MRT.exe
Summary
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - monthly-updated tool that scans for and removes prevalent malware families.
MRT.exe is the 837th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 3,510 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by svchost.exe.
Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- e2067d36a6fedde49f9f2f765326fab7453dcd7ae661d460b3e80bb5904b4f9511.38%
- 1eec86b82613a6afcb6befdc39db2131e56eb8204e1b849c1763deff0ec40e046.74%
- af8bc0608ac97bedb59c9bf8026f5b8a47b45a25c2a1ed85067b55ab262b43065.22%
- c4e9c4141397e6979cf4efba65f4e5eda9d437faba97ab767566bb2d90c467354.45%
- f3983a95899262ab874172d662f0ea7d5706ebfe3ac9b2ea499793ac73bc8ab93.9%
- 36172373c9e64f5f7caf69c94467fdfc7e437b10e2935d293f2f35ddf52401913.77%
- b5198a350a84362cffa078cc398d872431065e751d6c4f4a804d24e3a84c3f033.71%
- 7564c410b6a2b6b60b1e41411e6bf4886cd87d5794d43a23079a5e836073af873.64%
- 2d5f4c5765f8cae3fe07c33a5958c424d2f8e7be710f976d66a165f91c0387c53.58%
- c6314cec8dfd11bfb853cd467e9d936887b1e4299b9204f5679897129fe682b72.93%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe51.65%
- wuauclt.exe34.05%
- wininit.exe13.47%
- svchost.exe0.83%
Top Parents
- svchost.exe52.21%
- services.exe7.91%
Top Children
- svchost.exe55.17%
- MRT.exe37.93%
- WerFault.exe6.9%
Rare or environment-specific process names are omitted from ancestry tables. Percentages are of all observed relationships.
Security Analysis
What does MRT.exe normally do?
Runs silently once per month after being delivered by Windows Update. Scans for a specific set of prevalent malware families and removes them.
When is MRT.exe suspicious?
Running outside of Windows Update delivery cycle. Running from non-standard paths. Frequent execution.
False positive notes
Monthly execution via Windows Update is normal.
Related Processes
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Data from EchoTrail's dataset of ~346M Windows process executions. Last extracted 2026-08-04.