Vista - The Windows Firewall service terminated with service-specific erro

2 PC's with the same error on a Windows 2003 Domain:

The Windows Firewall service terminated with service-specific error
2150760483 (0x80320023).
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 7/8/2008 3:09:14 PM
Event ID: 7024
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A

The firewall service cannot be started from the Windows Firewall Applet in
the control panel, or from the Services.msc snap in. The FW service is set to
automatic. There are no other antivirus or firewall apps running. I checked
the RPC Service, it is set to auto and the DCOM Server Process Launcher is
set to automatic, as well.

I checked the Registry Keys mentioned in the KB article,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943996 and the permissions are set
correctly.
Here is a workaround: The only way to start the service is to join a
workgroup, reboot, turn the firewall service back on, and then rejoin the
domain and reboot. The FW service will then stay on until the PC is rebooted.

I have seen many posts on the Internet with the same or similar problem, but
with no solution.

Any help would be appreciated.

We were having this exact issue. I found that a workstation GPO had been assigned to our workstations and firewall settings had been defined under both the Advanced Firewall config area as well as in the standard location of computer - admin temp - network - network connections - firewall -

After reading an article from microsoft recomending that seperate firewall GPO's for for managing Vista and XP workstations be configured and applied using WMI filters targeting each OS. For the Vista workstations configure the firewall settings using the advanced config and continue using the other for the XP workstations.

After doing this our problems went away. No more issues with the Vista firewall service. I used the GPMC found under the RSAT tool kit for Vista and server 2008 to configure these GPO's. The domain we were having these problems with is currently 2000 funcional level.

Hope this helps!
Aaron Hughes MCSA/MCSE, CCA
Network admin for a state agency in Washington state