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Evaluate controlled folder access

  • Article
  • 2 minutes to read

Applies to:

Platforms

  • Windows

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Controlled folder access is a feature that helps protect your documents and files from modification by suspicious or malicious apps. Controlled folder access is supported on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows 10, and Windows 11 clients.

It's especially useful in helping protect against ransomware that attempts to encrypt your files and hold them hostage.

This article helps you evaluate controlled folder access. It explains how to enable audit mode so you can test the feature directly in your organization.

Use audit mode to measure impact

Enable the controlled folder access in audit mode to see a record of what would have happened if it was fully enabled. Test how the feature will work in your organization to ensure it doesn't affect your line-of-business apps. You can also get an idea of how many suspicious file modification attempts generally occur over a certain period of time.

To enable audit mode, use the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Set-MpPreference -EnableControlledFolderAccess AuditMode

Tip

If you want to fully audit how controlled folder access will work in your organization, you'll need to use a management tool to deploy this setting to devices in your network(s). You can also use Group Policy, Intune, mobile device management (MDM), or Microsoft Configuration Manager to configure and deploy the setting, as described in the main controlled folder access topic.

Review controlled folder access events in Windows Event Viewer

The following controlled folder access events appear in Windows Event Viewer under Microsoft/Windows/Windows Defender/Operational folder.

Event ID Description
5007 Event when settings are changed
1124 Audited controlled folder access event
1123 Blocked controlled folder access event

Tip

You can configure a Windows Event Forwarding subscription to collect the logs centrally.

Customize protected folders and apps

During your evaluation, you may wish to add to the list of protected folders, or allow certain apps to modify files.

See Protect important folders with controlled folder access for configuring the feature with management tools, including Group Policy, PowerShell, and MDM configuration service providers (CSPs).

See also