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Settings & Exclusions Export/import function


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Just had a  horrible update experience where MBAM failed to update to version 3.2 and then failed to reinstall and only worked after running MBClean. I then, of course, got the "licence has been exceeded" message and had to wait for three days before support fixed it. I also have to manually try to find every single exclusion I had entered and manually enter it again.

Why on earth isn't there a proper backup function of the settings+exclusions that we can run so that we can import them back into every new install we have to to every other week due to all the crashes?

It's not like other programs don't have such functions...

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The latest clean-MB install tool preserves license information in the event the user fails to deactivate the license prior to uninstalling. Otherwise, the clean-MB tool does what it says... gives you a clean, virgin installation. 

Yes, it would be nice to export settings. Look for that in a future release... maybe.

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1 hour ago, IvanIvanovich said:

all the hours having to type out the exclusions and manually enter them again I could do without. 

I do a lot of computers and have never typed an exclusion into Malwarebytes.  That is what the browse button is for.

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8 hours ago, Porthos said:

I do a lot of computers and have never typed an exclusion into Malwarebytes.  That is what the browse button is for.

Neither have I but since there is no export function the only way to save the information is to type it out.

I have to type it out in order to save it (on paper and in a text file) in case MBAM crashes. How would I otherwise know what to browse for when re-entering the exclusions.

The ability to export settings is something that loads of software have had for many decades. It's not like it's something out of the blue, is it? I have many machines (of my own) and they all have exclusions and they're not the same. Many of the machines have up to fifty exclusions and I'm getting sick of having to uninstall and reinstall this software whenever it decides to stop working for no reason. I've had to do re-installs dozens of times since version three was released. Only last night the exploit protection stopped working on one of my laptops and I had to reinstall.

I've sold hundreds of licenses to clients over the years but I've now stopped recommending this product due to the instability it encounters. I'm sick of having to respond to clients calling me telling me that their MBAM doesn't work.

Edited by IvanIvanovich
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4 hours ago, IvanIvanovich said:

I've sold hundreds of licenses to clients over the years but I've now stopped recommending this product due to the instability it encounters. I'm sick of having to respond to clients calling me telling me that their MBAM doesn't work.

I have as well. I guess my success/lack of issues is all of my clients are on Win 10 and only use Defender and MB Premium. I do not add any programs that are considered PUP's period. I fully support/defend the company's stance on those PUP programs. The exclusions that are really needed are the ones in the AV programs to exclude MB files/folders.  Those, of course, are not affected by reinstalling MB.

I do not have the issues with my clients that are seen here on the forums.

Now with all that said I would like to see a backup restore function for MB as it would save 30 seconds of work on each install.

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  • 1 year later...

I think a big part of the issue is that the use case for this feature would be really limited since, at least by default, the current standard upgrade install leaves modified settings and exclusions intact.  On top of that, the entire purpose of the clean uninstall utility is to wipe out all existing data to correct problems in scenarios where settings and configuration files might be corrupt, meaning it would be counter to its purpose to allow importing previous configuration files containing customized settings and exclusions.

With that said, it is possible to backup your settings and exclusions as most of them are contained within the C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes folder, so theoretically, as long as you're reinstalling the software on the same system, it should work to replace them once installed with ones from a previous installation, however I do not know if that would cause issues with the threat signatures, date/time data and other configuration data which may differ from one installation to another.

As far as business products are concerned, I do believe they have this capability, allowing a user to import/export settings and they also have managed policies for the console controlled versions that will apply settings across multiple endpoints within an organization.

For the consumer version, I don't see a whole lot of use cases for such a feature, though perhaps there is something specific you are trying to accomplish that the Product team hasn't thought of yet, so if that's the case please let us know what it is and I will make sure that they are made aware of your needs as that may influence their decision on whether or not to implement such a feature.

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I don't think that file is actually the exclusions you created.  I believe that file has something to do with items whitelisted by the Malwarebytes Research team.  I did find references that appear to be the exclusions I created but they're stored within multiple files (likely because they apply to multiple modules/components like the various protection components as well as the scanner) and they are stored under C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes\MBAMService\config.  The excluded items/paths appear to be encrypted, but you'll notice a "type" category for each where it calls out "file" or "folder" and that the number of each corresponds to the number of each of those types of items you have excluded and that their ordering in the files is the same as they are listed in the Exclusions tab in the main UI.  You probably need to backup that entire folder, however I still don't know if even that will work as they could be keyed to that exact installation somehow in order to prevent tampering/corruption issues so we may need to see what someone from the staff has to say on the issue, or you may test it yourself if you wish to see what happens when you restore them, especially if you're trying to replicate them on a different system (just make sure Malwarebytes isn't running when you replace the files).

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