NS_E_CANNOTCONNECTEVENTS (0XC00D006F) Fix

You're streaming with Windows Media Encoder 9 or trying to set up a multicast broadcast on a Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 10 box, and bam — NS_E_CANNOTCONNECTEVENTS (0XC00D006F). The app refuses to connect to the NetShow event monitor service. I've seen this trigger most often after a Windows update that restarts the Windows Media Services dependency chain, or when someone's locked down services via group policy without checking the event monitor. The culprit here is almost always the Windows Media Services service itself or its dependent NetShow Event Monitor service being stopped, disabled, or blocked by a firewall rule. Don't bother reinstalling Windows Media Encoder — it rarely helps.

Root Cause

The NetShow event monitor is a service (nsmon.dll hosted in svchost.exe) that handles event reporting for Windows Media Services. When it's not running, the encoder can't log events or report status. That throws error 0XC00D006F. Usually the service is set to Manual but Windows updates or security software can disable it. Another common cause: the Windows Firewall blocks wmsserver.exe from listening on UDP port 1755. The service starts but the port's closed, so the encoder times out.

Fix Steps

1. Check the Services console. Hit Win + R, type services.msc, press Enter. Look for Windows Media Services. If it's not running, right-click and Start. Set it to Automatic if you use this regularly. Also find NetShow Event Monitor — it's listed separately on some Windows versions. Start it too.
2. Verify dependencies. Double-click Windows Media Services. Go to the Dependencies tab. You'll see it needs NetShow Event Monitor, Windows Media Encoder service (if installed), and HTTP services. Make sure all are running. If any are missing, restart the parent service.
3. Enable Firewall rules. Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security. Select Inbound Rules. Look for Windows Media Services (UDP-In) or Windows Media Services (TCP-In). If they're disabled, enable them. If they don't exist, create a new rule:
   

   Rule Type: Port
   Protocol: UDP
   Port: 1755
   Action: Allow
   Profile: Private, Domain

   Then name it WMS Event Monitor.
4. Rebuild the service registration. Open Command Prompt as Administrator. Run:
   

   sc config WMServer start= auto
   sc start WMServer

   Then:
   

   sc config nsmon start= auto
   sc start nsmon

   If nsmon doesn't exist as a service, run regsvr32 nsmon.dll from C:\Windows\System32\ to register the DLL.
5. Check for Group Policy lockdown. On domain-joined machines, gpresult /h C:\report.html exports Group Policy. Look for Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > System Services > Windows Media Services. If it's set to Disabled, that overrides Services.msc. Get your admin to change it to Not Configured or Automatic.

If It Still Fails

Check the Application event log for Event ID 7034 or 7031 — those mean the service crashed on startup. If you see Event ID 1000 from wmsserver.exe, you've got a corrupted install. Uninstall Windows Media Services via Turn Windows features on or off, reboot, reinstall it. Also test with a local firewall completely disabled temporarily — if it works, you missed a rule. One last thing: Windows 10 dropped native support for Windows Media Services after version 1809. If you're on Windows 10 1903 or newer, you need to use the Windows Media Player SDK or switch to a different streaming solution entirely.