Windows Firewall won't start: win7 x64

Hello,

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64.
I am having trouble starting my firewall.

The Action Center tells me:
Action Center can't turn on Windows Firewall
Turn on Windows Firewall Manually

Clicking on "Turn on Windows Firewall Manually" will take me to the Windows Firewall control panel page. Clicking on the "Use Recommended Settings" button will have no effect.

Using services.msc and using cmd.exe to try and start the firewall both yield an Error 5.
In cmd.exe:

In services.msc:

The System Event Log shows:

I have googled the problem and followed some solutions. Most of the solution pathways are similar to this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943996

I have tried both the automatic Microsoft Fixit tool, as well as the manual methods.
I have also tried Tweaking.com's Repair Windows Firewall tool (downloaded from MG)

Before this, I also needed to start the Base Filtering Engine service. That was successful.

MalwareBytes and Microsoft Security Esssentials scans come out clean. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

Were you aware that the firewall was disabled? I.E. did you or another user of the computer disable it?

If not I would suspect malware, even though your scans came up clean. Please read this thread then post in the malware forum according to the instructions.

 

Well,

I did not disable it myself.

In any case, I have fixed it by running combofix.

 

I am glad you have it working.