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Windows Defender GUI Malfunctioning

Anonymous
2017-12-08T02:54:51+00:00

Hi there, first a bit of background: I am working with a Asus Predator Laptop with Windows 10 installed, version 1709 (OS Build 16299.98) on it. I have recently (aka a few weeks ago) gone through the Windows 10 Creator Update.

Yesterday, when I was trying to perform a virus scan of a USB stick, I noticed that the scan wasn't starting. When I went to my Windows Defender Security Center, I noticed that not only were the buttons for "Scan Now" missing, but the home page of the Security Center had the word "Unknown" under "Virus & threat protection." When I checked virus and threat protection settings, real-time protection was off as well as cloud-delivered protection.

After researching online, I saw that having MalwareBytes on my computer my have contributed so I uninstalled it, but this did not fix the problem. I tried working with Microsoft support, but to no avail. They had me reinstall Windows 10 (using a Media Creation Tool) and they also tried to edit the registry entry for Windows 10 defender. I have performed a disk cleanup and I have run the sfc /scannow command. Nothing has fixed the issue with the GUI for Windows Defender. Here are pictures of what I'm seeing: https://imgur.com/a/6QPyH (that last image is when I tested if the AV was still working by using the EICAR test file, not due to an actual virus)

Is there anything I can do to fix this? My initial thought is that I might have to do a clean install of Windows 10, but I'd really like to avoid that if I can. I'd appreciate any and all help you can provide! Thank you :)

[Moved from  Windows / Windows 10 / Windows settings]

[Moved from Windows 10/Security]

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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Anonymous
2018-01-20T21:24:49+00:00

Hi Darwin,

Over the past couple of weeks I found that my start menu had stopped opening and I wasn't able to open settings or my control panel unless I went to Safe Mode. I broke down and decided to just start with a clean install of Windows on my computer.

After the clean install of Windows, everything was operating again, including Windows Defender Services and the start menu/settings.

I started installing the same software I had on my computer before in bulk. All of a sudden, the same issues started cropping up again with the settings and control panel not being able to be opened. However, Windows Defender still worked.

So I performed another clean install of Windows and this time I installed all of my programs, except for the Asus apps (PredatorSense and QuickAccess). This time I had no problems with opening the settings or start menu.

My thinking is that this was a two-pronged issue:

  1. The Windows Defender problems were caused by the fact that I had set up my initial Windows installation so that the user profiles were located on a different drive.
  2. The start menu and settings problems were caused by the Asus software.

At this point my computer is operating normally again. Thank you for all of your suggestions. I hope my issue can serve as a guide for people with this same problem in the future.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-12-08T09:16:20+00:00

    Hi,

    There are several workarounds that we can perform to fix issues with Windows Defender. Aside from what you have already performed, you can also try the suggested troubleshooting steps provided by PrashantKumar96, dated last February 1, 2017, on this thread. We suggest that you perform the steps one by one and please note of the results as much as possible.

    Please update us with the result.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-12-24T23:06:11+00:00

    Hi Lawrence,

    On that page I am not seeing a button or option to turn on Windows Defender, only a button to access, "Open Windows Defender Security Center." 

    Again: Windows Defender is running, but the graphic user interface is not. In the picture below, you will see that "Unknown" is under a number of the menu options. 

    My computer successfully installed the December 12th update on December 12th (I checked my update history). Unfortunately this has not resolved the issue.

    Let me know if you'd like me to include any other photos or explanations.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-16T06:54:57+00:00

    Hi again. We really apologize if we took long to provide a response as we are trying to figure out the next possible troubleshooting steps for an unusual case like your. Let's try these methods:

    Method 1: Enable Windows Defender from Control Panel.

    1. Press Windows key + X, click on Control Panel.
    2. On right top corner, click on View and then choose Large items.
    3. Now from the list, click on Windows Defender and try to enable it. If you're unable to proceed, try to enable it from services.

    Method 2: Enable Windows Defender from ervices.msc.

    1. Press Windows + R, to open run prompt.
    2. Type services.msc and press Enter to open Services list.
    3. Under Services look from Windows Defender service and start the service.

    Again, we're sorry for the late reply. Please let us know if these methods help.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-12-10T23:21:36+00:00

    Hi Lawrence,

    Thank you for your reply. Here are my notes following the steps from the thread you mentioned:

    1. Restart did not fix the issue (I have restarted my computer multiple times throughout the past week).
    2. I had previously uninstalled Malware Bytes, but this time I used the Malware Bytes Clean Uninstall tool now. 
    3. I checked my PC for Malware Using Malware Bytes before uninstalling it and it found no issues other than a SweetPacks Adware file which I quarantined.
    4. The System File Checker did not find any integrity violations.
    5. A Microsoft Support Technician performed a clean boot during one of the remote access sessions. They were not able to fix the issue aftering performing this step.
    6. Restarting Security Center Service did not fix the issue.
    7. I found an entry for MsMpEng.exe in the registry but I was unable to Delete it. I attempted to delete the key while running regedit as an administrator to no avail. I booted in safe mode and I was able to delete the key. I ran the System File Checker again and I did not find any integrity violations, however the Windows Defender Security Center was still not working. 
    8. I am not facing an error like "This app is turned off by Group Policy."

    As a note of importance, while Windows Defender anti-virus still seems to be working, it appears that the GUI is not displaying correctly (and therefore what is not working properly). Please let me know if there is something I can try next.

    Many Thanks,

    Travis

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