Malwarebytes causes Acronis True Image 10 to freeze PC (and TIH 2011)
For some months now I have been unable to mount a partition image using Acronis True Image 10. I have just performed a fresh install of Windows XP Pro SP3 expecting all would be well but the problem persists.
I have systematically uninstalled all security software and re-introduced until the problem returned. I have tracked down the problem to Malwarebytes. I am able to mount Acronis images as virtual partitions in the unregistered version of Malwarebytes. After entering my registration details Acronis functions OK provided I do not I enable 'Protection'.
Once protection is enabled Acronis will not mount an image as a virtual partition. After the Acronis message 'Assigning drive letters was successfully completed' the hourglass remains indefinitely and the PC eventually freezes. I cannot shut the PC down normally and I have to press the reset button.
If, after rebooting, I untick all the component parts of Malwarebytes 'Protection' (Start ... , Start ... , Start ... , Show ... ) the 'Enable Protection Module' box remains ticked but greyed out. This still does not allow Acronis to function correctly. Once the Protection Module has been enabled once, even after rebooting when I can supposedly disable it again, Acronis will never mount an image. The only solution I have found is to uninstall Malwarebytes and then re-install without enabling 'Protection'.
There is clearly some sort of conflict between Malwarebytes and Acronis but I haven't been able to find any option to exclude Acronis from the Malwarebytes Protection Module. Has anyone any idea whether the problem lies with Acronis or Malwarebytes?
Attached is the AcronisInfo.zip file. Any help would be appreciated.
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acronisinfo.zip | 112.93 KB |

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Thanks for the information Steve. I think this is more of an issue with Malwarebytes than Acronis. I suspect explorer is being frozen. I have now established this does not happen with Malwarebytes v 1.44 - but it is present in v 1.45 and v1.46. I have posted on the Malwarebytes forum and raised a ticket with them.
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Roger,
Interesting...I'd appreciate hearing about the results of your post and ticket with MalwareBytes...
thanks,
Steve
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Well, since my last post I have checked out Macrium Reflect and the trial version of Acronis TI Home 2011 for conflicts with Malwarebytes with 'Protection' enabled.
There were no conflicts with Macrium but there were with Acronis TI Home 2011. With Acronis, when attempting to mount an image, I discovered the freeze begins when 'Assigning letters to partitions appears'. This message hangs for about 1 minute before 'confirmation of success' appears. However, this time I had the 'My Computer' window open and the mounted partition did not appear at any point despite the success message.
I also became aware that, from thereon if I attempted to open any folder, the hourglass would appear for about a second, then disappear without the request being actioned. This includes the 'Start' button to shut down the PC. However already opened windows could be closed with the exception of the Acronis UI.
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Roger,
Thank you for your reply...
I also have Malwarebytes (Paid Version) running.
I had not tested the Mounting of an Image yet... Here is my results...
I tested TIH2011 by mounting an image and got "HORRIBLE RESULTS".....
After the image was reported "Mounted Successfully", I tested clicking on the following:
1. My Computer : Hour Glass came up but NOTHING Else...
2. My Doucuments : Hour Glass came up but NOTHING Else.
3. Attempted to "UNMOUNT" image.. Got an Error Box, no info in box
4. Closed TIH 2011 with [X] Close, TIH Closed, Error Box remained.
5. Tried to use the Task Bar, Nothing worked....
6. Tried CTRL-ALT-DEL : Hour glass appeared briefly then went away...
Then.. I BOOTED with a POWER SWITCH because Nothing worked... although Computer did not seem to be frozen.
AFTER the Re-Boot
7. Stopped MalwareBytes from the task bar
8. Unloaded ALL MBAM (MalwareBytes) services and Pgms with Task Manager.
Repeated the Mounting of an Image and GOT THE SAME RESULTS !!!
Had to BOOT with the power swith to gain control again....
I think you may need to EDIT the Title of this thread to include TIH2011
I would think this is a serious problem.... that needs attention at the top...
Our Antivirus Software: Microsoft Security Essentials and MalwareBytes.. All up to date
This test was conducted on an XP/Pro Web Development System that is used daily and is up to date..
Regards,
Steve
Perdido Beach, AL
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Hi Steve,
Well in one way I am pleased it is not just me. What you have found mirrors my experience. The conflict begins with Malwarebytes v 1.45 so has presumably only existed for the past 6 months. The only way of restoring Acronis functionality once Malwarebytes Protection has been enabled is to completely uninstall it. As you found disabling functions seems to have no effect.
I am about to try the suggestion on http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=63912&st=0&gopid=321… by noknojon to see if that makes any difference.
Later ....
Now I'm back with ATI 10 and the procedure referred to by noknojon did not produce any beneficial result. The lock-up is still present and it has been necessary to uninstall/re-install Malwarebytes once more. I have decided to stay in 'Protected' mode but hope a fix can be found. I know not to try to mount an image - 'Explore backup Archive' still works without fault.
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This evening I did a fresh install of Windows XP Pro SP3 having backed up my recently installed version (of last week) with ATIH 10 (and also Macrium Reflect). As two of my HDDs are Western Digital I was able to install on this evenings installation the WD disk imaging version which is based on ATIH 2009.
I was working off-line with no firewall other than the MS Windows one. I had no anti-virus installed and, apart from ATIH 2009(WD), I had only installed Malwarebytes v1.44 - there was no other security software installed. With this version there were no conflicts with Acronis. I went through the Malwarebytes uninstall process, rebooting and then used the dedicated uninstall tool and rebooted again. Then I installed Malwarebytes v1.45 (not the latest version). As previously, with this version, the conflict with the Acronis mounting process was back freezing the PC.
So we now know the conflict occurs with Malwarebytes v1.45 onwards with 'Protection' mode activated. Once 'Protection' has been activated it is not possible to deactivate such that Acronis ever works again correctly. The only solution is to completely uninstall Malwarebytes and re-install without activating 'Protection'. The versions of Acronis now known to be susceptible are 10, 2009, in all likelihood 2010 and certainly 2011. As this was a fresh install of Windows the reports that not everyone is affected may mean there is a hardware element to the problem.
In my case MSI K8N Neo 4 Platinum motherboard (MS-7125 1.0), AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ processor (2.4GHz), 3.00 GB RAM, 2 x 1 TB Samsung HDDs and 2 x 1 TB Western Digital HDDs.
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Hello Roger and Steve,
Thank you very much for bringing this up. I will definitely assist you with the issue.
After checking our internal database I did not find anything similar to it, that is why I would like to forward your findings to our Testing lab, so that we may reproduce the problem and forward it to our Development team.
As soon as I have any information about the issue, I will update this thread.
Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Thank you.
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Anton,
Thank you for your assistance.
Later today, I will uninstall MalwareBytes with Revo, Make another TIH2011 test and report the results on this thread.
Steve
Perdido Beach, AL
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Hi all, Problem and solution here....read on! I had been thinking something nasty with my old windows xp setup not keeping up with the times and not being able to use my old true image 8 because of this problem. So I upgraded very recently to a new laptop and windows xp, only to find I still had the same problem even when installing an upgrade 2012 true image on the new win 7 system and a new trial on my old xp laptop, if anything the old version 8 was a bit quicker! So it was paid version Malwarebytes all along that has been the problem. By coinicidence Malwarebytes has had a big version upgrade today. I have updated it and I don't know whether this would have been true before but if you right click it down in the system tray and deactivate all three ticks, [one of which was to start with windows], then restart Windows [7 in my case] I am able to mount an image on an external hard disc of an xp partition tib which I wasn't able to before before disabling the Malwarebytes. So this is good news that we don't need to take the trouble of unistalling and cleaning out Malwarebytes after all, which is great because it is one of the best anti virus devices out there and doesn't hog resources. Last two years I used only Malwarebytes and the Windows firewall on my xp system despite the recommendation to use additional protection, and it intercepted a few viruses on websites but my system didn't get a single infection despite being a heavy user on the internet and used to get quite a few. I am unconnected with MB but it is fair to discourage you all from dispensing with such effective and good value life long protection, as this little work around is very easy, remember to switch on again afterwards!
Best regards, Al
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