This error can occur in the following cases
Case 1: NetSim application not having sufficient previliges
Run NetSim in Admin mode, by right-clicking on the NetSim shortcut icon in the desktop and selecting Run as Administrator
Case 2: When interfacing with MATLAB
Make sure that the following directory is in the environment variable PATH:
<Path where MATLAB is installed>\bin\win32
For eg: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MATLAB\R2019b\bin\win32"
By default, only the path till the bin folder of MATLAB will get added to the path variable. i.e
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MATLAB\R2019b\bin"