How do I turn off Windows Defender from the command line?

Question

I am searching for a command to temporarily turn off Windows Defender.

Any suggestions?

Related: How to turn off Windows Defender permanently – Peter Mortensen Nov 04 '18 at 19:06 — Peter Mortensen, Nov 04 '18 at 19:06

score 13 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 04 '18 at 19:02

13

Using PowerShell (as an administrator) in Windows 10, use the following command:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true

To re-enable it:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $false

Source

edited Nov 04 '18 at 19:02

Peter Mortensen

12,190

answered Feb 29 '16 at 22:17

Moab

58,308

Readers should note that one must be running powershell "as administrator" for that to work.
Similarly, for the sc commands in the other answers here, one must be running the command line as admin for those to work. While Powershell's error makes that clear, at the command line, one would just get "Access is denied", which is not at all obvious.
– charlie arehart Jun 05 '18 at 14:20
3

I don't think this method work anymore for 1903... – navossoc Jul 12 '19 at 03:17
@navossoc Confirmed, ps command is still available but does not work on 1903, hmmmm. – Moab Jul 13 '19 at 16:46
@Moab Yeah, the last time I used this command was in version 1803 and I'm sure it worked. The 1809 version I skipped, so I can not tell for sure if it started in 1809 or 1903. – navossoc Jul 14 '19 at 17:28
@Moab just for the sake of completeness, the command works on 1809 too... – navossoc Jul 17 '19 at 22:29
If "Tamper Protection" is enabled then you cannot disable it via powershell – Salman A Sep 02 '20 at 17:47
@SalmanA How do you turn that off? – Moab Sep 02 '20 at 20:08
@moab https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4490103/windows-10-prevent-changes-to-security-settings-with-tamper-protection – Salman A Sep 04 '20 at 06:15
@SalmanA Thank You! – Moab Sep 04 '20 at 15:54

DavidPostill · Answer 2 · 2016-02-29T08:45:45.003

I am searching for a command to turn off Windows Defender

You can use sc (Service Control) to stop and start Windows Defender:

sc stop WinDefend

And:

sc start WinDefend

Example output:

F:\test>sc stop WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

F:\test>sc query WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

F:\test>sc start WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 2  START_PENDING
                                (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x7d0
        PID                : 6304
        FLAGS              :

F:\test>sc query WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

@darkore0 Running which command? What is the output from sc query WinDefend? — DavidPostill, Feb 29 '16 at 08:43
It could be stopped/started by the commands via PowerRun v1.3 (http://www.sordum.org/9416/). — Matthew Wai, Nov 26 '18 at 12:10
@DavidPostill Does this still work for version 2004? I heard you can no longer disable defender? — Moab, Sep 04 '20 at 15:55
Windows 10 21H1, calls to stop WinDefend service are intercepted by Defender itself, PowerShell method also silently fails. — Bahram Ardalan, Nov 28 '21 at 08:28

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '16 at 21:22

To disable:

sc config WinDefend start= disabled
sc stop WinDefend

To re-enable:

sc config WinDefend start= auto
sc start WinDefend

Don't forget about the space after "start=" or the command will not work.

PS. You can get further description of these commands by typing:

sc /?
sc config /?

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 17 '22 at 11:46

0

Run cmd as administrator for elevated privileges,

type the command to turn off windows defender firewall

netsh advfirewall set all state off

type the command to turn on windows defender firewall

netsh advfirewall set all state on

answered Feb 17 '22 at 11:46

David Obasi

1

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Feb 17 '22 at 12:01

How do I turn off Windows Defender from the command line?

4 Answers4

I am searching for a command to turn off Windows Defender

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