Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

How to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 permanently? Sometimes you want to disable Windows Defender for testing purposes. If you have an Antivirus application running, Windows Defender will be automatically disabled. That’s because your Antivirus software will take over the security from now on. This article will teach you how to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 temporarily and permanently.

Windows Defender unable to stop service

Start Task Manager on Windows 10. Find the Windows Defender service that is running. Search for the task name Antimalware Service Executable and the service Windows Defender Antivirus Service.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Right-click the Windows Defender Antivirus Service and click Stop.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

An error will show up that the operation could not be completed. Access is denied. It’s unable to stop the service.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Start the application Services and right-click on Windows Defender Antivirus Service. You can see that the following options are greyed out:

  • Start
  • Stop
  • Pause
  • Resume
  • Restart
Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Check status Windows Defender in Windows Security

Open the Windows Start menu. Type Windows Security.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click on Virus & threat protection.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Windows Defender is enabled.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

If you installed another security product, you would see the following screen.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Windows Defender will automatically disable and not run if periodic scanning is turned off (which is the default when you install a third-party security product). However, when turning on periodic scanning, Windows Defender will run simultaneously with the third-party security product.

Disable Windows Defender in Windows 10 temporarily

In Windows Security, click on Virus & threat protection.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click on Manage Settings.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click the toggle button under Real-time protection to turn off Windows Defender Antivirus.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Doing that, you can see that:

  • The service is still running in the background
  • A reboot will automatically enable Windows Defender

How can you disable Windows Defender service completely and keep it disabled after a reboot? Find out in the next step.

Step 1. Download Autoruns for Windows

Download Autoruns for Windows. Extract the zip file. You don’t need to do anything yet. You need Autoruns at a later stage.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 2. Turn off Real-time protection

As shown in the previous step, make sure that Real-time protection is Off.

Important: Turn off Real-time protection.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 3. Boot into safe mode

Click on Windows Start and search for msconfig. Run System Configuration as administrator.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

You can also start the program Run. Type msconfig and click on OK.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Select the tab Boot. In the section Boot options, enable Safe boot. Click on OK.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click on Restart.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 4. Start Autoruns for Windows

In the previous step, you already did download and extract Autoruns for Windows. Browse to the Autoruns folder and start the executable Autoruns64.exe. If you are running Windows 10 32-bit, start Autoruns.exe.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 5. Enable Windows Services in Autoruns

Go to the tab Services. It will not show many services. That’s because Windows services are not showing by default.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click in the menu bar on Options. Uncheck Hide Windows Entries. It will show the Windows services in the list view.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 6. Uncheck Windows Defender Antivirus Service

Search for WinDefend and uncheck the checkbox. Unchecking will prevent the Windows Defender automatic startup after every reboot.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Step 7. Boot into normal startup

Start the application msconfig.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Select the Normal startup. Click on OK.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Click on Restart.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Verify that Windows Defender is kept turned off after Windows 10 restart

After a restart, start Task Manager. There is no more Windows Defender service running.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Start Windows Security and have a look at Virus & threat protection. You will see that there is a spinning icon, or the status is showing as unknown. That’s because it’s fetching the information.

Important: Do not click on the Virus & threat protection tile while it’s fetching information or the status is unknown. If you do that, it will enable Windows Defender. Keep waiting till you see it’s disabled.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Give it a couple of minutes. After that, you will see that Virus & threat protection is disabled.

Why cant I turn off Windows Defender?

Note: The first attempt might not work, and you have to do the steps a second time before it will turn off Windows Defender permanently.

Microsoft releases big Windows 10 OS updates a couple of times a year. After it’s installed and the Windows 10 OS is up to date with the new version, it sometimes triggers the Windows Defender service settings and starts automatically again. This means you must go through the steps to ensure that Windows Defender doesn’t start.

Revert the changes

Suppose you like to revert the changes. Then, click on the Restart Now button in Windows Security. Another way is to boot into safe mode, start Autoruns, and check the WinDefend service.

Keep on reading: Disable Windows Firewall with PowerShell »

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 permanently. Make sure to follow the exact steps, as shown in the article. After doing that, Windows Defender will be kept turned off.

Did you enjoy this article? You may also like Disable Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP). Don’t forget to follow us and share this article.

Why can't I stop Windows Defender?

To turn off Windows Defender: Navigate to Control Panel and then double click on "Windows Defender" to open it. Select "Tools" and then "Options". Scroll to the bottom of the page of options and uncheck the "Use Windows Defender" check box in the "Administrator options" section.

Why can't I turn off Windows Defender in Windows 11?

Click on Start, then Settings. Choose Privacy & security, Windows Security, then Virus & threat protection. Under Virus & threat protection settings, click on Manage settings. Scroll down to the Tamper Protection option, and toggle the slider to Off.

Why is Windows Defender constantly running?

One of the common reasons Windows Defender turns itself on is to provide real-time protection when you don't have an antivirus program installed or when your antivirus program expires. As explained by Microsoft Support, Windows Defender is designed to protect your computer against malware and other threats.

Why can't I turn off my Real

From settings, navigate to the “Manage Settings” in the “Virus & threat protection” and toggle off the real-time protection option. In Windows PowerShell, execute the “Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true” command to turn off the real-time protection in windows 10.