Dear Richard Klumb,
Welcome to the Microsoft Community.
I understand that you seem to want access to the Defender dashboard, I understand your sentiment and will try to help you troubleshoot.
In order to get a better idea of the status of the issue, I'd like to confirm some information with you first:
- Can I ask if you are currently using a personal or business account to access Defender? I need to explain to you that there are some differences between personal Defender and corporate Denfender access, if you are a corporate user, you may need to contact your corporate IT administrator to help you access the dashboard.
- Is your current subscription Micrsoft 365 Personal or Home Edition?
- Are you describing wanting to access the same interface as mentioned in this post? How to start a scan for viruses or malware in Microsoft Defender - Microsoft Support
- Also, I noticed that you describe not being able to access it, are you experiencing an error message when accessing it? If it's convenient, I hope you can share a screenshot of the interface message you were getting. I think it will give us a clearer picture of the problem.
I look forward to your further updates and hope to get more information from you to confirm the direction of the problem for further investigation.
Thank you for your understanding and patience, I wish you all the best.
Best Regards
Isabella-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist