Windows Defender Error code 0x8050800c

Question

My Windows action center advises to let Windows Defender scan my system. I have Windows 7. When I try, it gets about 5 minutes in then a box pops up reading: An unexpected problem occurred. Install any available updates, and then start the program again. For information on installing updates, see Help and Support> Error code 0x8050800c." I have checked for updates, and the system tells me there are none and Windows is up to date. I also have ESET NOD32 Security on my system and the two systems were running fine together until November 1st. Any thoughts?

<moved from: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-security/problem-with-windows-defender/6b18892e-ac3f-43a2-9914-54504bc0f828 >

<Original title: Problem with Windows Defender>

Answer 1

Hello Susan,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community forum.

As per your description it seems that you are facing issue while running Windows Defender on your computer.

I would request you to follow the suggestion provided by Stephen Boots replied on January 29, 2010 in the following thread.

error code 0x8050800c

Note: The discussion in this thread is for Windows XPbut the steps are valid for Windows 7.

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

You can use the following link in order to back up and restore the registry in Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/

Do get back to us with the latest update of your issue and we will be happy to assist you.

Regards.

Answer 2

Ramesh.Kumar , if the problem was caused by some "genius" from Microsoft why should we make changes in our Windows registry? Why Microsoft doesn't release an update to fix this mess?

Answer 3

Is this useful in windows 10 also?

Answer 4

Hello Susan,

Thank you for the update on the issue and good to hear that finally everything is working fine on your computer. In addition to that, please feel free to reply, in case you face any other issues with Windows in future. We'll be glad to assist you again.

Regards.

Answer 5

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. It appears your diagnosis was correct. I read through the discussion as you suggested, but decided I was not sure enough of my ability to do the fix myself. I took my computer to my local guru and ended up wiping the system and reinstalling Windows. I back up regularly so all my files were still available. Thank you for your help.