[KB2934] The 'ESET Personal firewall initialization failed' message is displayed, what should I do?

• You receive the error message "ESET Personal firewall initialization failed" in ESET Smart Security version 5.x

In many cases this issue can be resolved by upgrading your operating system to the latest version, installing available Service Packs, and/or updating your network adapter drivers to the most current build. To do so, follow the links below:

•  Run Windows update to install the latest operating system updates, security patches and Service Packs as they are available to keep your computer fully protected and up-to-date. Click here for instructions from Microsoft on running automatic updates.
   
• Click here for the Microsoft Knowledge Base article on how to update a driver for hardware.
   

Once all available updates and Service Packs have been installed and network adapter drivers are up-to-date, if the problem persists, use the links below to view the solution for your operating system:
 

• Windows XP
   
• Windows Vista/7

Microsoft Windows XP

1. Click Start → All Programs → ESET → Uninstall. When prompted to restart your computer, click No.
    
2. Confirm that you can see hidden files and folders. Click Start → Control Panel → Folder Options.
    
3. Click the View tab, select the Show hidden files and folders option and click OK.

Figure 1-1

4. Click Start → My Computer and navigate to C:Windowsinf.

5. Rename the file INFCACHE.1 to INFCACHE.1.old. 

Figure 1-2

6. Restart your computer.
    
7. Install your ESET security product following the instructions in one of the following ESET Knowledgebase articles:
   
   How do I Download and Install ESET Smart Security?
   
   How do I Download and Install ESET NOD32 Antivirus?
    

Need further assistance? Contact ESET Technical Support.

Microsoft Windows Vista/7
 

I. Check to see if the Base Filtering Engine is missing

1. Click Start, type services.msc into the search field and then click services. 

Figure 1-1

2. Look for the Base Filtering Engine entry in the "Name" field, which is sorted alphabetically. 

Figure 1-2
Click the image to view larger in new window

Base Filtering Engine entry is missing: See the following Knowledgebase article for instructions on how to resolve this issue:

• • Reinstall Base Filtering Engine

Base Filtering Engine entry is present: Continue to step II below to resolve this issue.

II. Run the ESET registry repair tool

1. Click the following link to download the ESET registry repair tool. Save the file to your Desktop.
   • http://download.eset.com/special/ESETRepairNdis.exe
2. Once the download is complete, double-click ESETRepairNdis.exe to run the ESET registry repair tool.
    
3. After the issue has been successfully resolved, the following message will appear: "Repair successful. You need to restart your computer. Press any key." Press any key and restart your computer.
    

If the issue persists after using this tool, or if you see the message "It's not necessary to repair ndis interface indices. Press any key," verify that your system is not infected with Sirefef malware. If your system is clean, remove ESET Smart Security using the ESET Uninstaller tool and reinstall ESET Smart Security.