Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit refuses to run

[Crimsoncricket]

I'm a Windows 7 user on a 64 bit system.  I've had MBAE flake out on me before, but usually a reboot or uninstalling (and running clean_mbae prior to reinstalling) fixed it.  But neither worked today.  I even tried downloading a different version from Bleeping Computer, but the system tray icon vanished once I put my cursor on it after the installation finished!

I tried activating it manually using Services, but I got the following message when I clicked "Start":

"Windows could not start the Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Service service on Local Computer.  Error 2:  The system cannot find the file specified"

What should I do now?

[Crimsoncricket]

I followed the instructions in this forum's "Read Me First" thread and installed Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit 1.12.1.81 (after uninstalling the previous version using the Control Panel and running clean_mbae).  I'm on a 64 bit computer running Windows 7.  After installing, the program icon did not appear in my system tray and the program refused to open when I tried accessing it through "All Programs."  After stopping mbae.exe in Task Manager, I went to Services to try manually starting it.  This is the message I got:

"Windows could not start the Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Service service on Local Computer.  Error 1053:  The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion"

I rebooted and still had no luck.  I went back to Services and tried refreshing Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit.  Nothing.  Trying to start it through services resulted in a different error message:

"Windows could not start the Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Service service on Local Computer.  Error 2:  The system cannot find the file specified"

I'm stumped and have attached the following to aid in technical support:

Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit.zip

[Madeline6]

1 hour ago, Crimsoncricket said:

After installing, the program icon did not appear in my system tray and the program refused to open when I tried accessing it through "All Programs." 

I had a similar problem with MBAE 1.12.1.70 on our 32-bit Windows 7 laptop. I'd already updated to this version on the 64-bit PCs - a laptop and a desktop - with no problems at all. However, despite MBAE appearing in 'Programs and Features' as well as the All Programs list, there was no icon for it in the Notification Area. Eventually I resolved this by uninstalling MBAE completely. I didn't use the  Clean_mbae option, but uninstalled it by using Revo Uninstaller Free which gets rid of all traces of whatever you're uninstalling, including leftover folders and registry entries. I'd downloaded the new version here:

https://malwarebytes.app.box.com/s/bg0dpoeyrw35d1e4jvjs7urin499knsp

That's for v1.12.1.81, but it's the same place as I used for the previous version. Anyway, I installed it and it worked fine - it even updated itself to v1.12.1.81 a couple of days ago. The file you'll get via my link will be .exe rather than .zip as shown in your 2nd post but should install properly. I'm now running MBAE 1.12.1.81 on all 3 PCs. If when you download it using my link find you've apparently got a file called ‘download’ rather than a setup.exe file, right click on the file, rename it to mbae-setup-1.12.1.81.exe and then you’ll be able to install the new version in the usual way.

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by Madeline6
added some info

[Crimsoncricket]

21 minutes ago, Madeline6 said:

Eventually I resolved this by uninstalling MBAE completely. I didn't use the  Clean_mbae option, but uninstalled it by using Revo Uninstaller Free which gets rid of all traces of whatever you're uninstalling, including leftover folders and registry entries. I'd downloaded the new version here:

https://malwarebytes.app.box.com/s/bg0dpoeyrw35d1e4jvjs7urin499knsp

That's for v1.12.1.81, but it's the same place as I used for the previous version.

Thanks for the advice.  I downloaded my version from https://malwarebytes.box.com/s/bg0dpoeyrw35d1e4jvjs7urin499knsp.  I looked into Revo Uninstaller, but the only download options I could find were through cnet (no thank you) and rackcdn.com (which brings up some worrying results when I Googled it).  Do you know of another way I can download it?  Alternately, does anyone know what I should look for and remove manually after going through the standard uninstall process?

[Madeline6]

1 hour ago, Crimsoncricket said:

Do you know of another way I can download it?

I don't blame you for not wanting to download anything from Cnet, I wouldn't either! I suggest that you download the free version of Revo Uninstaller from its own site:

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

1 hour ago, Crimsoncricket said:

 Alternately, does anyone know what I should look for and remove manually after going through the standard uninstall process?

You don't need to look for or remove anything before using Revo. I've always left Revo on its default settings. Once it's uninstalled the main program, I've let it find all the leftovers and then delete them and so far it's not caused me any problems. If you're worried that something might go wrong you could create a restore point before using Revo, although I think it does that itself anyway! I've just checked the Help file and it says there

Make a System Restore Point before uninstall - If Windows System Restore is enabled Revo Uninstaller requests from it creation of a system restore point.

I really hope this will work for you, I was very fed up with the trouble I had, but fingers crossed it's OK now so hopefully it will be for you too!

[Madeline6]

Incidentally, if what I've said works for you and/or anyone else who reads this topic, I'd like to add something I should have mentioned before. If you've added any Shields in the past, you'll have to add them again, as doing what I did means that MBAE basically becomes a completely new installation.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Madeline6
amendment to text

[Crimsoncricket]

On 5/12/2018 at 7:50 PM, Madeline6 said:

I don't blame you for not wanting to download anything from Cnet, I wouldn't either! I suggest that you download the free version of Revo Uninstaller from its own site:

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

Sadly the only download links there seem to go through Cnet and rackcdn.com.  It's a shame, as Revo Uninstaller did sound like a promising option.

[Madeline6]

Those are definitely not the only download sites.Here are links to 3 other sites which I've often used myself and found to be safe:

Download Revo Uninstaller - MajorGeeks

Revo Uninstaller Free 2.05 Download for Windows / FileHorse.com

Download Revo Uninstaller 2.0.5 for windows - Filepuma.com

Even the best sites sometimes inadvertently get unwanted junkware bundled with their downloads and an excellent way to counteract this is to have a little program called Unchecky installed.

Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear

Quote

Have you ever felt, while installing software, that the installer tries to push additional unwanted programs at all cost? Ever missed a checkbox, and spent hours afterwards removing adware? Ever opened your browser after an installation, only to find out that you have a new homepage, a new search engine, or even a new browser?
Unchecky aims to keep potentially unwanted programs out of your computer.

When you're installing software, always use Custom Install or its equivalent if available; that way you'll get the opportunity to make sure that anything you don't want s unticked. If Custom Install isn't offered or if you forget, this is where Unchecky is invaluable as it will block anything which isn't the program you actually want!  It will have done this anyway once you've opened a setup file. It's a tiny program and I've had it for a very long time now - since the first public version in 2013 in fact. Once it's installed, you don't need to do anything with it apart from keep it up to date. I suggest you check it out via my link and consider getting it to help in keeping unwanted stuff off your PC!

[Crimsoncricket]

Thanks for the additional suggestions!  I'll keep those in mind if somebody from the MBAM team doesn't chime in soon.  In fact, the only reason I haven't tried something like this yet is because I want to see if they need any more logs.

[Madeline6]

It's up to you,  I hope you get it resolved eventually. Usually getting rid of something completely then reinstalling as if it was  a fresh program as I did, does the trick!

[dcollins]

Can you grab these logs for us? Thanks!

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool.
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced Options on the main page.
3. Click on Gather Logs and once the process finishes, upload the zip file that is dropped on your desktop (mbst-grab-results.zip).

Thanks!

[DougCuk]

I have now had this problem on two different occasions several months apart - on two different Win7x64 computers.

• When the problem manifests the symptoms are: 
• The Notification Area icon disappears and manually running the mbae.exe  results in no GUI window
• Protected programs no longer trigger a confirmation popup and mbae-test.exe shows protection non-functional 
• Restarting Windows makes no difference (this usually fixes one of cases of MBAE not working)
• The odd thing is there are no error messages and nothing is recorded in the Windows Event Logs.
• The MBAE service is started (and responds stop/start commands) and the Task Manager shows the three normal MBAE exe files are running
• A simple uninstall and reinstall does NOT fix the problem

On both occasions the fix was: To run uninstall and then manually delete the "C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit" folder - which the uninstall had left behind - and then run the installer to reinstall the program. A reboot was not required.

I am wondering if a corruption of one or more of the files in the "C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit" folder is behind this problem - as this folder and its content survives a normal uninstall - and deleting this folder has allowed a successful reinstall on two different computers that suffered this problem. 

I had been setting the config option "Log Protection Events" which I think writes to that folder - maybe when that log gets too big it causes a problem?

Edited June 16, 2018 by DougCuk

[Zeus_Dog]

I'm a Windows 7 user on a 64 bit system. I've had MBAE flake out on me before, but usually a reboot or uninstalling (and running clean_mbae prior to reinstalling) fixed it. But neither worked today. I even tried downloading a different version from Bleeping Computer, but the system tray icon vanished once I put my cursor on it after the installation finished!

I tried activating it manually using Services, but I got the following message when I clicked "Start":

"Windows could not start the Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Service service on Local Computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified"

What should I do now?



I get this same error every time I try to update one of my two Win7 64 Pro PC's as well. I finally found the fix for my problem.

In the registry I found two keys that had the wrong path.

I would look at these three paths and see if they are correct:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

For me in ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 there was the tmp directory in the path that caused the "The system cannot find the file specified" error . Just remove that directory and leave the rest with the quotes and start the service and finally try launching the app from All Programs.

Hope this helps!!

[Zeus_Dog]

Crimsoncricket said:


I'm a Windows 7 user on a 64 bit system. I've had MBAE flake out on me before, but usually a reboot or uninstalling (and running clean_mbae prior to reinstalling) fixed it. But neither worked today. I even tried downloading a different version from Bleeping Computer, but the system tray icon vanished once I put my cursor on it after the installation finished!

I tried activating it manually using Services, but I got the following message when I clicked "Start":

"Windows could not start the Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Service service on Local Computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified"

What should I do now?


Zeus_Dog reply:


I get this same error every time I try to update one of my two Win7 64 Pro PC's as well. I finally found the fix for my problem.

In the registry I found two keys that had the wrong path.

I would look at these three paths and see if they are correct:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\MbaeSvc

ImagePath (REG_EXPAND_SZ) from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\tmp\mbae-svc.exe" should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit\mbae-svc.exe"
(Remove the "TMP" directory from the path if there)

For me in ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 there was the tmp directory in the path that caused the "The system cannot find the file specified" error . Just remove that directory and leave the rest with the quotes and start the service and finally try launching the app from All Programs.

Hope this helps!!