Fix for Base Filtering Engine (BFE) Service Error 1083

When you try to start the Windows Firewall in a Windows computer, you may get a message stating that the the Base Filtering Engine (BFE) service is not running, and any attempts to start the BFE service may result in the error 1083:

Windows could not start the Base Filtering Engine service on Local Computer.

Error 1083: The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement the service.

If BFE doesn’t start, many other services fail to start. Windows Firewall is one of those services that depend on BFE.

Fix: Base Filtering Engine (BFE) Error 1083

To resolve BFE service error 1083, use these steps:

Instructions for Windows 10/11

1. Right-click Start, click Run.
2. Type regedit.exe and press ENTER
3. Navigate to the following branch:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost

4. In the right-pane, double-click the value named LocalServiceNoNetworkFirewall
5. Check if the value data field contains the string BFE. If it’s missing (that explains the error 1083), include the string BFE somewhere in the value data field:
   
6. Click OK.
7. Restart Windows, and check if Base Filtering Engine, Windows Firewall and other dependency services start correctly.

Instructions for Windows 7

1. Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER
2. Navigate to the following branch:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost

3. In the right-pane, double-click the value named LocalServiceNoNetwork



4. Check if the value data field contains the string BFE. If it’s missing (that explains the error 1083), include the string BFE somewhere in the value data field, as in the image below:



5. Click OK.
6. Restart Windows, and check if Base Filtering Engine, Windows Firewall and other dependency services start correctly.

Hope this resolves error 1083 when starting the Base Filtering Engine (BFE) or the Windows Firewall service.