"Sense" service keeps crashing

Vincent E Fatica 6 Reputation points
2022-10-30T00:52:46.983+00:00

A couple days ago, something tried to start the "Sense" service, display name "Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service", (start on demand). It apparently crashed and the service manager tried every 5 minutes to restart it (in accordance with its recovery options). I wound up with quite a few dump files with names like "MsSense.exe.7736.protected.dmp". A reboot stopped it. The system event log (starting in July 2021) says this hadn't happened before. If I manually try to start it (with services.msc) I get a message box saying it unexpectedly stopped and the whole thing starts again (retry every 5 minutes and crash dumps). Otherwise, there are no complaints from Windows. These are running and the security tray icon has the OK checkmark.

mpssvc Windows Defender Firewall
WinDefend Microsoft Defender Antivirus Service
WdNisSvc Microsoft Defender Antivirus Network Inspection Service

I'd like to figure out what's going on and fix it. My first attempts at capitalizing on the dump files failed because (1) WinDBG could not open the DMP file and (2) KernelDumpDecrypt.exe could not decrypt it.

Are there any suggestions on fixing the problem itself or on unlocking the dump files? Thanks!

Windows 10
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A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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Windows 10 Setup
Windows 10 Setup
Windows 10: A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.Setup: The procedures involved in preparing a software program or application to operate within a computer or mobile device.
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Windows 10 Security
Windows 10 Security
Windows 10: A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.Security: The precautions taken to guard against crime, attack, sabotage, espionage, or another threat.
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6 answers

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  1. EckiS 821 Reputation points
    2022-10-30T17:12:22.45+00:00

    "Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection" is the enterprise product.
    you could try Troubleshoot Microsoft Defender for Endpoint onboarding issues

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  3. Md Nasim Chowdhury 1 Reputation point
    2022-12-16T22:17:53.423+00:00

    I am receiving Error 15: Failed to start SENSE service. While Onboarding the Defender Service was not able to start. and if I try to run manually it says the service is not responding to the control function. It was observed on Server 2019 Core Edition. The Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service not able to run. If anyone has some updates Please post. I am also working with MS support, but unfortunately no resolution yet

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  4. PETROF, CONSTANTIN 0 Reputation points
    2023-07-31T13:15:53.4066667+00:00

    so almost a year and still no answer to this issue by any msft engineer ?

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  5. Gary Herbstman 11 Reputation points
    2023-08-03T11:20:07.86+00:00

    We are seeing the same crashing across multiple Azure VMs

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