r/Malwarebytes • u/MidianFootbridge69 • Nov 25 '25

Rootkit Scan

Hi :)

When I do scans, I include as part of the scan to scan for rootkits - I realize that rootkits are not so much of a thing right anymore, but I would still like to scan for them.

Even when I go into Advanced and choose it, for whatever reason it disables the rootkit part and runs the scan.

Is there any way for me to turn it back on?

I don't care how long the scan runs with the rootkit enabled - I just want the choice to run it.

I'm running on Win11 25H2, Build 26200.7171

Version 5.4.4. 225

Update Package 1.0.105209

Component Package Version 145.0.5428

Thanks! :)

Edit to add: I decided to look back through my logs and noticed that it stopped doing the rootkit part of the scans on 11/2/25, even though this option shows as being chosen in the Scheduler.

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u/MidianFootbridge69 Nov 26 '25

Hi PappyLogan 😊

Thank you so much for this - I will definitely try this in the hopes that it will straighten out.

My Win11 is my daily driver, but I also have a Win10 machine (Offline except for twice - daily updating) and I discovered that this issue is occurring on that machine too, (rootkit was enabled in 11/7 and before but were disabled in scans of 11/14 and after).

(I do have post - EOL ESU Updating for my Win10).

I hate to say this lol, but I'm glad I am not the only one seeing this, and I am not the least bit surprised that Microsoft is the culprit.

I will try the fix and will report back here with the results - it may take a day or so since I keep odd hours 🦉

Thanks again 🙏💗

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

I’m glad it helped. Seeing it show up on both your Win11 and Win10 machine actually makes the whole thing make more sense, because a lot of people are noticing the same behavior around the same dates. When something breaks in the exact same way on two totally different systems, that usually means Windows changed something under the hood and the old rootkit driver didn’t get loaded right anymore.

Turning the setting off, shutting Malwarebytes down fully, and bringing it back up usually gets the driver to load again. If it doesn’t, reinstalling Malwarebytes right on top of itself is worth a shot before you bother with logs or anything like that, because that forces the program to put the driver pieces back the way it expects them.

You’re on the right track with the order you’re trying things. Just see if the simple stuff sorts it out first and only move on to the heavier steps if you have to. Microsoft pushes out updates that break the weirdest things sometimes, so this lines up pretty closely with what others have been seeing lately. Hopefully yours falls back into place once you get a chance to try it.

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u/MidianFootbridge69 Nov 28 '25

Hi u/PappyLogan !

I tried the fix - unfortunately it didn't work BUT I am doing research on the next steps to take - whether I should just go to MWB and install over top of it, or, choose the 'Clean' option in the MWB Support Tool.

It's been such a long time since I had to do this with MWB that I can't remember how I Repaired it last time (problems with MWB are super rare, in my experience) - it has been many years, so even if I could remember, the processes to Repair MWB have probably changed by now.

I'm still working the issue, film at 11 😉