STATUS_NDIS_REQUEST_ABORTED Fix: 3 Steps That Worked for Me

The 30-Second Fix: Reset the Adapter

This is the first thing I try when I see 0XC023000C. It's stupid-simple, but it works more often than you'd think. The error means the network interface driver couldn't complete a send or receive operation—it just bailed out. Sometimes the adapter is stuck in a bad state, and a quick reset clears it.

1. Open Device Manager (right-click Start, pick it).
2. Find your network adapter under Network adapters. It'll likely say something like Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller or Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201.
3. Right-click it, choose Disable device.
4. Wait 10 seconds. Right-click again, choose Enable device.

Had a client last month whose entire print queue died because of this. Their Ethernet kept dropping every 3 minutes. This reset fixed it for 2 days, then it came back—but hey, it's a start. If this worked for you, you're done. If not, move to the next step.

The 5-Minute Fix: Kill Power Saving

Windows loves to turn off your network adapter to save power. This is almost always the real culprit behind NDIS_REQUEST_ABORTED. The driver gets put to sleep mid-request, and when it wakes up, it can't finish what it started. The result: error 0XC023000C.

1. In Device Manager, right-click your network adapter and choose Properties.
2. Go to the Power Management tab.
3. Uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
4. Click OK.

That's it. I've seen this fix stop the error cold on dozens of machines—especially laptops and older desktops running Windows 10 or 11. Power-saving logic is aggressive, and network cards don't handle being yanked offline gracefully. While you're there, also check the Advanced tab for any setting like Wake on Magic Packet or Energy-Efficient Ethernet. Set those to Disabled if you're still seeing issues. Energy-Efficient Ethernet in particular has caused more NDIS timeout errors than I can count.

If you're still getting the error after this, it's time for the deep clean.

The 15+ Minute Fix: Wipe the Driver Stack

This is the nuclear option, but it's necessary when the driver itself is corrupted or conflicting. The error 0XC023000C can also come from a Winsock catalog problem or a bad NDIS driver install. I've seen it happen after a Windows update botched the network stack, or after a third-party VPN installed its own NDIS filter driver that then crashed.

Here's the sequence I use—skip nothing, do them in order:

1. Uninstall the adapter completely. In Device Manager, right-click the adapter, choose Uninstall device, and check the box Delete the driver software for this device. Reboot. Windows will reinstall the driver from scratch.
2. Reset Winsock and TCP/IP. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (type cmd in Start, right-click, Run as administrator). Run these commands one at a time:

   netsh winsock reset
   netsh int ip reset
   ipconfig /flushdns

   Reboot after.
3. Update the driver manually. Go to your adapter manufacturer's site (Realtek, Intel, Broadcom, etc.) and download the latest driver. Don't rely on Windows Update—it often serves old signed drivers. Install the newest one, reboot again.
4. Check for filter drivers. Run netsh int show filter in CMD. If you see any third-party filters listed (like from a VPN, antivirus, or network monitoring tool), uninstall that software temporarily. Then run netsh int ip reset again, reboot, and test.

I had a client whose Dell OptiPlex kept throwing this error after every sleep cycle. Turned out their McAfee endpoint security had installed an NDIS filter that fought with the Intel i219-V driver. Uninstalled McAfee, problem gone. They switched to Windows Defender and never looked back. Moral of the story: third-party network filters are the bane of NDIS stability.

If you've done all this and still see 0XC023000C, it's likely a hardware fault—bad cable, dying NIC, or a bent pin in the Ethernet port. Swap the cable first, then try a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. If that works, your built-in NIC is toast. Time for a new motherboard or a cheap add-on card.