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Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security 2001 or 2002 unexpectedly prompts for a supervisor password

Situation:
You installed either Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security 2001 or 2002. When you start the program, all the buttons are dimmed, and the application prompts you for a supervisor's password any time you try to change settings.


Solution:

Before you begin:
If you are using Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security 2003 or 2004, read the document Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall 2003 or 2004 unexpectedly prompts for a supervisor password.


This problem can happen immediately after installation if you entered a password but did not save the password. This may be the cause of the problem if you can access Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall by leaving the supervisor password blank.

In some situations, configuring Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall to start later during the startup process will resolve the problem. See the document How to change when Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall loads during Windows startup.

Other solution: Remove Nisum.dat
This problem sometimes happens when Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall finds and uses a Nisum.dat file that is left over from an earlier version of the product. The earlier version, such as Norton Internet Security Family Edition, included configurable user accounts.Your version of the product does not usually use this file, but because the file is present, Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall is behaving as though it has user accounts.

To resolve the problem, locate and delete the Nisum.dat file. How you do this will depend on the operating system you are using. See the document How to find and delete Nisum.dat for detailed instructions. After you remove Nisum.dat, restart Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall.

Other solution: Run RnisUPG.exe or do a manual uninstallation
If the issue persists, run the RnisUPG.exe removal utility or perform a manual uninstallation to remove Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall. For details on using or obtaining the RnisUPG.exe utility, see the document How to uninstall Norton Internet Security or Personal Firewall using the RnisUPG.exe removal utility.

Note: If you are running Norton Internet Security or Norton Internet Security Family Edition and you selected to install Norton AntiVirus during the Norton Internet Security or Norton Internet Security Family Edition installation procedure, Norton AntiVirus will need to be uninstalled or removed from the computer. Symantec recommends removing Norton AntiVirus through the Norton Internet Security or Norton Internet Security Family Edition uninstallation procedure. If this is not possible, the Rnav.exe removal utility can be used to remove Norton AntiVirus. For details on using or obtaining the Rnav.exe utility, see the document How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus by using the Rnav.exe removal utility.


References:
For details on manually uninstalling Norton Internet Security, Norton Internet Security Family Edition, or Norton Personal Firewall, see the appropriate document:

Document ID: 2000116832227066
Last Modified: 09/20/2004
Date Created: 10/02/2000
Operating System(s): Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Me, Windows 98 SE, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows Millennium
Product(s): Norton Internet Security 2002 4.0, Norton Internet Security Professional Edition 2002, Norton Personal Firewall 2002 4.0