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Antimalware support on UWF-protected devices

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    ✅ Windows 11, ✅ Windows 10

Learn how to enable antimalware support on your USB Filter-enabled Windows 10 Enterprise device.

When using antimalware software on your Unified Write Filter (UWF)-protected device, you must add the required file and registry exclusions that enable the software to apply updates to signature files and persist changes to the device after a system restart.

Add support for Microsoft Defender on UWF-protected devices

Add these exclusions to UWF:

  1. File exclusions

    C:\Program Files\Windows Defender
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender
C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log
C:\Windows\Temp\MpCmdRun.log

  2. Registry exclusions

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdBoot
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdFilter
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdNisSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdNisDrv
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend

    Note

    If a Windows IoT Enterprise computer stops responding during Windows startup, see Windows doesn't start after you exclude UWF from Microsoft Defender for a workaround. This issue impacts:

    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 21H1
    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 21H2
    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 22H1
    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2016
    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019
    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021
    • Windows 11 IoT Enterprise

Add support for System Center Endpoint Protection on UWF-protected devices

Add these exclusions to UWF:

  1. File exclusions

    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client
C:\Windows\Windowsupdate.log
C:\Windows\Temp\Mpcmdrun.log
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

  2. Registry exclusions

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

Note

Windows 10 Enterprise does not include System Center Endpoint Protection. You can purchase licenses and install System Center Endpoint Protection independently.