshots.

And the rule:

Port-based blocklists are disabled in the settings.

[pylorak]

Thanks for the screenshot. I don't see any reason TinyWall should be blocking those blocked connections either.

One interesting thing to know is that TinyWall reports blocked connections if they were blocked for any reason, even if the blocking rules weren't installed by TinyWall. Can you confirm no other firewall is running on the system by mistake?

Also please check if any blocking outgoing rules exist in Windows Firewall ("Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security" in the start menu, or Run -> wf.msc).

[bnyson]

I don't use any other software besides TinyWall and the default Windows Firewall.
I checked for any blocking outgoing rules, but there are none.

By the way, this happens while playing Minecraft. Honestly, it works fine with the UWP app allowed, but I have no idea what's actually getting blocked. I just notice that it keeps getting blocked over time, even when my PC is idle, until I explicitly allow the .exe itself.

I was thinking it might be because GamingServices also runs as a Windows service, not just as a UWP app. However, I'm not very familiar with how all of this works, so I could be completely wrong.

[pylorak]

I just notice that it keeps getting blocked over time, even when my PC is idle, until I explicitly allow the .exe itself.

Ah, that's an important piece of info. The thing is, when the Windows kernel notifies TinyWall that a process got blocked, it doesn't tell it that it belonged to a service, just the ID of the process. So the association of processes to services is a heuristic that can be mislead in certain cases. I assume this is one of the cases where it happens, and the Connections window could be reporting a block as a service even though it was made as a traditional process... which wasn't whitelisted originally so it got blocked until you allowed.

Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding and maybe give a piece of mind, the rules that differentiate between "normal processes" and services do work 100% reliably (assuming no bugs on my part), there is no heuristic involved there. What I wrote above only applies to how they are being reported back to TinyWall and thus how they are shown in the Connections window.

[bnyson]

Soo something else is getting blocked rather than the service itself?
I would guess it might be some xbox related component that I haven’t allowed. I noticed that whenever gamingservices is running, the xbox app also tries to make a lot of connections, which I don’t allow.

[pylorak]

Soo something else is getting blocked rather than the service itself? I would guess it might be some xbox related component that I haven’t allowed. I noticed that whenever gamingservices is running, the xbox app also tries to make a lot of connections, which I don’t allow.

It is 100% the same executable (gamingservices). It might just be a different process of that executable that runs not as a service.

[fadelovesky]

When a UWP Updated, it app version changes. Unfortunatly, many UWP apps have the version within their filename:
gamingservices : "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.GamingServices_36.113.14003.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\gamingservices.exe"
whatsapp: "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\5319275A.WhatsAppDesktop_2.2623.103.0_x64__cv1g1gvanyjgm\WhatsApp.Root.exe"

and so one...

Then TinyWall consider them as new application, which break the consistency of the filtering list

[bnyson]

When a UWP Updated, it app version changes. Unfortunatly, many UWP apps have the version within their filename: gamingservices : "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.GamingServices_36.113.14003.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\gamingservices.exe" whatsapp: "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\5319275A.WhatsAppDesktop_2.2623.103.0_x64__cv1g1gvanyjgm\WhatsApp.Root.exe"

and so one...

Then TinyWall consider them as new application, which break the consistency of the filtering list

That shouldn't be a problem if you add it with the "Pick a UWP app" option.

Like my gamingservices UWP app rule doesn't break after update, of course the .exe does if I point at the file, but that's only because I don't want those connections blocked.