Fix STATUS_NDIS_NOT_SUPPORTED (0XC02300BB) in 5 minutes

This error usually means your network driver or power saving setting is blocking a request. The fix is almost always resetting the driver or disabling power saving.

This error screams "driver or power saving" — here's how to kill it

You're staring at STATUS_NDIS_NOT_SUPPORTED (0XC02300BB) and your network's dead. Been there. The culprit here is almost always the network adapter driver getting confused by power management or a stale config. Here's the fix that works 9 times out of 10.

Step 1: Disable power saving on the network adapter

Windows loves to turn off network hardware to save battery. It's a terrible idea for stability. Here's how to tell it to stop:

Open Device Manager (right-click Start, select Device Manager).
Expand Network adapters.
Right-click your active network adapter (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and choose Properties.
Go to the Power Management tab.
Uncheck the box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
Click OK.

Step 2: Reset the network adapter driver

If power saving wasn't the issue, the driver itself is stuck. Flush it:

In Device Manager, right-click your network adapter again.
Choose Disable device. Wait 5 seconds.
Right-click and Enable device.

This forces Windows to reload the NDIS driver stack fresh. You'll see the error vanish in most cases.

Step 3: Run the network reset tool (if steps 1 and 2 fail)

Windows 10 and 11 have a built-in reset. It reinstalls network adapters and resets Winsock. Try it:

Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings.
Click Network reset.
Hit Reset now and confirm. Your PC will restart.

This is nuclear, but it works when nothing else does. You'll lose saved Wi-Fi passwords, so have them handy.

Why this happens

STATUS_NDIS_NOT_SUPPORTED is a generic NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) error. It means your network adapter driver received a request it couldn't handle. Common triggers:

Power saving: Driver goes to sleep mid-operation, then wakes up confused.
Driver mismatch: Windows Update pushed a bad driver version. Realtek and Intel NICs are notorious for this.
Virtual adapter interference: VPNs, Docker, or Hyper-V virtual switches can conflict with the physical adapter's NDIS layer.

I've seen this most often on laptops with Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controllers after a Windows Update. The driver version 10.68 or later seems to trigger it on certain chipsets.

Less common variations of the same error

Sometimes the fix above doesn't cut it. Here's what else I've seen work:

Variation 1: Virtual adapter collision

If you use Wireless Display Adapter or Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter, disable it in Device Manager. Go to View > Show hidden devices, find those virtual adapters, right-click, disable. Restart.

Variation 2: Corrupted Winsock catalog

Open Command Prompt as admin and run:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

Restart after. This fixes cases where the NDIS layer itself got corrupted by malware or a bad VPN install.

Variation 3: Faulty driver rollback

If the error started after a driver update, roll back. In Device Manager, right-click the adapter, go to Driver > Roll Back Driver. If greyed out, download the previous driver from the manufacturer's site, uninstall the current one, and install the old version.

Variation 4: Network card failure

Rare, but possible. If none of the above works and the error appears on multiple networks, the hardware could be dying. Try a USB Ethernet adapter. If that works, your onboard NIC is toast.

How to prevent this from coming back

Once you've fixed it, do these three things:

Lock your driver version. In Device Manager, go to Driver > Update Driver > Browse my computer > Let me pick from a list. Pick a version from 2 updates ago, not the latest. Auto-updates break adapters.
Disable power saving on all network adapters. Do it on Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Don't skip this — it's the number one cause of the error returning.
Turn off Windows automatic driver updates. Go to System > About > Advanced system settings > Hardware > Device Installation Settings. Choose No for automatic driver updates. You control when drivers change.

That's it. The error won't come back if you lock those settings. Saved my weekend more than once.