"Error 2" when starting the Windows Firewall service

"Error 2" when starting the Windows Firewall service

 

Symptoms

When you try to start the Windows Firewall service in a Windows XP Service Pack 2 computer, the following error may occur:

Could not start the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service on Local Computer.

Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.

Also, the following event may be recorded in the Windows Event Log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Date: <date>
Time: <time>
User: N/A
Computer: <Computer name>
Description:
The Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service terminated with the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

Resolution

This problem occurs if one or both of the files ipnathlp.dll or ipnat.sys are missing. To resolve this problem, extract a new copy of the missing file from the Windows XP CD-ROM. Ipnathlp.dll should be present in the %systemroot%\system32 folder, and ipnat.sys should be present in the %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder on the computer's hard disk. To extract the missing files, follow these steps:

• Insert the Windows XP disk into the CD drive.
• Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK
• At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER.

expand X:\i386\ipnathlp.dl_ %systemroot%\system32\ipnathlp.dll

• Similarly, expand ipnat.sys file to the Drivers folder. Use the following command:

expand X:\i386\ipnat.sy_ %systemroot%\system32\drivers\ipnat.sys