Context Menu Missing

[Jeemag]

 "Scan with Malwarebytes" context menu item  missing in 3.7.1 despite being activated in settings.

 

[Malwarebytes]

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[1PW]

Hello @Jeemag:

For an analysis to begin, please post a mbst-grab-results.zip archive file from the computer in question:

Note: Please do not select the Start Repair button.

Within the Malwarebytes Bot automated reply above (post #2), and immediately beneath technical issues, please select Reveal hidden contents and follow all 10 steps.

Thank you.

[1PW]

Hello @Jeemag:

Are you still with us?

[Firefox]

This is a bug that has been reported, updating from 3.6.1 to 3.7.1 the setting does not seem to stay. You have to enable and disable it a couple times and reboot for it to stick. (that's what I had to do to get mine to show).

[Jeemag]

On 2/17/2019 at 5:18 PM, 1PW said:

Hello @Jeemag:

For an analysis to begin, please post a mbst-grab-results.zip archive file from the computer in question:

Note: Please do not select the Start Repair button.

Within the Malwarebytes Bot automated reply above (post #2), and immediately beneath technical issues, please select Reveal hidden contents and follow all 10 steps.

Thank you.

  I would, if I could find the function. There's nothing about MBST in the MWB interface programme.

The principal reason I use MWB is to scan FILES for malware. For everything else I have Kaspersky IS 2019.

I can see no other way of scanning a file other than via the context menu.

Regards

Cheemag

 

 

[Jeemag]

So it's an external application.

Attached.

Hope this helps.

---

Cheemag

mbst-grab-results.zip

[1PW]

Hello @Jeemag:

Here is another source for mb-support-1.3.1.553.exe

Thank you.

[LiquidTension]

Hello Jeemag,

Thank you for the report. We have a defect filed for this issue.

Please try the following:

• Open Malwarebytes.
• Click Settings.
• Ensure the Application tab is selected.
• Scroll down to Windows Context Menus and turn the option off.
• Turn the option back on.
• Confirm the, "Scan with Malwarebytes" context menu item now appears.

[Nate-Dogg]

Thanks for posting this, I will turn the setting off and back on again a few times (lol) and reboot to fix this.

 

It's good to see you're consistent... with introducing bugs with every single new release.

You really need to sort out your beta channels (if you even have any).

[Nate-Dogg]

16 hours ago, Nate-Dogg said:

Thanks for posting this, I will turn the setting off and back on again a few times (lol) and reboot to fix this.

 

It's good to see you're consistent... with introducing bugs with every single new release.

You really need to sort out your beta channels (if you even have any).

Darn, that didn't work for me.

 

I am so sick of this, having to fix Malwarebytes every time there is a software update.

Edited February 22, 2019 by gonzo
Big ruler across the knuckles for profanity. Please play nice!

[Jeemag]

17 hours ago, Nate-Dogg said:

Darn, that didn't work for me.

 

I am so sick of this, having to fix Malwarebytes every time there is a software update.

  Me too. I've more or less given up on MWB and simply rely on Kaspersky now.

Regards

Cheemag

[Jeemag]

On 2/19/2019 at 10:28 AM, LiquidTension said:

Hello Jeemag,

Thank you for the report. We have a defect filed for this issue.

Please try the following:

• Open Malwarebytes.
• Click Settings.
• Ensure the Application tab is selected.
• Scroll down to Windows Context Menus and turn the option off.
• Turn the option back on.
• Confirm the, "Scan with Malwarebytes" context menu item now appears.

I've done this time and time again. It doesn't work.

Has nothing been discovered in the .zip file I uploaded a few days ago ?

--

Cheemag

 

[exile360]

3 hours ago, Jeemag said:

I've done this time and time again. It doesn't work.

Has nothing been discovered in the .zip file I uploaded a few days ago ?

--

Cheemag

 

Your log file shows that the following context menu entries for Malwarebytes are missing:

HKCR\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\MBAMShlExt
HKCR\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\MBAMShlExt
HKCR\MBAMExt.MBAMShlExt
HKCR\MBAMExt.MBAMShlExt.1
HKCR\Interface\{015FAC74-0374-494A-A02D-316D562C0FCE}
HKCR\CLSID\{57CE581A-0CB6-4266-9CA0-19364C90A0B3}
HKCR\TypeLib\{AFF1A83B-6C83-4342-8E68-1648DE06CB65}

If toggling the setting on/off isn't working then either something is blocking it from writing those keys to the registry or there is likely some sort of permissions issue with the HKCR branch of the registry.  You might try disabling Kaspersky temporarily then reinstalling Malwarebytes once more to see if that makes any difference.

If it's still missing then I'd suggest doing the following to address any permissions issue that might be causing it:

Tweaking.com Windows Repair All-in-One

• Download Tweaking.com Windows Repair from here and install it or if you would prefer, you may instead download and extract the portable version from here
• Once installed or extracted, launch Repair_Windows.exe
• Click on the Repairs - Main tab
• Click on the Open Repairs button
• Once it displays the list of repairs, click the checkbox next to All Repairs so that everything listed is UNCHECKED
• Now, click the checkbox next to Reset Registry Permissions and Reset File Permissions so that they are checked
• Click on the Start Repairs button at the bottom
• Once it completes, allow it to restart your system
  

Once that's done, install Malwarebytes once more over the top of your existing installation and see if the right-click context menu entry is now present.  If it isn't, try toggling the setting for it off/on again one more time and see if it is then present when you right-click a file or folder.

[LiquidTension]

Hi everyone,

We have a defect filed for this issue occurring over version upgrades. In our tests, toggling the setting off and on or rebooting the computer (for Windows 10, ensure the Restart option is used) resolved the issue.

Please confirm if the context menu item is still missing after rebooting the computer.

[exile360]

1 minute ago, LiquidTension said:

Hi everyone,

We have a defect filed for this issue occurring over version upgrades. In our tests, toggling the setting off and on or rebooting the computer (for Windows 10, ensure the Restart option is used) resolved the issue.

Please confirm if the context menu item is still missing after rebooting the computer.

In the OP's case above a restart won't work as they keys don't exist in the registry as shown in the support logs.  The entire reason a system restart is sometimes required is due to the fact that explorer.exe sometimes needs to be restarted to read the registry and load the recently registered shell extension accordingly (a logoff/logon of the current user or terminating/restarting explorer.exe through Task Manager would accomplish the same thing), however if the registry entries do not exist, it will still fail to load the shell extension even after a restart because the registry has to tell it to load the shell extension into its process/context menu.

In cases where the logs show that the registry keys do exist and yet the context menu entry is still missing, yes, a system restart should resolve the issue.

[LiquidTension]

1 minute ago, exile360 said:

In the OP's case above a restart won't work as they keys don't exist in the registry as shown in the support logs.  The entire reason a system restart is sometimes required is due to the fact that explorer.exe sometimes needs to be restarted to read the registry and load the recently registered shell extension accordingly (a logoff/logon of the current user or terminating/restarting explorer.exe through Task Manager would accomplish the same thing), however if the registry entries do not exist, it will still fail to load the shell extension even after a restart because the registry has to tell it to load the shell extension into its process/context menu.

In cases where the logs show that the registry keys do exist and yet the context menu entry is still missing, yes, a system restart should resolve the issue.

The registry keys are not static. They are dynamically created alongside the loading of the Malwarebytes shell extension DLL (mbshlext.dll). When mbshlext.dll fails to load (which is the root cause of the issue here), it is expected to see the keys missing.

The action of restarting the machine unloads mbshlext.dll from explorer.exe. This should allow the DLL to be loaded at the next Malwarebytes Service start, along with dynamic creation of the "Missing Context Menu Keys" reported in mbst-check-results.txt.

[exile360]

How can it be loaded if the registry keys that tell explorer.exe to load it don't exist?  As I understand it, when the software is installed/the setting is toggled on, it registers (or at least attempts to register) the DLL so that those keys should be written to the registry at that point (the drivers work the same way; they're dropped on disk when a scan is started/a protection component loads through the service) and explorer should read the keys to know that it's been registered and load it into its process accordingly.  If there's nothing in the registry to tell it to load the DLL then explorer.exe can't load it because there's nothing to tell it that it should load a file called mbshlext.dll unless I'm missing something and there's another registry entry that it uses that does exist which tells it to load a shell extension.

[LiquidTension]

The LoadImage operation on mbshlext.dll is called by the Malwarebytes Service before the registry keys are written. If this fails, the keys are not written. If it succeeds, the keys are written and regsvr32.exe is launched to register mbshlext.dll.

Edited February 22, 2019 by LiquidTension

[Nate-Dogg]

1 hour ago, LiquidTension said:

Hi everyone,

We have a defect filed for this issue occurring over version upgrades. In our tests, toggling the setting off and on or rebooting the computer (for Windows 10, ensure the Restart option is used) resolved the issue.

Please confirm if the context menu item is still missing after rebooting the computer.

Hi,

 

No this does not work, after originally posting and reposting I had restarted explorer.exe, logged off and back on, restarted, toggled the option off - shut down - turn on - toggle option on - turn off - turn on and the context menus are still missing.

 

Kind regards,

Nathan

[Nate-Dogg]

Now I'm feeling less annoyed about the situation today I have provided my logs - just in case.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Shendue]

On 2/19/2019 at 11:28 AM, LiquidTension said:

Hello Jeemag,

Thank you for the report. We have a defect filed for this issue.

Please try the following:

• Open Malwarebytes.
• Click Settings.
• Ensure the Application tab is selected.
• Scroll down to Windows Context Menus and turn the option off.
• Turn the option back on.
• Confirm the, "Scan with Malwarebytes" context menu item now appears.

Worked for me, thanks.

[exile360]

6 hours ago, Nate-Dogg said:

Hi,

 

No this does not work, after originally posting and reposting I had restarted explorer.exe, logged off and back on, restarted, toggled the option off - shut down - turn on - toggle option on - turn off - turn on and the context menus are still missing.

 

Kind regards,

Nathan

I scoured the registry for every entry created for the Malwarebytes shell extension on my 64 bit Windows OS and merged them all into a single .reg file.  You may try merging it into your registry then restarting your system to see if that resolves the issue or not; in theory it should, however if there is a permissions issue then one or more of the entries may fail to be written in which case you'll see an error from Windows when you try to merge them into your registry.  To merge them, simply download the attached file, extract the .reg file then either double-click on it and click Yes to the UAC prompt and the prompt from the Registry Editor or right-click on the .reg file and select Merge and click Yes to both prompts.

Once that's done, restart your system and check to see if the context menu entry for Malwarebytes is now present or not and let us know how it went.

MBShelext.zip

[Nate-Dogg]

18 hours ago, exile360 said:

I scoured the registry for every entry created for the Malwarebytes shell extension on my 64 bit Windows OS and merged them all into a single .reg file.  You may try merging it into your registry then restarting your system to see if that resolves the issue or not; in theory it should, however if there is a permissions issue then one or more of the entries may fail to be written in which case you'll see an error from Windows when you try to merge them into your registry.  To merge them, simply download the attached file, extract the .reg file then either double-click on it and click Yes to the UAC prompt and the prompt from the Registry Editor or right-click on the .reg file and select Merge and click Yes to both prompts.

Once that's done, restart your system and check to see if the context menu entry for Malwarebytes is now present or not and let us know how it went.

MBShelext.zip

Hey exile,

Not sure what's happened to the attachment, but I can't seem to download it.

Kind regards.

[Porthos]

17 minutes ago, Nate-Dogg said:

Not sure what's happened to the attachment, but I can't seem to download it.

I am able to download it.