How to Fix “Could Not Connect to the System Event Notification Service” Error in Windows Vista
January 26, 2009 – 6:00 amSometimes Windows Vista does “special” things that sometimes made me say “This beats me!” a few times. Thankfully, there are many people out there that face the same problem as mine and already posted a solution online. One of the most recent problem that I’ve experienced is that I could not connect to the Internet after I got the error message “Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. Please consult your system administrator. ”
The best part is that I logged on to my machine with an administrator account! Lol! After searching the net for solutions (plus a few times cursing Microsoft), I’ve found one that works!
How to Fix “Could Not Connect to the System Event Notification Service” Error
1- Log on to your Windows system. Just ignore the error message for the time being.
2- Go to Windows Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories
3- Right click on Windows Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. Wait for the Command Prompt to launch.
4- Using the command prompt, navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\ folder.
5- Type “netsh” and press Enter. The prompt will change to netsh>
6- Type “Winsock reset“. Press Enter once more.
7- Reboot your computer.
I cannot guarantee that this will work for you but in my case, the problem disappeared after the next Windows reboot. I don’t even want to know what “Winsock reset” really did. I am just happy the System Even Notification error message had gone away and if you happen to encounter the same problem, this is worth a try!
Tags: vista error, windows vista error, windows vista, system even notification service
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74 Responses to “How to Fix “Could Not Connect to the System Event Notification Service” Error in Windows Vista”
Wow, nice trick.. just installed vista in my PC..So far no problem Thanks for sharing..
By Nicholas | Pixobyte.com on Jan 26, 2009
Cannot thank you enough. Your tip really work.
By Ethan on Jan 27, 2009
Nice solution. Thanks.
Visited your blog for the first time… Hope to see you around
By Nihar on Feb 5, 2009
Man, thank you so much! Nothing to be found in the net, but your site and it helps!
By arnold kuebel on Feb 8, 2009
You ‘da man!
Thanks alot! Saved me restoring the whole thing.
By Steve on Feb 15, 2009
you are awesome. u just saved my friend from missing coursework delivery!
By zaza on Feb 17, 2009
A Very Big THANKS!
By Mark on Feb 18, 2009
Perfect guide for dummies like my self! Thank you very much!
By Stig on Feb 25, 2009
Man thank you very much.
It has been 3 days and i didn’t know how to fix it. you saved my laptop
But everyday it happens to me and I have to do this? Is there anything to remove this error completly?
By ramy on Feb 26, 2009
@ramy: Suggested that you update your Windows. And don’t ever leave your USB thumb drive slotted in why Windows starts. I experienced this error when I did this.
By Syahid A. on Feb 27, 2009
Thank you, I will try to do that.
But every time I turn on my Laptop, it shows me an error “Host Process for windows services stopped working and was closed. A problem caused the application to stop working correctly. Windows will notify when a solution is available.”
Does anyone know what this problem is and what I might do to rectify it? Most times I have to do a hard re-boot in order to get the system working correctly, as a soft boot or restart is unresponsive.
By Ramy on Feb 27, 2009
Thx man! Screw Vista!
By FT on Mar 2, 2009
helo.got problem with vista. i also got the Could Not Connect to the System Event Notification Service” Error and i read some solutions online but all of those remedies involved an open pc. my pc wont even start properly even the admin account. when i log to the standard account i get the “couldnt connect error”, when i log to the admin account the password is accepted but right after that a blank black screen with only just a cursor appears and thats it.. nothing happens whatever key i press..
dont know how to solve if i cant even open my laptop.. pls help.. thankz..
By angela on Mar 10, 2009
You should try doing the same thing in “Safe Mode”. You need to log-in and wait until the screen to finish loading and returns you to the Windows Vista desktop.
By Syahid A. on Mar 10, 2009
ok, il try that.. and see what wil happen.. thankz..
By angela on Mar 15, 2009
OMG! Your tip really saved my laptop! Tanks Very MUCH!!! This tip really work!!
By Yaileanne on Mar 17, 2009
Ya this works…thnx
By Someone on Mar 29, 2009
I love this site. Billion thanks saved me lots of time.I used netsh and I followed instructions worked for me great. Love you techmalaya and respect to your knowledge
By Michael Para on Apr 7, 2009
I will recommend your site for every one in Canada
By Michael Para on Apr 7, 2009
Thanks. This just save a lot of time and frustration over the next while. The laptop is back in business!
By Grant on Apr 20, 2009
Worked great! This problem came up right after clean install of Windows 7 RC1.
By Joe on May 6, 2009
Thanks you sooo much. You are a life saver…
By Clifton on May 12, 2009
God bless you.. you have just saved my night.
I’m very disappointed as always with Microsoft for not having any information on this though.
respect
By justtosaythanks on May 12, 2009
Amazing!!! I have been looking for this answer for 6 days. THANK YOU!
By kaleb on May 20, 2009
Had this problemn today.Tried this fix. Unfortunately did work for me. Found another fix at another site.Thank Goodness it worked!!!!
Here’s the fix. Good Luck!!!
1.Start the Run program in Windows
2.Type “services msc” without the invert
3.Scroll down the running program list
4.Look for System Event Notification Services
5.If it is “Disabled” or in “Manual” mode
change it to “Automatic” Be careful!!! Don’t
change any other.
6.Reboot and Log in as usual.
By H Moideen on May 21, 2009
Sorry I should say ” Unfortunately it did not work for me”
By H Moideen on May 21, 2009
mannnn,,i love youuu!!!!
By hanazono hairi on Jul 23, 2009
awww thanks, …been really helpful.
By P Olomofe on Jul 31, 2009
i freaking love you, ty so much
By jho on Aug 4, 2009
WORKED! This error seemed really critical, so many things were broken and it looked bad. Most sites suggested reformatting for something so nasty.
Vista had frozen on me after trying to wake up from a hibernation and didnt successfully reload, after rebooting I was greated with this.. thank you so much for your quick fix!
By Bill on Aug 4, 2009
worked a treat. thanks. t
By trevor on Aug 18, 2009
Thank you very much.This helps me and save me time to reinstall OS.Again thank you.
By Bobibo on Sep 2, 2009
I LOVE YOU!!!! I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH. THIS IS MOTHERF*CKING BRILLIANT!!!!!!!
By Emil on Sep 3, 2009
it worked–thanks!!!!!!!!!
By bob on Sep 4, 2009
OMG. IT REALLY WORK!!! THANKS!!!!
By Shawn on Sep 8, 2009
You are a genius - Microsoft should pay you a massively for sorting out their junk bugs!
By Graham on Sep 11, 2009
Thank you very much!!!! It helped! I had the same as someone else here, just a black screen with a cursor after logging in to the administration account, and a “could not connect to the SENS service” when logging in to the guest account!
By Benny on Sep 14, 2009
Thank you so very very much, this solved my problem. I was so close to buying a new laptop, oh… glad I didn’t. Thanks again, I’m so happy I can’t put it in words
By DO on Sep 22, 2009
Thank U very much,
It worked on my windows 7 rc
I had to do a system restore afterwards to get my display settings right
By Paul on Oct 4, 2009
You have to be an absolute god !!!!! Seriously my sis laptop was fukked and this simple tip saved my life … MICROSFOT HIRE THIS GUY
By MuFFiN on Oct 12, 2009
WOW!!!!! THIS WORKED GREAT!!!! I REALLY CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH!!!! YOU DON”T KNOW HOW MUCH GOOD YOU HAVE DONE BY POSTING THIS SOLUTION!!!! SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU!!!!
By Synth1 on Oct 14, 2009
Thakns buddy it really worked.
By Shailendra Kumar on Oct 16, 2009
If this works you have saved me HOURS of hard work trying to fix my work computer. Thank you so much for posting this online. People don’t realize how much stress they can relieve in other people’s lives by posting stuff like this when they find a solution!
:) 
THANK YOU!!!
By Jonathan on Oct 16, 2009
You are a genius! How did you manage to find this fix?
By Brendan Robinson on Oct 22, 2009
@Brendan: From one site on the Internet, can’t remember the address.
By Syahid A. on Oct 27, 2009
You da man!
God, I had Microsoft.
By Craig on Nov 2, 2009
Sorry, typo, “had” should be “hate”.
By Craig on Nov 2, 2009
Thanks heaps Bro… tried fixing the problem for 1 freakin whole day to no avail!!! Googled on my phone and found your fix…works perfect saves me reinstall.
Thanks Again Bro
By Chet on Nov 6, 2009
Cheers mate - you’re a life saver!!!!!
By Sharon on Nov 12, 2009
you genius.. thanks a lot!!! can you please tell me why this issue occurs and how to fix it for good?
By Anjan on Nov 20, 2009
thnx mate.. hats off to u…. cheers
By Sidwick on Nov 23, 2009
Man ..you are great ….really techy ..it did not only resolve issue with system event notificatgion service it also resolve the issue related with windows wireless service..thanks buddy..
By Jayant on Nov 26, 2009
Thank you very very very very much !!!
By Thanasis on Nov 29, 2009
A big thank you. Looks like your post has been most valuable ALL year! Good on you.
By Drew W on Dec 6, 2009
This seems to works for me every time that my daughter’s computer goes on the fritz:P
By Aeryn on Dec 8, 2009
What does this mean:
“Using the command prompt, navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\ folder”
??
“Navigate” how? Type it at the prompt? Doesn’t work? Type something else to bring up navigation?
I want to fix this error, but some of us are just dumb (or not knowledgeable, or even mind readers). Thank you.
By I No Speaky Yer Language on Dec 9, 2009
no worries, just type “cd C:\Windows\System32\”
By Syahid A. on Dec 9, 2009
Netsh and then Winsock Reset. Worked like a charm. Beem stumped WAY too long on this one. Beautiful!! Thanks!!
By Tina on Dec 11, 2009
thank u very much. your tip is very helpfull.
i luv it. very simple and techy .
By madhca on Dec 29, 2009
thank you so much! It realy solved my Vista problem and saved a lot. - from China
By seanmeng on Dec 29, 2009
WOW!!! it is working. Thank man. I dont know how you found solution. any how you are soooooooo good.
By vijayan on Jan 1, 2010
Dude, you rock!! Just saved me a full re install. Can’t thank you enough
By Rusk on Jan 12, 2010
I’m getting this same issue on a clean build of Windows 7 RTM.
Ridiculous that Microsoft have been silent on this bug which has been around since 2007.
By Squuiid on Jan 13, 2010
This is the only thing that worked!!!! After pouring though Microsoft’s “website” and “help”less forum which did no good.
By apiske on Jan 15, 2010
Thank goodness I found your page on Yahoo! I was having the same problem and couldn’t find the solution for sometime already and your suggestion works! Thank you.
By DetoxGal on Jan 16, 2010
Thanks very much - took 1 minute and solved the problem!!!
By Martin Brett on Jan 31, 2010
Thanks for your solution, it sorted out my laptop for me. Many thanks!
By Hao Zhu Ba Jie on Feb 4, 2010
I get the message “the requested operation requires elevation”
By David on Feb 9, 2010
Your fix worked man. Thank you so much!
My problem started today. I got that message and found out that the sidebar wasn’t showing the gadgets. My saved accounts and info in Live Messenger were gone too. But the steps above fixed the source of the problems. Thank you again.
By AbdulAziz on Feb 11, 2010
Another happy customer! Thnx much. Vista 32 system same message, “Could Not Connect to the System Event Notification Service”
Good to go now!!!!!
By RIkopus on Feb 11, 2010
Omg i was almost a year whitout internet i was dieng you ae my savior in my darkest year off my life THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKSTHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS
By Mark BOs on Feb 21, 2010
Great post
Winsock LSP problems have been a common symptom of malware since at least Windows2K. N.B.: Resetting the “windows sockets” catalog has some side-effects: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm
In my case, this repaired a laptop in another state, where the “Could not connect to the system event notification service” traced back to a missing dependency for SENS, the “RPC Endpoint Mapper.” “SFC /scannow” could not find any errors, so we had to start looking at more exotic solutions. This page reminded me of this old, old issue, and it solved our problem. Thank you - very much.
By Kirk M. Schafer on Feb 24, 2010