The most common services that often stop and cause this error are the Base Filtering Engine (BFE) and the Windows Defender Firewall service. Both services are essential for the Windows Firewall to function properly. If one of these services is not running, it will prevent the firewall from being initiated. Additional factors include interference from other security software and unregistered or corrupted firewall DLL files. Let’s proceed to the solutions for this issue.
1. Ensure Windows Firewall and Related Services Are Running
The Base Filtering Engine (BFE) service manages the firewall and internet protocol security policies and implements user-mode filtering. Meanwhile, the Windows Defender Firewall service is a crucial part of the Windows Defender Firewall that helps protect the system by preventing unauthorized access by untrusted or malicious programs. Therefore, ensuring these services are running is essential to resolve this issue. Note: The “Windows Defender Firewall” service may appear under different names depending on your Windows version. It has evolved over time as part of broader security updates and may be referred to as “Windows Security” in some versions.
2. Re-register Firewall Components
Re-registering the Windows Firewall DLL files will reset the registry entries associated with them, ensuring that any corrupt or misconfigured files are restored, allowing the firewall service to function properly.
3. Uninstall or Disable Third-party Antivirus Software
If you have any third-party antivirus software running in the background, there is a high chance that the antivirus program stops the firewall services since you are primarily using the third-party antivirus. After uninstalling it, you will be able to start the Windows Firewall without any issues. However, if the error persists, ensure the firewall services are running before proceeding to further steps.
4. Reset Firewall Settings
Resetting the Firewall will revert all the configurations to default, eliminating any incorrect rule or misconfigured policy that can cause this issue. If the issue is still not fixed, it might be due to misconfigured settings or incorrect policies. Therefore, try resetting the firewall settings if you haven’t done so already. Lastly, if the problem is still not fixed, try running the sfc /scannow command with administrative privileges in the Command Prompt. This will restore the corrupted files, including the ones associated with the firewall. However, if this also fails, your only option may be to either restore your Windows to a previous state, which will require a restore point from before you encountered this issue, or reset your PC without losing data.
