Win10: Mpgear.dll Missing Error At Startup

So the system seems to be running fine, but out of the blue I started getting this message on startup. The program referenced is SenseCE.exe and the error reads:

"The code execution cannot proceed because MpGear.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem."

Based on googling, the common explanation seems to be that the file is corrupted. There are sites suggesting various fixes. To this point I have:

- run sfc/scannow
- run dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
- run dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth
- run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
- installed all pending Windows Updates
- ran scan with MalwareBytes

But the issue remains.

The next suggestion was to replace the file with copy of the DLL from another computer or trusted DLL site. I copied one over from another Win10 machine but that didn't help either. Then I saw that I should try to register the new DLL (or unregister it first and then register the new one).

But when pulling up a command window and trying to register/unregister the DLL, I get this error.

"The module 'mpgear.dll' was loaded but the entry-point DLLUnregisterServer was not found. Make sure that 'mpgear.dll' is a valid DLL or OCX file and then try again."

Sooo... I wasn't sure what to do at that point.

Another suggestion was to try a Windows repair install. I put in the Win10 install CD and it immediately started installing stuff onto my c: drive until it took up almost all the space (it's not a big drive, there were probably 30GB free). And it didn't offer me the option to repair, just to install over top what's already there. I didn't want to do that so I backed out of everything, but the space on the hard drive remained full.

After a reboot the c: drive regained the space. But after using the computer a while, I got a system popup about freeing up space and suddenly the drive was nearly full again. This has happened repeatedly. At the moment I have 300mb of free space on c: where there were 30GB free before. This yo-yoing of space only started after using the Win10CD and I'm not sure how to fix it.

Anyway, any help on the DLL issue is appreciated. And if you can assist on the drive space issue, that would be great too.

Thanks!

 

It seems from these pages:
MpGear.dll was not found? - Microsoft Community
MpGear.dll was not found - Microsoft Community
MpGear.dll was not found? - Microsoft Community

That you can use Download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool 64-Bit - MajorGeeks to fix the missing DLL.

 

I've run that before (and again now) but the logs don't note any errors and there's no reference anywhere in them to mpgear.dll. But that's just from the basic running of a scan, if there's something more advanced that needs to be done I don't know how to do it as I'm not familiar with the program.

 

bump?

 

You have already tried some common solutions, such as running SFC and DISM scans, updating Windows, and scanning with MalwareBytes, but none of them worked. You've also attempted to replace MpGear.dll presumably following instructions in Step 4 at: https://www.minitool.com/news/mpgear-dll-not-found.html - Windows can be pedantic and just checking that you've typed this exactly.

The message "The module 'mpgear.dll' was loaded but the entry-point DLLUnregisterServer was not found. Make sure that 'mpgear.dll' is a valid DLL or OCX file and then try again." indicates that the MpGear.dll file or system enviropnment search path configuration you have doesn't have the necessary DLLUnregisterServer module either in that file or in another DLL on your system. MpGear.dll is a part of Windows Defender and a classic attack location for malware.

A number of other posts on the internet relating to MpGear.dll suggest that problems with this file are a result of system corruption by malware, suggest posting in https://forums.majorgeeks.com/threa...ide-incl-spyware-virus-trojan-hijacker.35407/ after running the "READ & RUN ME FIRST Malware Removal Guide" steps within.

It might help with your problem using the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST), you can find instructions at:
https://toolslib.net/blog/viewpost/...overy-scan-tool-to-detect-and-remove-malware/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/781976/frst-tutorial-how-to-use-farbar-recovery-scan-tool/
https://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/335081-frst-tutorial-how-to-use-farbar-recovery-scan-tool/