How to completely disable Windows 11 Defender
Windows 11’s standard antivirus software Defender can be completely disabled by booting in safe mode, changing Defender’s access rights, and stopping Defender from starting. Also, with the Pro version, you can disable it with group policy, but it may return to enable depending on the environment when you restart. This page shows how to completely disable Defender. (22H2 compatible)
Disabling Windows 11 Defender completely
It’s a little rough, but you can disable it by changing the owner of Defender’s executable file, removing all authorized users, and denying him the use (launch) of Defender.
Start in safe mode to manipulate permissions
To completely disable Defender, Windows 11 must be booted in safe mode.
1. Click the “Start” button and click “Settings” in the Start.
3. Click “Restart now” under “Customize how your PC starts”.
When you see the confirmation screen that your work will not be saved, click “Restart Now”.Tip:
You can also perform the above operations by holding down the “Shift” key on your keyboard and clicking “Restart” on the Start menu.
4. When the “Choose an option” screen appears,
- troubleshooting
- Advanced options
- startup settings
and in order.
5. When the startup settings appear, click “Restart”.
6. After restarting, the startup settings will be displayed again, so press ” 4 ” on the keyboard.
If you can boot into safe mode, proceed to the next step.
Change Defender permissions
Displaying hidden files
Defender’s executable file is a hidden file, so make it visible first.
Click “View” in File Explorer, hover over “View” in the menu, and then click “Hidden files” when the submenu appears.
1. Go to the folder where you want to change permissions
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender Click the explorer “>” icon to expand it.
- 〉PC
- 〉Local Disk (C:)
- 〉Program Data
- 〉Microsoft
Expand it in order and click ” Windows Defender ” to open it.
2. Change access rights
in order to deal with problems such as canceling Defender’s disablement or malfunction due to incorrect operation. . The deactivation of Defender is introduced at the end. If there is an error in the invalidation operation, it may not be possible to cancel the invalidation, so please operate with caution .
Right-click the Platform folder and click Properties on the menu.
When Properties are displayed, click the Security tab, then click Advanced.
When “Advanced Settings” is displayed, click “Change” for the owner.
When “Select Users or Groups” is displayed, click “Advanced Settings”.
3. Change owner Change
the owner to ” Administrator “. If an error occurs during operation with Ver.22H2, change to an administrator user using Windows 11.
- Click “Search” and the account will appear in the “Search Results” box.
- Within the Search Results Box, click to select Administrator .
- Once you have made your selections, click OK to close this screen and return.
- Click OK when the screen returns.
■Figure when the owner is changed to Administrator
■Figure when the owner is changed to an administrator user
In the “search result box”, click “Administrator user” to select it.
- Click to select “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”
- Finally, click “Apply”.
- Two confirmation screens will be displayed, so click “Yes” and then “OK”.
4. Confirm Disable Inheritance
If the Inheritance button says ” Disable Inheritance “, click the button and when the dialog appears, select “Convert inherited permissions to explicit permissions for this object”. Click to disable inheritance. 5. Remove permissions
- First, click “All small object permission entries,……” to select it.
- Select the target to be deleted and click “Delete”. Continue doing this until the box is empty.
After all permission entries have been removed, click OK.
Click Yes when the confirmation screen appears.
When the property screen is displayed, click “OK” to complete the access rights operation.
Now reboot and check if Defender is disabled.
Performing and verifying Defender disablement
1. Disable Windows 11 Defender
Windows 11 will start normally if you restart from safe mode.
2. Confirm disabling of Windows 11 Defender
1. Click the “Start” button and click “Settings” in the Start. 2. Click “Privacy and Security”, and when the setting screen appears, click “Windows Security”.
3. Click Virus & threat protection.
4. Defender is disabled when you see “Page Unavailable” . Click OK.
5. Originally, the Defender settings screen should be displayed in this state, but it will not be displayed because the disablement has been completed , and the security summary will be displayed.
After permanently disabling Defender, the Security Summary will no longer show Virus and Threat Protection. This completes Defender Disable and Disable Confirmation.
Since we have removed all permissions, we will add permissions.
Right-click the Platform folder and click Properties on the menu.
When Properties are displayed, click the Security tab and click Edit.
When the edit screen appears, click “Add”.
- Click “Search” and the account will appear in the “Search Results” box.
- Within the Search Results Box, click to select Administrators .
- Once you have made your selections, click OK to close this screen and return.
- Click OK when the screen returns.
Confirm that ” Administrators ” has been added to the edit screen .
Click ” Full Control ” and when everything is selected, click “OK”.
If you see the first setup screen, click OK to close it. Rename the “Platform” folder.
Click the Rename button on the right-click menu of Platform to rename it. (Example: Platform-2) Copy the backed up “Platform” folder.
Paste the copied “Platform” folder.
This completes the Defender undisable operation. Defender will be undisabled and enabled once you restart your computer.
If you click “Virus and threat protection” in “Privacy and security”, the setting screen will be displayed properly instead of “Page is unavailable”.
Disable with Group Policy “Pro version only”
Open Defender’s Group Policy settings
1. Open Group Policy
- Press “Windows” and “R” on your keyboard.
- When Run opens, enter gpedit.msc in the text box and click OK.
- Click Yes when the User Account Control warning appears.
2. Open Defender settings in Group Policy
Click the “>” button next to the folder icon to expand it and open the Defender Preferences.
- 〉Management Templates
- 〉Windows Components
and click Microsoft Defender Antivirus .
Disable Defender via Group Policy
1. Double-click Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus.
2. When the setting screen is displayed, click ” Enable ” to select it, and click “OK”.
3. Restart the computer, open the group policy “Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus” again, and confirm that “Enabled” is selected.
If “Not Configured” is selected, then Defender has been reverted and Defender has not been disabled.