Fix FWP_E_SESSION_ABORTED (0x80320010) Error

I know you're staring at that FWP_E_SESSION_ABORTED (0x80320010) error and your VPN or firewall just dropped. It's annoying, especially when you're in the middle of something. Let's fix it right now.

The Quick Fix: Reset the Windows Filtering Platform

This error means the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) has a stale session — maybe from a VPN that disconnected badly or a firewall rule that got corrupted. The fastest way out is to nuke the WFP state and start fresh.

Press Windows Key + X and pick Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin). You need to run this as an administrator.
Type this command and hit Enter:
```
netsh wfp reset
```
After you press Enter, you should see “The Windows Filtering Platform reset operation completed successfully.” If you see an access denied message, you didn't run as admin — go back and do that.
Reboot your machine. Don't skip this. The reset takes effect after a restart.
After reboot, try your VPN or the app that triggered the error. It should work now.

Why this works: netsh wfp reset clears all WFP session state — open handles, pending operations, the whole lot. It's like force-closing a hung program. The reboots makes sure drivers and services reload clean.

If That Didn't Fix It: Check for Stale Filters

Sometimes the reset command doesn't clear everything. Let's look at the actual WFP filters and remove any that are orphaned or broken.

Open an admin command prompt again.
Run this to list all WFP filters:
```
netsh wfp show filters
```
You'll get a monster list — don't panic. Look for any filter that shows “State: Stale” or “Session: Aborted”.
If you find a stale filter, note its Filter ID. Then delete it:
```
netsh wfp delete filter id=XXXXX
```
Replace XXXXX with the actual ID. You'll see “The filter was deleted successfully.”
Repeat for any other stale filters. Then reboot once more.

When You're Dealing with a Specific App or VPN

If this error only happens with one program — say, a corporate VPN like Cisco AnyConnect or a firewall like ZoneAlarm — the real problem might be a corrupted app-specific WFP callout. Here's how to handle that:

Reinstall the app. Uninstall it completely, reboot, then install the latest version. The app's installer usually registers new WFP callouts cleanly.
Check for Windows updates. Microsoft pushed a patch in KB5003637 (for Windows 10 20H2 and 21H1) that fixed a session abort issue with WFP. If you're on an older build, update.
Try a clean boot. Type msconfig in Run, go to Services, check “Hide all Microsoft services”, then disable all third-party services. Reboot. If the error goes away, one of those services was fighting with WFP. Re-enable them one by one to find the culprit.

Less Common Variations of This Error

I've seen FWP_E_SESSION_ABORTED pop up in a few other places:

Situation	What's Happening	Fix
Hyper-V virtual switch stops working	The WFP session for the virtual switch got canceled during a live migration or snapshot restore.	Restart the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service (`net stop vmms` then `net start vmms`). Then do the netsh wfp reset above.
Windows Defender Firewall shows “Session aborted” in logs	A third-party security app (like Norton or McAfee) disabled the firewall and left a dangling session.	Uninstall the third-party security app completely. Then run `netsh advfirewall reset` to restore default firewall rules.
RDP connection fails with this error	Remote Desktop uses WFP for network-level authentication. A corrupter filter can block it.	First try the netsh wfp reset. If that doesn't work, disable RDP network-level authentication temporarily (System Properties > Remote > uncheck “Allow connections only from computers with Network Level Authentication”). Reboot, then re-enable it.

How to Prevent This from Happening Again

Most of the time, this error comes from a single bad event — a VPN crash, a power loss during a firewall update, or a buggy program uninstall. Here's what you can do to keep your WFP sessions healthy:

Don't force-close VPN clients. Always disconnect properly through the client interface. Killing the process with Task Manager leaves the WFP session hanging.
Keep Windows updated. I've seen Microsoft fix several WFP-related bugs in cumulative updates. Run Windows Update monthly.
Stick to one firewall. Running two firewall products (like Windows Firewall plus a third-party one) often causes session conflicts. Pick one and disable the other.
If you're a dev or admin using WFP APIs, always close sessions properly with FwpmEngineClose. A forgotten open handle is the #1 cause of this error in custom apps.

That's it. You should be back up and running. If the error persists after all this, there might be deeper driver corruption — in that case, run sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth from an admin prompt. But 9 times out of 10, the netsh wfp reset does the job.