And yet another 'Unable to connect to service'...

[DarkSkywise]

hello future helpful persons

Had some computer problems last week, thought everything was fixed... not so.

Service won't start, cleaning didn't help, etc etc. Possibly Windows Repair (from Tweaking.com) has been a bit overenthousiastic resetting permissions, because all other malwarekillers report utter cleanliness. (False sense of security?)

I've attached my log:

sincerely,
Jeroen DarkSkywise


PS. I WANT MY MALWAREBYTES! WAAAAAAA! *sniff*

mb-clean-results.txt

[Malwarebytes]

***This is an automated reply***

Hi,

Thanks for posting in the Malwarebytes 3 Help forum.

 

If you are having technical issues with our Windows product, please do the following: 

Spoiler

If you haven’t already done so, please run the Malwarebytes Support Tool and then attach the logs in your next reply:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained is safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

1. Download Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Once the file is downloaded, open your Downloads folder/location of the downloaded file
3. Double-click mb-support-X.X.X.XXXX.exe to run the program
   • You may be prompted by User Account Control (UAC) to allow changes to be made to your computer. Click Yes to consent.
4. Place a checkmark next to Accept License Agreement and click Next
5. You will be presented with a page stating, "Get Started!"
6. Click the Advanced tab
   
    
7. Click the Gather Logs button
   
    
8. A progress bar will appear and the program will proceed with getting logs from your computer
   
    
9. Upon completion, click a file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your Desktop. Click OK
   
    
10. Please attach the file in your next reply. Before submitting your reply, be sure to enable "Notify me of replies" like so:
       

Click "Reveal Hidden Contents" below for details on how to attach a file:
 

Spoiler

To save attachments, please click the link as shown below. You can click and drag the files to this bar or you can click the choose files, then browse to where your files are located, select them and click the Open button.

 

One of our experts will be able to assist you shortly.

 

If you are having licensing issues, please do the following: 

Spoiler

For any of these issues:

• Renewals
• Refunds (including double billing)
• Cancellations
• Update Billing Info
• Multiple Transactions
• Consumer Purchases
• Transaction Receipt

Please contact our support team at https://support.malwarebytes.com/community/consumer/pages/contact-us to get help

If you need help looking up your license details, please head here: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1264 

 

Thanks in advance for your patience.

-The Malwarebytes Forum Team

[DarkSkywise]

There you go...

mbst-grab-results.zip

[DarkSkywise]

PS. I'm on rather severe pain medication at the moment (doctor's orders) so please explain things as if I'm 10 years old or so. Thank you in advance!

[DarkSkywise]

Eset online scan: no problems (although without signing out of Windows)

BD anti-ransomware: no problems

Hitman Pro Alert: no problems

Lying Cat is completely silent. (10 bonus point to whoever gets it)

 

[exile360]

Greetings,

Please do the following to see if it corrects the issue you are experiencing:

1. Run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Start Repair
3. Follow the onscreen instructions and allow the tool to restart your system if it prompts you to do so

Once that's done please let us know if Malwarebytes is now working properly or not.

Thanks

Edited March 4, 2019 by exile360

[LiquidTension]

Hello @DarkSkywise,

It looks like your issue is caused by a problem with the WinMgmt service. This is a core Windows service that Malwarebytes is dependent on.

Please carry out the steps below and let us know if you continue to experience an issue afterwards.
 

MBRepairCMD

• Please download MBRepairCMD using the link below:
  https://malwarebytes.box.com/v/mbstrepaircmd
• Once the file is downloaded, open your Downloads folder/location of the downloaded file.
• Double-click mbrepaircmd.exe to run the program.
• Press Y on your keyboard to start the program.
• Please wait patiently and allow the tool to run uninterrupted. This process may take 5-10 minutes to complete.
• Upon completion, "Repairs have completed" will be displayed.
• Press any key on your keyboard to exit the program.
• Please restart the computer.
• A log named mbst-repair-results.txt will be saved to your Downloads folder/location of mbrepaircmd.exe. Please attach the log in your next reply.

Edited March 4, 2019 by LiquidTension

[DarkSkywise]

22 hours ago, exile360 said:

Run the Malwarebytes Support Tool

And then SpyHunter yelled TROJAN!

Unfortunately, when my heart rate had returned to normal, the message had disappeared. I'm sure it's a false positive, but have you ever heard of this happening? (Spyhunter is still scanning, BRB)

[exile360]

No, I haven't heard of it being detected, but we don't have too many SpyHunter users around here either in my experience.  Please be sure to exclude SpyHunter from Malwarebytes if you haven't already if Malwarebytes has been detecting it as PUP (just run a scan with Malwarebytes, click the checkbox at the top of the list of detections to have it clear all the checkboxes then click Next and select the option to have it always ignore the remaining detections and that will have Malwarebytes add them to its exclusions list so that they are not detected in the future).

As far as I know, our tool isn't detected by any other vendors as a potential threat, but since it is a tool unique to Malwarebytes product support I can see why other vendors might flag it heuristically just because it's not a commonly downloaded/seen file/program.  It's completely harmless though and just has some tools to create logs as well as try and repair common issues with the Malwarebytes software.

[DarkSkywise]

Meanwhile, since SpyHunter *did* find 2 REAL threats that everybody else missed directly after erroneously flagging Malwarebytes (fie upon thee! fie!) I decided to give it a chance and it's now checking everything else, which, um, apparently takes a LOT  of time.

...after which we'll return to our scheduled program:  getting Malwarebytes to run.

We'll get there yet! (And yes, I know Malwarebytes is harmless, I''ve been using it for quite a while now and was seriously considering to go Pro when this happened.)

[DarkSkywise]

1.  3,916,266 files report squeaky clean

2.  "SpyHunter very sorry for calling Malwarebytes evil. SpyHunter will sit in corner now and rust a bit to show sincere sorryness."

3.  Malwarebytes Support Tool : no luck, alas

4.

On 3/4/2019 at 10:01 AM, LiquidTension said:

mbrepaircmd.exe

Yes, that did the trick.
...even though the log file insists it failed:

2019-03-05 11:01:05.878   Starting WMI repair process
2019-03-05 11:01:05.879   Attempting to stop service
2019-03-05 11:01:05.879   Resetting service configuration
2019-03-05 11:01:05.882   Restoring default registry settings
2019-03-05 11:01:06.316   Deleting C:\Windows\system32\wbem\Repository
2019-03-05 11:01:06.329   Registering DLL files in C:\Windows\system32
2019-03-05 11:01:15.796   Registering WMI executables
2019-03-05 11:03:16.656   Attempting to start winmgmt service
2019-03-05 11:03:16.658   Failed to start winmgmt service. Error: (error=1083)
2019-03-05 11:03:30.471   --------END OF LOG FILE ---------

[LiquidTension]

3 hours ago, DarkSkywise said:

Yes, that did the trick.
...even though the log file insists it failed:

2019-03-05 11:01:05.878   Starting WMI repair process
2019-03-05 11:01:05.879   Attempting to stop service
2019-03-05 11:01:05.879   Resetting service configuration
2019-03-05 11:01:05.882   Restoring default registry settings
2019-03-05 11:01:06.316   Deleting C:\Windows\system32\wbem\Repository
2019-03-05 11:01:06.329   Registering DLL files in C:\Windows\system32
2019-03-05 11:01:15.796   Registering WMI executables
2019-03-05 11:03:16.656   Attempting to start winmgmt service
2019-03-05 11:03:16.658   Failed to start winmgmt service. Error: (error=1083)
2019-03-05 11:03:30.471   --------END OF LOG FILE ---------

Thanks for the update!

It's not unexpected to see this error message/exit code and is cleared when the machine is rebooted.

Please let us know if you encounter any further issues.

[DarkSkywise]

And then it tuned into a sort of game. MBAM vs Win7.
 

First, an error message:

Network Settings
Unable to contact license server. Check your network settings or contact your system administrator (which is me) for help.

And then Malwarebytes started anyway.
Is this a real result?

-Log Details-
Scan Date: 3/5/19
Scan Time: 5:35 PM
Log File: ae6d9740-3f64-11e9-b1b0-90e6ba712e0c.json

-Software Information-
Version: 3.7.1.2839
Components Version: 1.0.538
Update Package Version: 1.0.9530
License: Free

-System Information-
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
CPU: x86
File System: NTFS
User: PC\Administrator

-Scan Summary-
Scan Type: Threat Scan
Scan Initiated By: Manual
Result: Completed
Objects Scanned: 194248
Threats Detected: 0
Threats Quarantined: 0
Time Elapsed: 6 min, 15 sec

-Scan Options-
Memory: Enabled
Startup: Enabled
Filesystem: Enabled
Archives: Enabled
Rootkits: Disabled
Heuristics: Enabled
PUP: Detect
PUM: Detect

-Scan Details-
Process: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Module: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Key: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Value: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Data: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Data Stream: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Folder: 0
(No malicious items detected)
File: 0
(No malicious items detected)
Physical Sector: 0
(No malicious items detected)
WMI: 0
(No malicious items detected)

(end)

[DarkSkywise]

Apparently, the error message is generated by the Account Details in the Settings section. When I click the tab, the same message appears.

[exile360]

That makes sense since accessing that tab causes Malwarebytes to check the license status with the servers.

[LiquidTension]

16 hours ago, DarkSkywise said:

Apparently, the error message is generated by the Account Details in the Settings section. When I click the tab, the same message appears.

Is this a consistent error message that occurs each time Malwarebytes is launched?

If it is, please carry out the steps in post #2 once more so we can take a look at the cause of the issue.