Unable to connect the Service

[Nimits]

Hello, I recently installed the new version of malwarebytes... It worked fine after it was just installed, but after a reboot, it pops up with the "unable to connect the service" and you are not even able to uninstall it... I came across this post and noticed someone mentioned F-secure... I tried turning off F-secure and then tried to start Malwarebytes ... it worked started just fine. So obviously F-secure is blocking malwarebytes for some reason.

[dcollins]

You should be able to add an exclusion for C:\ProgramFiles\Malwarebytes\Anti-malware inside of F-Secure to leave both programs running properly.

[CaptainCrash]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I did try that before, and it did stop the "Unable to Connect..." error, but it didn't stop all the other stuff, like the slowdowns and protection failures.  If the solution is to add Malwarebytes to F-Secure's exclusions list, doesn't that indicate that there is now a conflict between the two products?  I think it has long been known that having more than one antivirus product on a machine isn't a good idea, and I know that is still F-Secure's line.  Perhaps MBAM has now become too close to an antivirus product, and is therefore no longer compatible with similar programs?

[DerekL]

I have updated from Malwarebytes Premium 2.?   to 3.0.5 today and am also now getting the "Unable to connect to service" error
I have Windows 10 Home 64 bit installed and also use TalkTalk Supersafe 16.5 (F-Secure)

TalkTalk SuperSafe 16.5

Computer Security 14.176 build 101
DeepGuard 5.0 build 593
E-mail Filtering 1.02 build 22223
Management Agent 8.30 build 43258
User Interface 19.10 build 270
Virus Protection 11.00 build 22424

Through trial and error spending quite a few hours to identify the problem, I have found that switching off the DeepGuard feature in TalkTalk Supersafe 16.5 (F-Secure) allows me to connect to the service everytime. Switching it back on again it reverts to the "Unable to connect to service" error.
Switching off the Virus Protection feature has no affect on the connection.

Edited January 30, 2017 by DerekL

[dcollins]

@DerekL if you add an exclusion to DeepGuard for the Malwarebytes folder, it should allow Malwarebytes to work properly

[crevier]

Hey @dcollins, a couple of questions:

1) You're the first MWB staffer to chime in here. How long until someone addresses my original question that started this thread?

2) How can I delete my original post and log files? I don't want everyone being able to download my log files, only MWB  staff for purposes of troubleshooting this.

 

[dcollins]

Do you happen to have F-Secure installed @crevier? If not, can you follow the instructions below to get me some more details from your machine? If you don't feel comfortable posting the logs here, you can PM them to me as well.

1. Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/farbar-recovery-scan-tool/ and save it to your desktop.
   Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system.
   **After you click the Download Now 64-bit, or the Download Now 32-bit, another page will open — DO NOT CLICK ANY ADDITIONAL 'download now' buttons, just wait and look toward the bottom of your browser for the option to Run or Save. Click Save.
2. Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to the disclaimer.
   Note: If you are prompted by Windows SmartScreen, click More info followed by Run anyway.
3. Click the Scan button.
4. When the scan has finished, it will save 2 logs  in the same directory the tool was run from.  Please attach the following logs:
   Addition.txt
   FRST.txt 

If you want to remove your old logs, you should be able to edit the post where the logs are attached and click the trash icon next to the attachment.

[crevier]

1 minute ago, dcollins said:

Do you happen to have F-Secure installed @crevier? If not, can you follow the instructions below to get me some more details from your machine? If you don't feel comfortable posting the logs here, you can PM them to me as well.

1. Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/farbar-recovery-scan-tool/ and save it to your desktop.
   Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system.
   **After you click the Download Now 64-bit, or the Download Now 32-bit, another page will open — DO NOT CLICK ANY ADDITIONAL 'download now' buttons, just wait and look toward the bottom of your browser for the option to Run or Save. Click Save.
2. Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to the disclaimer.
   Note: If you are prompted by Windows SmartScreen, click More info followed by Run anyway.
3. Click the Scan button.
4. When the scan has finished, it will save 2 logs  in the same directory the tool was run from.  Please attach the following logs:
   Addition.txt
   FRST.txt 

If you want to remove your old logs, you should be able to edit the post where the logs are attached and click the trash icon next to the attachment.

How can I edit the original post? There's a "Quote" link but no "Edit" link.

[dcollins]

I removed the link for you while I research how users are able to edit their old posts.

[DerekL]

1 hour ago, dcollins said:

@DerekL if you add an exclusion to DeepGuard for the Malwarebytes folder, it should allow Malwarebytes to work properly

Thank you for your suggestion @dcollins.
In the DeepGuard Monitored Applications list, Malwarebytes does not appear (with DeepGuard switched on), so cannot change the application permission to allow it.

[tt33B]

Yep same issue for me.  I use F-Secure and since the Malwarebytes upgrade to V3 I am having the same issue on my PCs.

Windows 8.1 - when I use a Admin user it seems ok, BUT when I use a Standard user I get the 'Unable to Start' message.  I use a Standard user logon 99% of the time, so it is an issue.  

There doesn't seem to be anyway to add Malwarebytes exclusion to F-Secure Deepguard as far as I can see (I had done this on earlier F-Secure versions, but that functionality seems to have been removed). 

Windows 7 - even as an Admin, Malwarebytes V3 will not start.

 

[Berna]

Like others have said, malwarebytes doesn't appear in F-Secure's Deepguard list. I could exclude it from the virus protection, but that doesn't make a difference.

[Schaal]

Same thing is happening to me as well after updating it to the newest version. I am not using F-secure and I cannot even go through deactivation step on the clean removal process since I cannot even launch the application.

Or is it still okay to remove MBAM without account deactivation?

Edited January 31, 2017 by Schaal

[dcollins]

If adding Malwarebytes to F-Secure's exclusion list (the list should be under Virus Scanning, not under DeepGuard), then you can turn on Compatibility Mode under DeepGuard which should allow Malwarebytes to run properly.

@Schaal I don't know what clean process you're mentioning, but you should be able to perform a regular uninstall of Malwarebytes and it will take care of the account deactivation for you. 

[Schaal]

@dcollins I was talking about the MBAM clean process that someone linked earlier. This guides tells me to that I need to deactivate account before uninstall for paid users.

[tt33B]

Possible work around for Windows 8.1 (doesn't seem to work for Windows 7 though).

Delay the 'Real-Time" Protection when Malwarebytes starts.  

- If using F-Secure turn off Deepguard temporarily;

- Open Malwarebytes; 

- Go to  Settings;

- Protection tab;

- scroll down to 'Startup Options';

- turn on 'Delay Real-Time Protection when Malwarebytes starts"; set a time delay (you may need to experiment to find the correct delay).  

- If using F-Secure turn Deepguard back on.

Next time I booted up everything 'seemed' to work.

 

[Berna]

Darn, @Schaal is right, I should have deactivated before deinstalling. Maybe that's why the deinstall didn't work? Note to self: next time, read all the instructions before starting.

What do I do now? I still can't run nor deinstall Malwarebytes...

[dcollins]

@Berna what happens when you try to uninstall?

[Berna]

@dcollins Hey, I don't know what happened, but I tried deinstalling again and this time it worked! It did say that some items couldn't be removed, so I used the removal tool again, as well. Earlier attempts to deinstall failed with a message that  C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\unins000.dat  couldn't be opened.

I hope you'll get Malwarebytes to play nice with F-Secure soon, so I can reinstall it. :-)

[crevier]

On 1/30/2017 at 4:34 PM, dcollins said:

I removed the link for you while I research how users are able to edit their old posts.

OK. I don't have Fsecure. And I don't have the time to do any more troubleshooting than I've already done. Is there any way you can check on the status of my email to support@malwarebytes.com from 3 days ago asking for a refund? I think it's Case #1205809.

[dcollins]

@crevier I don't have access to those tickets, but I know they work in a first in/first out fashion so hopefully they'll get to your ticket soon

[us-malware]

I also had the "unable to connect the service"-problem and am also using F-Secure. Now, in another post, I found the following which solved the problem on my pc:

 

Also have you added the files for exclusion?

I would like you to add these files to your Anti-Virus exclusions list

C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\MbamPt.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\assistant.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\MBAMWsc.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\mbamtray.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\MBAMService.exe

Then I would like you to restart the computer and let me know how things are doing

 

In F-Secure, exclude the above under TOOLS, scan-options, change scan settings and then exclude objects from scan. Restart the computer and it should work.

 

[Berna]

@us-malware: Thank you! I reinstalled Malwarebytes and excluded the files you mentioned in F-Secure, and everything appears to work fine now. :-)

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by Berna

[tt33B]

22 hours ago, us-malware said:

In F-Secure, exclude the above under TOOLS, scan-options, change scan settings and then exclude objects from scan. Restart the computer and it should work.

 

Thanks, but that didn't seem to work for me.  Well sort of didn't....

On Windows 7 it didn't do anything...still came up with the error.

On Windows 8.1, at first look it worked, but on a closer look for some reason my Malwarebytes had reverted to the free version, and real time protection etc. weren't an option!  Weird.

Anyway, I changed everything back to the 'delay' option and reactivated my license.

Also I was mistaken in an earlier post - and you can add items to F-Secure Deepguard (I will edit my post to correct it). :-/  So I will try the exclusions there instead sometime over the next couple of days..

[tt33B]

On 1/31/2017 at 10:38 AM, tt33B said:

There doesn't seem to be anyway to add Malwarebytes exclusion to F-Secure Deepguard as far as I can see (I had done this on earlier F-Secure versions, but that functionality seems to have been removed). 

Can't seem to edit my post, so we add this here - you can add files to exclude to Deepguard, you need to click on the Objects tab to do it.