Windows 7: System restarts due to critical error; Trend Micro as root cause?

Windows[German]Short survey for the readers who are still running Windows 7 SP1 and may be using Trend Micro security solutions/virus scanners. Are you currently experiencing problems with Windows 7 rebooting in a minute due to a critical error?  It doesn't seem to be an isolated case, I've seen several reports, that the issue is there since June 21, 2022, 09:30 a.m. (UTC).


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After I published the initial blog post in German, I receivedseveral reports from various users that there are problems with Windows 7 restarts because a critical error has occurred. Affected are 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 clients (including embedded), and in all cases Trend Micro seems to be involved as the security solution.

A reader's tip

I myself can't find any problems with my Windows 7 SP1 with ESU at the moment, the system runs since hours without any problems. But blog reader Jens V. just contacted me by mail and writes:

Hello Mr. Born,

currently we have the problem with at least 15 customers that shortly after login the message "Critical error, the system will restart in 1 minute" appears on the computer and then the computer actually restarts.

What all computers have in common so far is that they are still running Windows 7 and TrendMicro (various editions) is installed as the virus scanner.

Are there any findings from other readers? Ticket at TrendMicro is opened.

Many greetings

Jens V.

Since then many readers confirmed that issue, also on embedded clients, and it affects 32 and 64 bit systems. Anyone else who can report similar observations?

Addendum: My German readers told me in comments, that they was able to start Windows 7 in safe mode – then they was able to uninstall Apex (others disabled TM services). And a user told me, that Trend Micro is aware of this issue.

Addendum 2: It seems that we are one year out of support – from June 22, 2021, Trend Micro ends support for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2022.


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Starting June 22, 2021, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will no longer be supported by Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security On-Premise (Standard and Advanced). Aside from the main reason that these operating systems have reached Microsoft's End-Of-Support, another reason for this change is because it has already been announced that the Microsoft Trusted Root Program is ending the support for cross-signed root certificates with kernel-mode signing capabilities.

Addendum 3: Trend Micro has released a solution, see CUSTOMER ADVISORY: Behavior Monitoring Configuration Pattern 1.237.00 Issue with Windows 7 32-Bit Clients.


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34 Responses to Windows 7: System restarts due to critical error; Trend Micro as root cause?

  1. Sunny says:

    yes, we have the same problem too.

  2. Dave Sampson says:

    Yes, I am experiencing the same issue with a number of Windows 7 ESU devices and them rebooting after a few minutes of logging onto the desktop. Does anyone have any fixes -or update from Trend on the issue yet?

  3. André says:

    We are experiencing this problem network wide.

    We also use TrendMicro

  4. Nelson says:

    Hello, I'm just facing this right now, and thank god I found that I'm not the only one.

    I'm running some Windows 7, updated but with Trend Micro Apex One, and some of then begin with this error today.

    Any thoughts on how to solve this issue?

  5. Andre says:

    Same issue, with TrendMicro

  6. wopr23 says:

    Any solution by Trend Micro ?

  7. Fabio Andrade says:

    Hey,

    We had the same problem here with Windows 7 x Trend Solution (Apex). Still waiting for a definitive solution.

    @fabio_sec_

  8. Mario says:

    We have the same error. The workaround from Trend is uninstall the agent.
    We did unistall the agents and re install its and delay by Web Console the updates of these agents.
    For now they are working.
    However, we are waiting the Trend' solution

  9. CD says:

    Same issue faced with Trend Micro

  10. Dan says:

    Yea. same problem here.
    only effecting a few win7 boxes though..

    going about removing AV now..

  11. Bipin Bihari says:

    We are also facing same issue, windows 7 systems are getting restarted every minutes since today afternoon. Awaiting for some concrete solution. If any one finding any solution then kindly post it.

  12. Nelson says:

    UPDATE WITH WORKAROUND AND TREND OFICIAL NOTE:

    In safe mode I disabled only the "Apex One NT RealTime Scan" and did the trick for now.

    Trend Micro is officially are investigating, this is from their website:

    WINDOWS 7 UPDATE ISSUE

    Trend Micro is aware of potential update issues on some WIn 7 (32-bit) clients and is currently investigating.

    • guenni says:

      Just got the feedback from a German blog reader, that the "Behavior Monitoring Configuration Pattern : 1.238.00" is available.

  13. Horacio Ulloque says:

    We had the same issue, check the agent update schedule and set for the longest term available, then uninstall the agent (in windows safe mode) and the reinstall the agent, seems the issue appears after the agent update. It work for us

  14. support says:

    Same problem here with Windows 7 and TrendMicro. 5 computers across 4 different locations.

  15. client trend micro says:

    I have the same problem on several machines in my company.

  16. Mario says:

    Hello, we have the same error!
    Can you bring me the trend note's link? Thanks!

  17. Junior says:

    The issue is related to Trend Micro's Behavior Monitoring Files update. They are preparing a rollback patch for immediate release but in the interim you can replace the tmbmcfg.cat, tmbmcfg.ptn and the 123800.txt files from June 20, 2022 while the unit is in safe mode to correct the issue without having to uninstall Trend Micro Apex. I was on a tech support call with our Enterprise Support Rep and found out the root cause and the fix.

  18. Junior says:

    File Locations and names.

    [C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Security Agent\]
    tmbmcfg.cat
    tmbmcfg.ptn
    [C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\BM\Patterns\]
    tmbmcfg.ptn
    [C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\BM\update\]
    tmbmcfg.ptn

  19. Mike says:

    https://success.trendmicro.com/dcx/s/solution/000291159?language=en_US

    Resolution
    Customers who have been affected and are able to update the affected pattern are advised to update to version Behavior Monitoring Configuration Pattern 1.238.00 which should resolve the issue.

    Customers who are not able to update the affected pattern are advised to contact Trend Micro technical support for additional manual workaround steps that may be utilized to manually update the pattern on affected clients.

    Please contact your authorized Trend Micro technical support contact for more assistance

  20. Ross says:

    I want to thank all of you folks. We have a decent fleet of Win7 (POS Ready 2009) systems we are soon moving to LTSC. As of this morning all units began to restart. My team and I have been scrutinizing event logs, file system logs, and a plethora of other resources we have at our disposal and kept coming up empty.

    We figured it was either WorryFree or another product we use which has enough privileges to cause the issue.

    To add to the discussion, reboots have become a lot less frequent at this point. We have yet to disable WorryFree or implement any changes (just ran into post, big THANK YOU). I assume the updates have begun to kick in and address the issue.

    I will proceed to review Trend's article and go from there. I will come back and post any worthwhile updates.

  21. Khalid Rafique says:

    We have also faced the issue and it is resolved by updating version to 1.238, actually the fault is in version 1.237… thanks God, we have more than 100 plus Windows 7 Pcs and now working fine.

  22. EatShit says:

    Trendmicro is piece of shit. we had same problem

  23. Telkom says:

    Oh my god, I guess it's just me having this problem myself.

  24. Nafi says:

    We have same issue.
    How to update to latest version of Behavior Monitoring Configuration Pattern version 1.238.00 when the computers with Win 7 restarts all the time?

  25. Amine says:

    Is anyone experiencing issues with windows 8.1 due to this update ?

  26. Amar Naikawadi says:

    trend micro program version 14.0.12380 not updated in win 7 machine

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