how many "'"s can you find in:
q: why can't i start the winpcap npf service when i'm the administrator? i recently installed wireshark on a win 7 host, but now it won't let me start the npf service.  i get:
c:\windows\system32>net start npf
system error 5 has occurred.

access is denied.

that's strange, because i am in the local admins group, and the sddl string for the 'npf' service shows that the rp and wp permissions are allowed to the built-in administrator group.
c:\windows\system32>net localgroup

aliases for \\doc

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*administrators
*backup operators
*cryptographic operators
*distributed com users
*event log readers
*guests
*iis_iusrs
*network configuration operators
*offer remote assistance helpers
*performance log users
*performance monitor users
*power users
*remote desktop users
*replicator
*users
the command completed successfully.


c:\windows\system32>sc sdshow npf

d:(a;;cclcswrpwpdtlocrrc;;;sy)(a;;ccdclcswrpwpdtlocrsdrcwdwo;;;ba)(a;;cclcswlocr
rc;;;iu)(a;;cclcswlocrrc;;;su)

clearly i am missing something, but what?

a: it sounds like you're not running it from an elevated command prompt. from the gui you can click start > type cmd > right click > run as administrator and try again.
from an unelevated command prompt you can do runas /user:domain\user cmd

user
There are seven "'"s.
assistant