I'm glad to hear it. Read over the Clean Install Windows 10 tutorial carefully and make notes for any questions you need to ask so you are fully prepared. It is a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience that will make you permanently the master of your PC because you will learn everything that works best and how to apply it with your own hands.
Cannot Start Windows Firewall
Hi!
So my computer has been going through a lot this past week and I will include a TL;DR somewhere around this post, but keep reading if you want because I'll try to explain my situation as clearly as possible because I think windows could use the info I'm about to give and I hope people having this problem won't have to go through as much as I did. I am no expert with windows or computers, forums and talking with strangers online is extremely intimidating, but one day I'm going to have to step out of my comfort zone. I hope you guys find my situation useful and I hope you guys have some answers.
I have a Alienware 17 r4 laptop
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
NVIDIA gtx 1060
I have 16 gb ram
Precursor
First, my computer would do SupportAssist scans whenever I boot my computer. It would say that "Hardware scan complete with no issues. No bootable device found! Possible causes could be a corrupt OS image or a boot device is not enabled for BIOS Set up". It would rarely say no bootable devices found. I would later fix this by changing my boot priorities in the BIOS from these "NIC ipv4" then "NIC ipv6" then Windows Boot Manager thingies I don't remember their exact names to Windows Boot Manager then the ipv4/6 stuff. I didn't do anything to make this situation happen iirc (I did this boot manager fix at around July 11 or 12).
My computer started crashing with BSODS at about July 5. These would happen while I was using my computer. It gave the error code system_service_exception for about the next 2 days. I didn't think much of them, but I was already worried because it has crashed once 3 days in a row. After these 3 days, my computer had been experiencing BSODS but with error code critical_process_died in place of the system_service_execption codes. Once, when I started my computer, it showed a blue screen indicating that my PC had to be repaired with a code 0xc000000d. So I did a lot of stuff with safe mode like the sfc /scannow and chkdsk stuff with command prompt (I continue to use these commands throughout my entire situation) in WinRe because my computer would not want to boot in anything other than WinRe. I was stuck using safe mode for majority of what I did until my computer would boot properly. I also uninstalled avast antivirus at around this time. I also installed WhoCrashed and found that the issue was from ntoskrnl.exe. At around this time, the sfc /scannow would actually solve a problem. I vaguely remember it saying that it found corrupt files and repaired them. My computer hasn't had a blue screen since.
Based from the ntoskrnl.exe, I tried running the windows memory diagnostics and by the time it finished, I didn't see results from it. I disregarded this and I believe my memory is fine.
Yesterday, (July 13) I had a full scan done by windows defender and it found two instances of malware, one says 'Threat blocked' and the other says 'Remediation Complete'. They are from the same file. I ran another full scan and then no threats were found. So I believe the malware and been fully eradicated.
My Problem
A lot of things happened on July 12 and 13 because those were the days I saw the problems with my computer. When trying to play minecraft, I noticed my fps was reduced dramatically. BSL shaders were highly buggy and they came with error codes, but I won't include that here. So I thought that minecraft was running on my intel 630 gpu (idk if it is a gpu). Then found that I could not open NVIDIA Control Panel, Microsoft Store (wsreset.exe doesn't work came with an error 'ms-windows-store:PurgeCaches' Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again).
I think I messed up Microsoft Store by resetting the application, as I followed a tutorial to fix downloads from Microsoft store, because any application I tried to download from the store would not finish downloading and would receive an error. I could no longer find the Microsoft store from my application list in apps and features. I found a tutorial that used powershell to redownload the Microsoft store package thing (I really had no clue what I was doing there) and found that it would not redownload because my FIREWALL was down. Plus, I could run barely any troubleshooters because my Diagnostics Policy Service was not running.
https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/fix-base-filtering-engine-service-startup-problems/
In the article above, you will see my situation, including the error codes I've experienced. My Diagnostics Policy Service thingy wasn't running(error 5: access is denied), the BFE wasn't running(error 5: access is denied), and therefore the Windows Defender Firewall Service wasn't running (all of these services are automatic). I followed the article above, and the base filtering engine was now running. So I tried to run windows defender firewall service, but it stuck at running. I downloaded the windows firewall troubleshooter and it seemed to do its magic for the registry permissions, but it couldn't start the firewall. Sometimes it would display the same error code as it did before the BFE fix, and sometimes it would say: "Windows could not start the windows defender firewall service on local computer. the service did not return an error. this could be an internal windows error or an internal service error."
A few times before this point I really wanted to reinstall windows. I finally decided to do the deed. I followed a tutorial from Youtube to reinstall windows without losing data. However... It was stuck at 0%. Guess what the first solution was. Enable Firewall.
I should also mention that I tried to update my NVIDIA drivers and network adapter drivers. When I try to view the driver details of any of my display adapters, device manager would crash. From the alienware drivers and downloads page, I tried to use the automatic download and install option for my pc, but the download would always fail. I guess the firewall is the culprit again. So, I manually downloaded and installed the *urgent* Qualcomm drivers and installed them. I don't think it fixed anything. On the alienware drivers and downloads page, it says that my network adapter version should be 12.0.0.916. but it is on 12.0.0.948. I'm not sure what is going on here.
I've also tried using restoro to scan things, but I found no security issues, just the random stuff like the stability stuff.
I also know about system restore, but that can't do anything for me anymore because I have no good restore points.
TL;DR
My computer dies. BSODS left, right and center. I uninstall avast, run chkdsk (/f /r) and sfc /scannow (mostly in safe mode or in WinRe[or whatever it is called] because computer doesn't wanna boot to anything other than WinRe and I use safe mode for most of my troubleshooting. I manage to fix crashes. WhoCrashed said ntoskrnl.exe is the culprit. I look up things about ntoskrnl.exe and they say memory is the problem. I run memory diagnostics, nothing happens. I didn't have a crash since. Found malware, Win Defender got rid of it. NVIDIA control panel won't start. I wanna reinstall it but microsoft store won't start either. I found that firewall isn't on. I can't do anything to turn it back on at the moment. Drivers relating to the network adapter and NVIDIA gtx 1060 should be up to date. I decide to use media creation tool thing to reinstall windows. But I can't. Because Firewall isn't on.
Please feel free to ask any questions. I hope this post was not confusing or too much.
Thank you so much
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Internet and connectivity
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
77 answers
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Anonymous
2021-07-19T01:16:49+00:00 -
Anonymous
2021-07-19T02:29:34+00:00 Yes, although it does seem extremely intimidating. I hope things go well, and I'll ask you if I need help. Thanks a bunch.
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Anonymous
2021-07-19T02:34:57+00:00 You're most welcome.
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Anonymous
2021-07-19T11:48:47+00:00 Hmm, I'm wondering if I have to put a product activation code during the installation? I don't know where I can find one for my computer. I no longer have the packaging.
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Anonymous
2021-07-19T16:16:02+00:00 What is the Activation Status and Edition showing at the top of the page at Settings > Update & Security > Activation?
If it says Digital License then you'd skip the Product Key during install and it will reactivate as soon as you connect to the internet after install If it says retail key than you need the key. I can help you find it if you didn't save the key.