Group policy for Microsoft Defender has no effect

Question

Hi.

I'm disabling Microsoft Defender in the group policies:

Computer configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows components -> Microsoft Defender: Deactivate Microsoft Defender Antivirus

With Win 10 20H2, my selection was not persistent, but it was persistent when setting it in safe mode.

Now I've upgraded to Win 10 22H2. After changing it in safe mode and rebooting, my setting has been reset. How can I stop Windows from doing this?

I am the IT administrator of this machine, not Microsoft.

If I want to get back control, do I have to downgrade to 20H2?

Answer

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

Windows 10 22H2 has a feature called Tamper Protection that prevents changes to security settings, including disabling Microsoft Defender. Ensure that Tamper Protection is turned off. You can do this via the Windows Security app under "Virus & threat protection settings".

You can disable it using the following steps:

Open the Windows Security app.
Go to Virus & threat protection.
Click on Manage settings under Virus & threat protection settings.
Turn off Tamper Protection.

If Group Policy changes are not sticking, you can try editing the registry directly:

Open Regedit.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender.

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named DisableAntiSpyware and set its value to 1.

I hope the information above is helpful.

Best Regards,

Yanhong Liu

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Group policy for Microsoft Defender has no effect

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