Problem starting "Malicious Software Removal Tool" (mrt.exe)

[DarkCrystalMethod]

Instead of getting the tool window with the three choices I get an error dialog box that claims that an error occured, but doesn't identify what the error is/was.
I've done successful runs of sfc /scannow and dism restorehealth and others but it just doesn't seem to fix whatever is preventing it from running.
I have multiple Win10 machines which I update regularly so I have concluded its not from updates as that would have made it not work on all of them.
Please let me know if you have any ideas on the error, specifically:
1. How do I find out what the actual error was(and explain it perhaps once I find that error)
2. How I would fix this without a clean hard drive wipe/reinstall?


The error window:
title: "Malicious Software Removal Tool"
icon: Red circle with a white X inscribed
Message: "An error has occurred. Please visit the Malicious Software Removal Tool Help Page for more details."

Clicking that link dumps me on Microsoft's main support page which has no mention of the tool at all.

What do?

[emoticorpse]

Out of curiosity why are you trying to use it? If you did wipe/re-install you wouldn't need the tool. If you really think your pc caught something, see if you can use a free version of Malwarebytes to scan your pc.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

Found the log file. It didn't like this MAPS thing... whatever it is

Failed to submit MAPS report: 0x80510002
Failed to submit clean hearbeat MAPS report: 0x80510002

Exception Caught: 0x8050A005
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool Finished On Sun Dec 3 09:28:00 2023

So I got the error code from that.
Their site says certs weren't signed so instead of telling me to sign the certs(wherever they are) it said grab the new installer from their website...
And that worked.

Sure wish I knew what was behind the cert issue. That would have been handy and good to know.

Issue is currently solved but the problem may come back at any time since I don't know what actually caused this.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

It was fixed nearly a full hour before your reply.

All I really want to know is what causes it to fail like that in the first place. I hope all future replies help me figure out what this MAPS thing is and how it can go bad(so I can avoid pissing it off).

[Bad 💀 Motha]

So you couldn't Google search: Failed to submit clean hearbeat MAPS report: 0x80510002

Plenty of good info after doing that.

Do a full scan with MalwareBytes Free Edition w/ Rootkit Scanning Enabled.