Query on Windows Defender

Question

Hi All

i am using third party Antivirus solution. i want to uninstall windows defender on Windows Server 2016 & 2019 servers in my infra . will uninstalling windows defender have any impact at the OS level or is there any dependency of Defender on any services which can cause any impact.

will the below syntax achieve in uninstalling defender.
Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Windows-Defender

Answer 1

Hi @Glenn Maxwell

It's not always as easy as running the command, but that would remove Windows Defender from the server. There are times (as seen in https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/00b84b96-967b-4920-98b0-2c5cd90debb5/problems-uninstalling-windows-defender-feature-from-server-2016?forum=ws2016) where you also need to remove certain KBs to remove Defender.

I don't see the harm of removing defender, but you should be aware of which patches you're installing in the future as some of them might re-enable Defender.

I do not use Defender on my servers and use a third-party antivirus (endpoint protection).

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Answer 2

Hello there,

You do not need to uninstall the defender.
If you have another antivirus app installed and turned on, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will turn off automatically. If you uninstall the other app, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will turn back on automatically.

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