Thunderbolt™ Share Connection Issue When Norton™ 360 Smart Firewall Installed

Description

Users may be unable to establish a Thunderbolt™ Share connection between two PCs when Norton™ 360 is installed on one or both systems.

Thunderbolt™ Share may remain in a waiting or connecting state even though:

• Thunderbolt™ Share is installed correctly.
• A supported Thunderbolt™ Share licensed PC, dock, or accessory is being used.
• The Thunderbolt cable connection is functioning properly.
• Both systems meet the software requirements.

This behavior occurs because Norton™ 360 Smart Firewall may automatically classify the Thunderbolt Networking connection as a Public network, causing network communication required by Thunderbolt™ Share to be blocked.

Symptoms

You may observe one or more of the following symptoms:

• Thunderbolt™ Share cannot discover the remote PC.
• Pairing or connection requests fail.
• The Thunderbolt™ Share application remains stuck at the connection screen.
• File transfer, screen sharing, or peripheral sharing features do not start.
• Norton™ 360 displays a notification indicating that a new or hidden network has been detected.

Cause

Norton™ 360 Smart Firewall may configure the newly created Thunderbolt Networking interface as a Public network. When the network is configured as Public, Norton™ 360 may restrict network traffic required for Thunderbolt™ Share peer-to-peer communication.

As a result, Thunderbolt™ Share is unable to establish a connection between the systems.

Resolution

Step 1: Check for Norton Notifications

• Connect the two Thunderbolt™ Share systems.
• Open the Windows notification area (system tray).
• Look for notifications from Norton™ 360 indicating that a new network has been detected

Step 2: Open Norton Smart Firewall

• Launch Norton™ 360.
• Navigate to Smart Firewall.
• Locate the Thunderbolt Networking connection detected by Norton™ 360.

Step 3: Change Network Trust Level

• Verify whether the Thunderbolt Network is classified as Public.

• Change the network classification to Private.

• Apply and save the configuration changes.

Step 4: Reconnect Thunderbolt™ Share

• Disconnect and reconnect the Thunderbolt cable if necessary.
• Restart the Thunderbolt™ Share application.
• Attempt the connection again.

After the network is configured as Private, Thunderbolt™ Share should be able to establish the connection successfully.