Bad Update Kills Bitdefender 10 Engine

Bitdefender AV Plus 10.2 does not work anymore on any of our computers that updated automatically yesterday. After contacting local support they said that there was false update that corrupts installation and that the only solution is to repair instalation via Control Panel. Is there any official information about that update that kills AV engine? Is repairing really the only solution? Why doesnt it repair itself automatically with next update? Repairing via Control Panel loses all settings (like firewall permissions etc.).

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alexcrist

Hello Tiansen,

There was indeed an update that affected BDv9 and BDv10 products. As I was told, there was also made a roll-back on the updates, so you have to run Update Manually and the problem should be fixed.

If you still have a problem, please post. I'll tell you how to manually back up your firewall profile(s) and to put them back after you reinstall BitDefender.

Cris.

James Barnhart

Yikes!!

I have multiple offices that have just run amok with this update problem. Update no longer works - liveserv error comes up when booting. I've tried everything to fix the problem without success. Repair doesn't work, Modify doesn't work, Uninstall doesn't work, and a reinstall doesn't work because it asks for an uninstall first, which doesn't work.

I don't know if downloading another copy of v.10 will solve the problem. Will it still request an uninstall that it can't do? I really seem to be stuck here.

Any help?

alexcrist

Hello jbarnhart,

Try to use the [bitdefender.com/uninstall]Uninstall Tool[/url]. It's a lot more aggressive then the normal uninstall and, normally, it should remove BD from your system. After that, just reinstall it.

If you need to backup the Firewall settings, go to the folder C:\Program Files\Softwin\BitDefender10\Firewall (The path is approximate, because I can't remember exactly what it was).

In that folder, copy all files you can find there (including sub-folders). After you re-install BD, disable it's firewall (and all other modules), shut down BD Management Console and put back in that folder the files you copied. Then restart your PC. It should now restore the Traffic list and settings for the Firewall.

Cris.

Tiansen

Thank you for reply. I cannot see what kind of troubles will it make, because we dont work now because of holidays. However it still interest me how can something like this happen. Was update not tested enough (this does not seem likely to me because update didnt work on any of affected computers)?

alexcrist

Thank you for reply. I cannot see what kind of troubles will it make, because we dont work now because of holidays. However it still interest me how can something like this happen. Was update not tested enough (this does not seem likely to me because update didnt work on any of affected computers)?

I wasn't told too many details. As far as I understood, the update shouldn't have been released (it was, somehow, a mistake that corrupted the installation).

If you really need more details, post here and I'll try to find out more about it.

Cris.

James Barnhart

I'm still trying to fix the numerous (~50) computers that got hit with the rogue BDv10 update. I downloaded the "more aggressive" uninstall, but it won't run. Computers are Win98SE and WinXPPro. I've downloaded the uninstall program numerous times with the same result - nothing happens.

I know I can fix the problem manually by removing all registry references to BitDefender, but there are a ton of registry references, even after running regcleaner. I'm not very excited about the prospect of doing this on 50 computers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Are there particular registry references I can remove without needing to go after all of them? Is there an answer to my non-executing uninstall program?

Niels

Hello jbarnhart

What you can do is using this registry search ****** Scroll down to download it enter Softwin and BitDefender as separate search terms. It can take a while before it's finished. Open notepad type

REGEDIT4 (Copy and paste the output of the search such as what I did as an example)

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\]

Save it as fix.reg and by type select all files. If you let it run on the system the registry keys will be deleted automatically.

Best regards

Niels

James Barnhart

Thanks Niels,

Your information will definitely help me with the registry repair if that turns out to be my only option.

But I still would like an answer for the uninstall problem. The computers that need BitDefender uninstalled and reinstalled are remote from my location (other cities), with users who don't have much computer saavy. It would be easier for me if they could do a simple uninstall/reinstall. I just don't understand why the downloaded Uninstall program won't run.

It runs on WinXPPro computers, but not Win98SE. Windows Installer issue??

Still hoping for an answer.

Niels

Hello jbarnhart

I am only a volunteer so I don't work for BitDefender (Softwin). This is only an user forum.

You could try to update the windows installer engine but I am afraid that there isn't a version available for windows 98se. The latest version works only from windows 2000 sp3. This is the latest version I could find.

I suppose that you already tried to extract the BitDefender uninstall tool package and double click on the UninstallTool(.exe)?

Best regards

Niels

James Barnhart

Yup! I've tried every uninstaller I could get my hands on.

BitDefender v.10 is designed to run on Win98SE, but I guess their uninstaller isn't. That sticks me with the job of manually fixing the problem that BitDefender created - on ~50 computers around the now snowy state of Michigan.

Not too happy with this development! :wacko:

I'm sure I'll be thinking about this when it comes time to update software. <_<

Niels

Hello jbarnhart

You can use also microsoft installer cleanup This works also under 98. Select the reference to BitDefender and press on remove so also everything will be removed. It could be that you will find something like this 10.0.214 that is also a leftover of BitDefender so select it and remove it also.

Use that with the fix.reg. So they have only to double click and confirm the import of that file in the registry.

The specific uninstaller is quiet new.

Best regards

Niels

James Barnhart

Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate your attempts to help.

The Microsoft Installer Cleanup doesn't work on Win98SE computers, presumably for the same reason the BitDefender Uninstaller doesn't work.

And it turns out that the fix.reg idea isn't going to save me very much time. The registry scan finds almost 600 BitDefender registry entries (>500 after running CCleaner and RegCleaner). To delete these entries with fix.reg I'll have to add the '-' to each key in the list. Wow, >500 x 50 computers means >25,000 hyphens. Sounds like a lot of keystrokes.

I guess the simplest thing is to deactivate BitDefender, leave the registry junked up with the SoftWin/BD references, and install different A/V Software.

James Barnhart

One more tidbit of info!

I have been trying all the suggestions on an on-site Win98SE computer that has BitDefender installed. The Windows Installer Cleanup program doesn't run, giving an error message that Windows Installer must first be present and registered. If I try to install Windows Installer, it tells me the service already exists. I'm not sure how the computer can think its missing and present at the same time. I tried the Windows Installer Cleanup program on a Win98SE computer that doesn't have BitDefender and it runs, so its not a Win98SE specific problem.

I'd really like to know what's going on before I try to fix all the remote computers that have been without BD virus signature updates for over a week now.

msr

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=2933

Niels

Hello jbarnhart

Try to re register this executable: go to start,run,type C:\WINNT\System32\msiexec.exe \REGSERVER press enter. I am not sure if windows 98 uses that folder if not change WINNT by Windows. That could be because the windows installer isn't registered anymore or incorrectly registered in the registry.

You have to create the fix.reg once. Afterwards you can apply it on the other pc's.

In the meantime you can download the updates manually normally they contain the fix to the bad update.

Otherwise you have to contact livechat to see if they know other solutions. Enter you question and select technical support.

Best regards

Niels

James Barnhart

Okay, I finally decided on a plan.

I created the *.reg file to delete all the BitDefender/Softwin registry entries.

I've been grabbing computers via remote assistance software, exiting BitDefender, deleting all BD registry entries, rebooting, and reinstalling BitDefender v10.

It takes a lot more of my time than I wanted, but at least I'm finally getting all these computers taken care of. And yes, I'm sticking with BitDefender.

Thanks Niels for all your help. You've been a great to work with.

Niels

Hello jbarnhart

So I suppose that windows installer cleanup didn't run even after re registering msiexec.exe ?

I didn't know another solutiuon then using that reg file or windows installer clean up.

Good to hear that everything is working right now and you are keeping BitDefender.

Thanks for these kind words.

Best regards

Niels