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Stefano
Asked: 2012-12-15 08:09:02 +0800 CST

EXE files being deleted

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I have a couple of Windows boxes (Windows XP and Windows Server 2008) where a few EXE files (unwise.exe - from Wise installation system - among others) simply disappear from time to time.

I tried to narrow down this issue by disabling antivirus, anti spyware, etc. (I started by looking at their log files and quarantine), but with no luck. There weren't any clues in the event viewer either.

Any suggestion?

windows

3 Answers

  1. You could run Process Monitor continuously, but with a filter of:

    • Operation: SetDispositionInformationFile
    • Result: SUCCESS
    • Detail: Delete: True

    This will accumulate a log of all deleted files. Next time you notice a file gone missing, pull up Process Monitor and see what process was responsible for deleting the file.

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  2. Turn on File Auditing for the relevant folders. The next time they're deleted, the Event Viewer will have information on who/what deleted them.

    You might want to turn it on only for Delete events - otherwise your Event Viewer will be rapidly overrun by standard events (like file access, etc.).

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  3. Best Answer

    This sounds like a perfect job for Windows Sysinternals Process Monitor. This powerful tool allows you to monitor almost every activity on your system.

    While it is powerful it can be also dangerous because when not using proper filters and logging methods it can have a considerable impact on your system (Virtual Memory exhaustion to name one).

    In your case I'd do the following:

    • download Process Monitor, extract and run it as administrator
    • stop the initial capture by pressing Ctrl+E
    • change the backing file from Virtual Memory to a disk file to lower the possible strain on your system's RAM/Pagefile: File -> Backing Files... -> Use file named (a separate disk/partition is best for this)
    • apply appropriate filters to your situation: Filter -> Filter... select Event Class is File System then Include and press Add
    • to narrow the output even further you can specify paths to files you want to monitor: select Path is <path> then Include and press Add and OK
    • to eliminate all unnecessary events from the capture select Filter -> Drop Filtered Events
    • start capturing by pressing Ctrl+E

    This should give you some hints about what exactly is happening to your files while having low impact on your system.

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