Task Manager won't open - Win 7 Ultimate

Hey Guys,

I have this weird problem...

I am working on Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bit) ...

Long story short, I was working on something, having too many things open at once, windows decided to get cranky and nothing worked anymore...

As always, I right click on the taskbar to go to start task manager... and I get a command prompt window open with a blinking thing in it (never knew the name) , and in the header it gave the file location of task manager... That was weird!
I tried pressing enter... just in case it was seeking for attention... didn't do anything... close it , tried it again , same result.

I tried the good old ctrl+alt+del , took me to the weird looking screen and I chose task manager from it , same result. I thought ok maybe it was a bit too much on the virtual memory and paging file and bla bla... restarted the laptop (cold boot). Now when I try to open task manager it simply opens a command prompt window and closes very fast... just like when you double click on a batch file for example (rather than typing it from the command prompt)...

I really doubt its a Virus or that its disabled, it is doing something... even if its nothing, I mean it is opening the command prompt and closing it again...

Any ideas?

Oh and I did check the other task manager cannot open links on google and in here, but amazingly everything is extremely old... windows xp and whatnot.

Anyway hoping to get any answers soon, its driving me nuts!

Cheers :major

 

Windows 7 uses ctrl + shift + esc to get to the Task Manager.
Rant ON: why in the world MS thought it was necessary to change a the basic keys that everyone has used for years to pull up the Task Manager is beyond me! Rant Off!
I have a note with this new command tacked to my cork board because I know I will never remember what the keys are until I've run windows 7 for a few years.

 

If you click START, then RUN, then type in: taskmgr.exe
Do you still that that dos box that runs?

If so, out of curiosity, what happens when you click START, then RUN, then type in: regedit.exe

Anyway, what file size is taskmgr.exe? It should be located in c:\windows\system32

I can't check mine with yours, since I'm running 7 x64. But, perhaps another here could check it.

 

Amazingly I did not get one single notification about the replies in here!
Sorry for the late reply, hoping some of you is still interested in this case (as it is still not solved, had to be offline for a week due to a family crisis)

Size of the taskmgr.exe is 222 KB , and the file date is the same as the rest of the files... shouldnt be changed then.

Regedit opens normally

And no matter what I do , the dos looking box opens for a split second and closes (just like when you run a batch file the wrong way by double clicking rather than entering the link in the command prompt...)

Same as above I am afraid, every method I know of opening task manager gets me back to the same result... mind you that since something is actually happening, this somehow changes the diag? not sure though...

I know the special keys you mentioned, but you should also be aware that even in win 7 you can still access the task manager by the old fashioned right click on taskbar and the ctrl + alt + delete.. the ones you mentioned were simply added by MS to make it a very short shortcut

 

The size should be 227,328 bytes.

 

I have Win7, home premium.

Right click on task bar gives menu including an option for task manager, and it works.

So does ctrl - alt - del, menu including option for the task manager.

Ctrl - shift -esc opens task manager straight away.

Wassmik, do any of these work for you? What "dos" looking box?

Done any malware scans? I haven't seen malware disable this, but I have seen it disable virtually everything in the control panel, so I suppose this is also possible.

 

As mentioned, all the possible options to get taskmanager up and running fail. I even tried yelling at it from a short distance, didn't work as well :yum

the dos window am talking about... well you should make any batch file, that needs to be activated from within command prompt... double click it instead of running it from command prompt, it will give u a small black window for a split second and go away again. wish i knew how to capture a video of my screen then i could probably show you guys what am talking about.

What do you suggest? I guess to get a fresh version of the executable file... but any idea where to get it from? (safe sources... i am off to google it , but just in case you have a link in handy that you trust)

 

Click start, type in command in the search box, right click on the command prompt option, select Run as administrator.

Then type sfc /scannow

Note the space between sfc and /

Else, I think this is some Malware that is blocking you from using the task manager.

Can you access this in safe mode?

 

" Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service. " as a result

 

And in safe mode?

Looks a lot like malware to me.

Follow this link, start a thread there with your logs from the scans;

READ AND RUN ME FIRST

 

I wouldn't mind seeing what happens or get the results if you were to do the following:

Click START then RUN, then type in cmd (press enter)

type in:

taskmgr.exe (press enter)

What is the result?

 

MAN! this sounds like a lot of work, its a lot of work to read it even! hehe
Anyway , been scanning with Antivir over and over again, so far so clean, couple of warnings , nothing so far... trying to find a way to get a fresh copy of the executable first before reading that long thread and downloading a million things..

Disclaimer: In no way am I saying that this thread is a waste of time, it was great to have it there, I am just a lazy a** ...

And I think if it hits the fan, then I will end up following it... let's hope not though...

"Program too big to fit in memory"

But it was great idea to suggest it though :major

 

From that result you gave me "Program too big to fit in memory".

I'm going to say the same thing on this one, just to be on the safe side.

I read a couple items on the intertoobs, and it points to possible malware.

 

I know! Now I finally pulled myself together and started... reading!

Just when i thought I finished and expected to find a software to download , scan, post a report... it tells me to open another thread for Vista (which is applicable for win 7) and ... read ... again! lol

Gotta tell you though, that defogger tool is quite useless, it said it disabled the virtual drive, but when I open my computer, it's still there...oh well..wish me luck

 

Good luck! Those guys/gals in the malware section are pure genius.

 

They sure talk a lot though...

 

Hey Guys,

Based on this thread : http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1499071#post1499071

No malware is involved. So what to do with this task manager thing? its really pissing me off. :fakesmile (they should have this smiley along with :sarcasticsmile)

 

duplicate post deleted

 

Odd indeed, I would have bet my left anything that this was malware related.

And SFC won't work either?

A couple of choices left.

Can you perform a system restore to a point before the problems. Just be sure to do all the updates right away then.

I see you have a Toshiba Satellite, as I do, and mine, at least did not come with a recovery partition, I had to make recovery disks myself, (about the first thing I did when starting the computer).

So, do you have recovery disks? Boot from disk 1, should be given an option for repair, but I am straying a little into unknown territory here as I have not yet to need this and I'm much more familar with the Dell and HP lines.

Will probably have to enter the BIOS to set booting from DVD first. Again a little uncertain how to do this but it looks like tapping the Esc key should get you there, if not, try tapping F1.

System restore would be my first choice.

Oh, and have you tried anything in safe mode? From your hijackthis log, you do have a great deal of autoruns, and that in itself can cause problems. (The 04 entries in the log).

 

Actually something comes to my mind, but not sure where to check for that piece of info.

It would be great if anyone NOT having this problem could test it for me on their side and tell me how it went...

Can anyone here please (pref. running win 7) , go to cmd (using it in administrative mode) , and type taskmgr.exe ? will you get the error stating that the size is too big to be run, or does it open it?

The theory am having in mind is maybe somewhere some part of memory (win 7 related probably), the memory got so full that there is no space to launch the taskmanager...
That or the taskmanager itself is corrupt and needs replacement...

Anyway would be great to hear from you guys
Cheers

P.S: I myself still have 2 tests to do, the suggestion about the restore and the safe mode thing... can you beleive i still didnt try it in safe mode?

 

Safe mode : failed

No system restore point beyond that point (shockingly)

 

Did so on my Win7, 64 bit, Toshiba Satellite, the TM opened immediately.

And no restore points for you? And you are certified as malware free.

Your system is corrupted, do you have the recovery disks?

 

Let's not take the cowardly way out of it :major

I mean it's only one executable file that's failing... is it worth going through all the hassle of losing data , re-installing software and so on?

Besdies...my laptop came with win Vista, I manually upgraded it to a Win 7 with an MSDN license that i cannot get anymore, but was not removed... so basically am stuck between a stone and a hard place having to really fix this... ideas?

I just wish I knew where to get a copy of this executable file from ...

 

Update:

I just found the ISO file that I used for the installation , I just mounted it... any idea where to find the tskmngr.exe in it? tried the search, didn't help, and there doesn't seem to be an i386 folder... shockingly.. unless I don't know where to look...

 

Did you search for tskmgr.exe? Should be taskmgr.exe.

I could email you a copy of mine if that would help. Mine is 222K.

 

That's weird... someone was saying in this thread that it should be larger then that...

What is your windows version exactly? (mentioning as well if 64 or 32 bit)

 

That was on my Win 7, 64 bit 'puter.

Now I'm on a Vista system and it is 163,840 bytes, office machine.

 

The problem is that am not sure if the 64 bit exe would work on my 32 bit win...

same goes for Vista...

 

The search menu says 222K. a right click lists size as 227,328, and it is under taskmgr.exe.

And it shows up in 4 locations/instances, and if I double click on any of them, the TM opens up right away.

I do have to search "computer", and under folder options/view I always check "show hidden files" and uncheck "hide protected operating system files".

Don't know if the last part makes a difference, it is just one of my standard tweaks.

So if you do a search of your computer for taskmgr, don't need the extension, what do you find? And if you double click on it?

 

Hey i just tried it and my task manager is back; jux after scanning with ComboFix

Check from the READ & RUN thing