Corrupt mshta.exe after malware removal - recovery disks won't let me refresh w7

Moderator told me to use W7 recovery disks to refresh (but not reinstall) W7 but Lenovo recovery disks have no option to do anything but factory reset W7:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/750222/windows-explorer-crashes-after-malware-removal/page-2

Posted 13 June 2021 - 10:05 AM

I was reading the following on a Lenovo forum:

Re: W540 will not boot from CD using Lenovo Recovery Disks

Instructions online & in booklet that comes with Lenove recovery disks state that "Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc" 1 (1 of 2) should be in the drive when starting recovery.

Lenovo provided three disks total:

1. "Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc" (1 of 2)

2. "Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc" (2 of 2)

3. "Operating System Recovery Disc" - Windows 7 Professional SP 1.

The OS recovery disk seems to me to be the logical choice but it is NOT the one stated in documentation to start with.

Previously, with Dell and other PCs after HDD failure/replace, I have booted from Windows 7 Pro. disk and then installed drivers after Win 7 installation

I changed the boot order to disk and as I said, it would be logical to insert the disk that says recovery but when I did that it said no boot manager found so I restarted with the drivers disk as mentioned above and this time it did boot from disk and it asked me to choose language and to click "agree" but then it said if I continue all data would be erased and the computer would be set to its original state so I quickly escaped. There is no option between factory reset and the 'refresh' you mentioned.

As I said, with a prior, much older computer (different manufacturer) with older OS I used the windows recovery disk all the time to re-install certain (missing, corrupt etc.) windows elements (I assume that's what you mean by 'refresh' instead of reinstall?)  I read that there is no refresh option for W7 but I also read that you still can install missing or corrupt files with the disk - and I think this is what you mentioned in your previous replies:

Step 1. Boot your computer, and then insert the installation DVD or USB disk.

Step 2. If AutoPlay Windows pop-up, select Run Setup.exe. Or open DVD drive in Windows File Explorer, locate the Setup.exe file and double click it.https://www.ubackup.com/windows-7/refresh-windows-7-without-losing-data.html

but I didn't get this option at all.. It does not start on autorun/autoplay and when I open the DVD drive I don't see a setup.exe I searched the folder and nothing came up.. the only option I was given was to agree whether I wanted to continue and that all would be erased (as mentioned above)

Posted 15 June 2021 - 10:47 PM

Since this issue is not malware related, I recommend you post in the Windows support forum for assistance.

Anyone who knows about Lenovo's recovery disks - help would be appreciated! Thank you.

Edited by meeshymee, 17 June 2021 - 08:22 AM.

Exact model of computer?

Gals, Guys, would it help if OP could borrow or buy a Windows 7 Install DVD, one that matches the Windows currently installed?

I made a nice post some days ago but I could not Post it - I think that was not enabled yet...

When Explorer crashes are you seeing a message like this:

Do you have a reliable failure case for the Explorer crashes like is it still crashing when right clicking things and can you make Explorer crash anytime you want by doing certain things like accessing your flash drive?

Tell us why you think a corrupt mshta.exe has anything to do with Explorer crashing or any other problems.

Is your SFC still reporting mshta.exe is corrupted and can't be fixed?

Since your system is Lenovo that makes it an OEM system so you will not be downloading any Windows 7 installation media from Microsoft where they only allow downloads for Retail and System Builder Product Keys.

Your previous post says your have Windows Pro x64 so if you want to get an ISO of that which can be used to create some installation bootable media do this:

From a working system you can still get a Windows 7 ISO by visiting this site and downloading their Windows-ISO-Downloader.exe:

https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool

The ISO downloading tool allows downloads during a brief windows of opportunity once a month so good luck with that.

Instead choose the August 2018 option which will get you the Windows 7 ISO of your choice with Service Pack 1 and some Windows Updates included to get you started:

it's a lenovo e570

i don't know that the crashes were related but it happened only after seeing that it was corrupt on chkdsk.

Do you have a reliable failure case for the Explorer crashes like is it still crashing when right clicking things and can you make Explorer crash anytime you want by doing certain things like accessing your flash drive?

the crashing hasn't happened in a while. i can't do it on command and it was not related to right clicking or flashdrive.

Is your SFC still reporting mshta.exe is corrupted and can't be fixed?

yes.

i would like to find out why i can't refresh using my W7 disks .. as i told the moderator, with a much older (XP) laptop i used to be ale to insert the disk and choose if i wanted to reinstall or fix certain elements and with the 3 discs i was provided by lenovo when the laptop as purchased it seems i can't do anything but do a factory reinstall.

i will look at the link for august 2018 windows - thanks!

Lets do a speccy report,..see whats going on,..

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/323892/publish-a-snapshot-using-speccy/

Also,please dowload MiniToolbox,and paste its output in next reply,..

When you run the program,please tick,Last 10 Event Viewer Errors > Installed Programs, and Users,Partitions,and Memaory Size.

Explorer crashes are usually easy to figure out the cause and if you have a reliable failure case and make an adjustment and the failure case is resolved you've nailed it... 

So we can set that aside for now.

I don't know why your Lenovo disks won't do what you want but if they are old/original they may be very outdated compared to what you have installed now.

Here is what I would do when SFC can't fix a file or files (and there may be other suggestions):

Depending on what has happened to your system the fix could be very easy or you might need some help so I would downloading SFCFix.exe to your desktop from this link:

http://www.sysnative.com/niemiro/apps/SFCFix.exe

For testing, learning and practice purposes it is easy to create corruption issues that cannot be fixed by sfc  /scannow.

First I manually created a problem that sfc  /scannow reported but could not fix (SFC is not as smart as some folks think) then ran SFCFix.exe to see what it had to say.

Sometimes the SFCFix.exe process will fix the problem all by itself as you can see in this simple example where I created a corruption that sfc /scannow could not fix but SFCFix.exe was able to fix an "unimportant" corruption in one pass:

SFCFix.exe fixed one corruption all by itself:

 When I ran sfc /scannow again the problem I created was fixed and running sfc /scannow again reported no issues.

That was pretty easy.

If SFCFix.exe can't fix the problem you may be promoted to insert your genuine Windows 7 SP1 installation CD/DVD and SFCFix will try to get the missing file(s) from there but if you don't have that or SFCFix can't find what it needs a results and log file called SFCFix.txt will be created on your desktop:

If SFCFix.exe can't fix the problem you then register a new account at Sysnative, follow the directions and they will send you back a ZIP file with the fixes for you to apply.  Often you get the fix in one message cycle because they know what they are doing.  It might take a little more depending on what is wrong.

Be sure to read, understand and follow their directions exactly:

https://www.sysnative.com/forums/windows-update/4736-windows-update-forum-posting-instructions.html

Following the directions will get you the fastest and best reply in the fewest message cycles.

For simple cases what usually happens is they will analyze the report (may ask for more details) and eventually send you some instructions and a ZIP file that has in it the files you need to correct the problem and you are done.

Sometimes the problems are more complicated but eventually they should help get things squared away.

Be a mench and come back and tell us how it goes!

Edited by joseibarra, 23 June 2021 - 06:01 PM.

Thats interesting,..i started using SFCFix a while back,..was going to have a deeper look at fixes,..you might have saved me a job,.:-)

Id stiil like to see speccy,MTB data,..in case other issues than file corruption,..

Hi

CHKDSK, and SFCscannow, are 2 totally different options

CHK checks the DRIVE, ssd or spinner , base format, ---- SFC  checks the OS

if chk shows unrepairable errors, ie bad blocks, you should run a 3rd party smart tool, depends upon its make

These errors CANNOT be fixed by any tool, time to buy a new hard drive ---- REMEMBER back up your private data NOW before it gets worse

notes

frst reported bad blocks, it could be where the mshta is and causing this error

the sfc report showed vista+ errors, was this comp upgraded from vista

IE11 is no longer supported turn it off via features

Edited by Torchwood, 23 June 2021 - 05:51 PM.

sorry - there's a lot of replies and a lot of suggestions it's hard to figure out which to do. I'm actually more concerned with the recovery aspect. The computer hasn't crashed in a while so it's possible that it was not due to the corrupt file and possibly that file would have shown as corrupt prior to the malware removal and I just didn't know.. but the desktop and explorer were crashing right after so it seemed logical as I never had that happen before. The only problem I've had (recently) was that when I tried to open task manager I got an error message and it wouldn't open.

As I said, I'm more concerned with the disks - I don;t know if anyone is familiar with Lenovo and why the disks don;t allow me to repair rather than only do a factory reset. The laptop is from 2017 and the disks were shipped to me directly from Lenovo. I had always assumed I could use them at any time to repair windows elements but they seem to be pointless unless I want to wipe the computer. 

to the person who asked if I had vista - I have never had vista the computer was purchased in 2017 with Windows 7. I've never used E11 (I have firefox and edge) but I've turned it off.

Edited by hamluis, 09 July 2021 - 02:54 PM.
Fixed typo - Hamluis.

Explorer crashes are often easy to figure out and a repeatable failure case helps if you can come up with one that makes it crash all or most of the time.

If Task Manager is misbehaving with an error message keep in mind that we can't see what you are seeing so either post up a screen shot of the message and/or tell the exact words in the message without paraphrasing.

"I got an error message" will not facilitate many good ideas and consume extra message cycles.

Since Windows 7 support ended January 2020 and your Lenovo disks are from 2017 they may not be useful if they have not been updated as your system has been getting updates over the years.

You (probably) don't need Lenovo or even Windows installation media to repair a corrupted file or diagnose and fix Explorer crashes.

If you want your corrupted file fixed you have instructions how to make that happen.  I could not stand to have an SFC error that i could not figure out and fix.

One problem with OEM systems is they rarely come with genuine Windows installation media (that would cost them another ten cents) but they are obligated to provide you some way to recover the operating system and return the system to the as shipped from the factory configuration so instead of sending you media they include a recovery partition which sometimes works and sometimes gets wiped out or corrupted over the years but that will always be out of date as soon as you apply your first update from Microsoft - just like your Lenovo disks are now.

I think it would behoove you to have at least the installation media already linked to that will be up to at least August 2018.

Edited by joseibarra, 26 June 2021 - 12:24 AM.

You can download mshta.exe here:

https://www.exefiles.com/en/exe/mshta-exe/

Scroll nearly to the bottom of the page and click on the + by Windows 7

I don;t know if anyone is familiar with Lenovo and why the disks don;t allow me to repair rather than only do a factory reset.

Quite a lot of variables with reset issues,..if we had the speccy and minitoolblx reports we might be able to see whats going on,..otherwise were just guessing,..as you can see,that,ll go nowhere,...

With the crashes,windows can rebuild its files at boot,..sometimes it fixes itself,..

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/8TAXsYBfRjvVmKw8iPiOghC

OEM manufacturers are not required to provide a way to repair your system.

They are required to provide a way to reinstall Windows.

The installation/recovery media they provide will be specific to them to be sure you get all their specific drivers and the nice goodies and extras that came with your system.

If you want to Repair Windows you need Windows installation media, not OEM recovery discs.