False ‘Turn on virus protection’ notification after every startup

Question

Windows Security gives a false “Turn on virus protection” notification approximately 2–5 minutes after every Windows startup.

The notification is headed Windows Security and says:

“Turn on virus protection. Virus protection is turned off. Tap or click to turn on Antivirus Microsoft Defender.”

However, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is running normally. Windows Security → Virus & threat protection shows protection operating normally.

PowerShell Get-MpComputerStatus reports:

• AntivirusEnabled = True
• RealTimeProtectionEnabled = True
• AMServiceEnabled = True
• AMRunningMode = Normal
• Security intelligence is current

Security Center is running with Startup Type Automatic (Delayed Start). Windows Security Service is also running.

Get-CimInstance -Namespace root/SecurityCenter2 -ClassName AntivirusProduct shows Windows Defender as the only registered antivirus product. No third-party antivirus product is registered.

Troubleshooting already performed:

• Repaired Windows Security from System Components — no change.
• Reset Windows Security — no change.
• Checked Windows Defender Operational event log — no Defender error occurs when the false notification appears.
• Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth — completed successfully.
• Ran sfc /scannow — it found and repaired three corrupt Bluetooth driver files (BthA2dp.sys, BthHfEnum.sys and bthmodem.sys), but restarting afterwards did not cure the false notification.

The notification therefore appears to be an erroneous Windows Security/Security Center status report during startup rather than Microsoft Defender actually being disabled.

This occurs consistently after restarting Windows and is reproducible.

Answer 1

Number of people are reporting the same issue recently (https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1vfe4tl/persistent_turn_on_virus_protection_notifications/)

I guess it's a bug and I hope it will be resolved soon.

Answer 2

Please all that have the issue report

it in the Feedback Hub using WIN+F.

This way it gets more attention.

Answer 3

Are you using an Insider build of Windows 11, if so, this is a widely reported bug on the Insider builds for a while now.

The best option is to open the Feedback Hub app in Windows and report this to the Windows Developers there so they can investigate the problem and provide a patched update.