Share via

Microsoft Defender will not complete a full scan - Threat service has stopped

Anonymous
2021-09-22T02:32:34+00:00

I am unable to run 'Full Scans' with Microsoft Defender. It will start running like normal but after about 1.5-2 hours it will suddenly stop. It will then go back to the "Virus & threat protection" screen and show:

No current threats.
Last scan: Not available

In PowerShell, I run Get-MpComputerStatus and can confirm the last full scan was run in August.

I can still run custom scans on specific files if I want to and those will complete successfully. I have tried running sfc and doing an in-place upgrade (at Microsoft Support's recommendation). Neither of these helped.

As I was troubleshooting today, I noticed that if I went to 'Windows Security' --> 'Home' where it shows the different tiles with 'Virus & threat protection', 'Account Protection', 'Firewall & network protection' etc... that underneath 'Virus & threat protection' it says "Threat service has stopped. Restart it now".

I poked around Event Viewer and here is what I found:

Event Viewer > Windows logs > Security - I find two failures around the time my scan stops. This is reproducible.

"Code integrity determined that the page hashes of an image file are not valid. The file could be improperly signed without page hashes or corrupt due to unauthorized modification. The invalid hashes could indicate a potential disk device error."

It references a file path ending in system32\aepic.dll

When I check Event Viewer > Windows logs > System I find an error at nearly the same time stating "The Microsoft Defender Antivirus service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 3 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service.

When I check Event Viewer > Windows logs > Application I see (some info omitted):

Faulting application name: MsMpEng.exe, version: 4.18.2108.7, time stamp: 0x91ecfa21
Faulting module name: mpengine.dll, version: 1.1.18500.10, time stamp: 0x6125339e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Faulting process id: 0x2b10
Faulting application path: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Platform\4.18.2108.7-0\MsMpEng.exe

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

10 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-09-22T10:10:37+00:00

    Hi Carlo,

    Thank you for the reply. No updates are currently available for my system.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-09-23T18:33:28+00:00

    Of course, there are corrupt files, check it like this:

    -Right click on start, run PowerShell(admin) or Command Prompt(admin)

    Copy and paste the following command:

    DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

    and press Enter.(Note: This step may take a few minutes to start and up to 30 minutes to complete).

    After you see a message saying "The operation completed successfully", copy and paste this command:

    sfc /scannow

    and press Enter.

    Wait for a message that says "Verification 100% complete".

    So add this command:

    chkdsk /f /r /b

    Confirm with "Y" and restart the computer for this last step.

    Now try checking it out like this:

    -Verification with Windows Defender:

    Uninstall any third-party anti-malware, many antiviruses have their own removal tool. Visit the Installed Software website for more information. Your system will not be unprotected as Windows has its own security system that automatically enables as soon as you restart your computer.

    leave just Windows Defender, then Windows+i, update & security, Windows security, open Windows security, virus and threat protection, scan options, tick and run a full scan, then tick and run an offline scan.

    -If nothing solves the problem, it will be necessary a recovery keeping your files because it was not possible to repair the corrupted system files.

    Windows+i> Update and security> recovery> start now. You can keep your files.

    -If our conversation was helpful in any way, please consider marking as replied to help other users, or leave more details.

    Yours sincerely,

    Claudeir

    8 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-09-22T03:33:52+00:00

    Good Day B1itz,

    My name is Carlo, I am also using Windows 10 pc and community member like you. Let us work together to sort this out.

    Here's the steps you can try, download and install any updates available to keep your device up to date.

    -Press Windows key + X

    -Go to Settings

    -Click Update and Security

    -Check for Updates and install any security updates available.

    Once the updates are installed, restart your computer and check.

    Have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe.

    Sincerely,

    Carlo T.

    7 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-09-22T10:51:17+00:00

    Good Day B1itz

    I appreciate your time in getting back to this thread, if the steps did not work, no worries since this is an open forum, maybe someone else in the community has an idea or solution regarding with this issue. I will keep this thread open.

    Have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe.

    Sincerely,

    Carlo T

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-09-22T10:34:51+00:00

    Hi Carlo,

    Thanks for the follow-up! Yes, I have done this and it was not successful.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments