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Windows Security Dashboard won't open properly (Windows Security issue)

Anonymous
2023-03-25T16:50:59+00:00

Recently my laptop has been infected and security has been tampered with. It would say that Windows Security Service isn't active and when I tried to activate it, it said it can't be opened. I contacted Microsoft support and their advice was to do an in-place upgrade so that's what I just did. After updating, I saw a green checkmark next to the Security tab and when I opened it, it was all back to normal for a couple of minutes. I started Malwarebytes after an update and now it's back to square one. It opened once and showed blank Security dashboard without any options and now it won't open at all. Windows Security icon is still on taskbar, but it won't open. I went to Services and checked if Remote Procedure Call is running and automatic, it is. When I tried to check Security center, warning message would pop up saying:

Windows could not start the Security Center service on Local Computer. Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled device associated with it.

I did a scan with Malwarebytes to see if there is anything malicious, it got two same registry values HKLM/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/SECURITYCENTER|FIREWALLDISABLENOTIFY

I'm running out of ideas here so help would be much appreciated.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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  1. Ramesh 176.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-04-04T15:35:25+00:00

    So I ran FRST fix and when I tried to perform In-place Upgrade, it says the upgrade can't be performed because this version is already installed (I did an In-place upgrade prior to your help as I mentioned in my first post here). What should I do now?

    May I know which method did you use to do an in-place upgrade? Try the ISO method.

    • Download the 22H2 ISO using Rufus.
    • Double-click the ISO to mount it to a drive letter.
    • Run Setup.exe and complete the upgrade process.

    (I did an In-place upgrade prior to your help as I mentioned in my first post here)

    Yeah, I saw that. But the virus was still on board when you did the repair installation. The Run.vbs virus erased Defender executables after you did the repair. But this time around, the virus has been eliminated using FRST.

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  1. Ramesh 176.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-04-03T15:10:04+00:00

    The end portion of the log is cut off. I can't see the DISM output.

    Anyway, malware has been eliminated. Copy these lines to the clipboard. Open FRST64.exe and click Fix. Upload Fixlog.txt

    Start::

RemoveDirectory: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\fr-CA\S-1-4-30 

StartRegedit: 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] 

"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000005 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] 

"ConsentPromptBehaviorUser"=dword:00000003 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] 

"EnableLUA"=dword:00000001 

EndRegedit:

End::

    Now, to restore the missing services and files, repair Windows 10.

    How to perform an In-place Upgrade with Windows 10 Step-by-Step Guide - Microsoft Community: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-perform-an-in-place-upgrade-with-windows-10/7f0b236e-3c6c-4913-9691-c4baa2a6190a

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  1. Ramesh 176.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-04-02T14:03:38+00:00
    • Download FixList.txt
    • Make sure FRST64.exe and FixList.txt are in the same folder.
    • Launch FRST64.exe and click "Fix".
    • Upload the output log file (FixLog.txt) to your OneDrive.

    Note: The above will remove malware from the device. There are additional steps to fix Defender. Will post them after seeing the fixlog.txt.

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  1. Ramesh 176.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-03-31T16:44:36+00:00

    Malware seems to have wiped out the Defender services and also platform files. It's better to clean the system first before restoring the missing services.

    Download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST64.exe) from the following link:

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/farbar-recovery-scan-tool/

    (FRST64.exe doesn't remove anything automatically when you click "Scan". Instead, it scans all the launch points, services, and drivers and lists them.)

    • Run FRST64.exe and click "Scan".
    • Upload the two logs, namely, FRST.txt and Addition.txt, to your OneDrive and share the link here.

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  1. Ramesh 176.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-03-25T16:57:51+00:00

    Are you able to set the following services to Manual and start them?

    • Microsoft Defender Antivirus service
    • Windows Security Service

    If you can't find the above services or they don't start correctly do the following:

    Download defender_diag.bat. Right-click on the file, click Properties, Unblock, and OK. Run the batch file as administrator.

    The Batch file queries Defender-related settings/Policies and outputs the results to a log file. Upload this log to your OneDrive and share the link here.

    Note: Before uploading the log to your OneDrive, edit the defender.log file and remove your Email ID if found.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-04-05T19:14:39+00:00

    I did it with my USB flash and it worked! Security Dashboard now fully opens and all of the features are back! Thank you so much for your help, it was much needed! :)

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