Resources for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS

Applies to:

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2
• Microsoft Defender XDR

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Collecting diagnostic information

If you can reproduce a problem, increase the logging level, run the system for some time, and then restore the logging level to the default.

1. Increase logging level:

   Bash

   mdatp log level set --level debug
   

   Output

   Log level configured successfully
   

2. Reproduce the problem.

3. Run sudo mdatp diagnostic create to back up the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint logs. The files are stored inside a .zip archive. This command also prints the file path to the backup after the operation succeeds.

   რჩევა

   By default, diagnostic logs are saved to /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/wdavdiag/. To change the directory where diagnostic logs are saved, pass --path [directory] to the below command, replacing [directory] with the desired directory.

   Bash

   sudo mdatp diagnostic create
   

   Console

   Diagnostic file created: "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/wdavdiag/932e68a8-8f2e-4ad0-a7f2-65eb97c0de01.zip"
   

4. Restore logging level.

   Bash

   mdatp log level set --level info
   

   Console

   Log level configured successfully
   

Logging installation issues

If an error occurs during installation, the installer reports a general failure only. The detailed log is saved to /Library/Logs/Microsoft/mdatp/install.log. If you experience issues during installation, send us this file when you open your support case so we can help diagnose the cause.

For further troubleshooting installation issues, see Troubleshoot installation issues for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS.

Configuring from the command line

Supported output types

Supports table and JSON format output types. For each command, there's a default output behavior. You can modify the output in your preferred output format using the following commands:

-output json

-output table

Important tasks, such as controlling product settings and triggering on-demand scans, can be done by using the command line:

Group	Scenario	Command
Configuration	Turn on/off antivirus in passive mode	mdatp config passive-mode --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off real-time protection	mdatp config real-time-protection --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off behavior monitoring	mdatp config behavior-monitoring --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off cloud protection	mdatp config cloud --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off product diagnostics	mdatp config cloud-diagnostic --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off automatic sample submission	mdatp config cloud-automatic-sample-submission --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/audit/off PUA protection	mdatp threat policy set --type potentially_unwanted_application -- action [block/audit/off
Configuration	Add/remove an antivirus exclusion for a process	mdatp exclusion process [add/remove] --path [path-to-process]or mdatp exclusion process [add\|remove] --name [process-name]
Configuration	Add/remove an antivirus exclusion for a file	mdatp exclusion file [add/remove] --path [path-to-file]
Configuration	Add/remove an antivirus exclusion for a directory	mdatp exclusion folder [add/remove] --path [path-to-directory]
Configuration	Add/remove an antivirus exclusion for a file extension	mdatp exclusion extension [add/remove] --name [extension]
Configuration	List all antivirus exclusions	mdatp exclusion list
Configuration	Configure degree of parallelism for on-demand scans	mdatp config maximum-on-demand-scan-threads --value [numerical-value-between-1-and-64]
Configuration	Turn on/off scans after security intelligence updates	mdatp config scan-after-definition-update --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off archive scanning (on-demand scans only)	mdatp config scan-archives --value [enabled/disabled]
Configuration	Turn on/off file hash computation	mdatp config enable-file-hash-computation --value [enabled/disabled]
Protection	Scan a path	mdatp scan custom --path [path] [--ignore-exclusions]
Protection	Do a quick scan	mdatp scan quick
Protection	Do a full scan	mdatp scan full
Protection	Cancel an ongoing on-demand scan	mdatp scan cancel
Protection	Request a security intelligence update	mdatp definitions update
Configuration	Add a threat name to the allowed list	mdatp threat allowed add --name [threat-name]
Configuration	Remove a threat name from the allowed list	mdatp threat allowed remove --name [threat-name]
Configuration	List all allowed threat names	mdatp threat allowed list
Protection history	Print the full protection history	mdatp threat list
Protection history	Get threat details	mdatp threat get --id [threat-id]
Quarantine management	List all quarantined files	mdatp threat quarantine list
Quarantine management	Remove all files from the quarantine	mdatp threat quarantine remove-all
Quarantine management	Add a file detected as a threat to the quarantine	mdatp threat quarantine add --id [threat-id]
Quarantine management	Remove a file detected as a threat from the quarantine	mdatp threat quarantine remove --id [threat-id]
Quarantine management	Restore a file from the quarantine. Available in Defender for Endpoint version before 101.23092.0012.	mdatp threat quarantine restore --id [threat-id] --path [destination-folder]
Quarantine management	Restore a file from the quarantine with Threat ID. Available in Defender for Endpoint version 101.23092.0012 or later.	mdatp threat restore threat-id --id [threat-id] --destination-path [destination-folder]
Quarantine management	Restore a file from the quarantine with Threat Original Path. Available in Defender for Endpoint version 101.23092.0012 or later.	mdatp threat restore threat-path --path [threat-original-path] --destination-path [destination-folder]
Network Protection Configuration	Configure the Network Protection enforcement level	mdatp config network-protection enforcement-level --value [Block/Audit/Disabled]
Network Protection management	Check Network protection was started successfully	mdatp health --field network_protection_status
Device Control management	Is Device Control enabled, and what is the Default Enforcement?	mdatp device-control policy preferences list
Device Control management	What Device Control policy is enabled?	mdatp device-control policy rules list
Device Control management	What Device Control policy groups are enabled?	mdatp device-control policy groups list
Configuration	Turn on/off data loss prevention	mdatp config data_loss_prevention --value [enabled/disabled]
Diagnostics	Change the log level	mdatp log level set --level [error/warning/info/verbose]
Diagnostics	Generate diagnostic logs	mdatp diagnostic create --path [directory]
Health	Check the product's health	mdatp health
Health	Check for a specific product attribute	mdatp health --field [attribute: healthy/licensed/engine_version...]
EDR	EDR list exclusions (root)	mdatp edr exclusion list [processes|paths|extensions|all]
EDR	Set/Remove tag, only GROUP supported	mdatp edr tag set --name GROUP --value [name]
EDR	Remove group tag from device	mdatp edr tag remove --tag-name [name]
EDR	Add Group ID	mdatp edr group-ids --group-id [group]

How to enable autocompletion

To enable autocompletion in bash, run the following command and restart the Terminal session:

Bash

echo "source /Applications/Microsoft\ Defender.app/Contents/Resources/Tools/mdatp_completion.bash" >> ~/.bash_profile

To enable autocompletion in zsh:

• Check whether autocompletion is enabled on your device:

  zsh

  cat ~/.zshrc | grep autoload
  

• If the preceding command doesn't produce any output, you can enable autocompletion using the following command:

  zsh

  echo "autoload -Uz compinit && compinit" >> ~/.zshrc
  

• Run the following commands to enable autocompletion for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS and restart the Terminal session:

  zsh

  sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions
  
  sudo ln -svf "/Applications/Microsoft Defender.app/Contents/Resources/Tools/mdatp_completion.zsh" /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_mdatp
  

Client Microsoft Defender for Endpoint quarantine directory

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/quarantine/ contains the files quarantined by mdatp. The files are named after the threat trackingId. The current trackingIds are shown with mdatp threat list.

Uninstalling

There are several ways to uninstall Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS. Although centrally managed uninstallation is available on JAMF, it's not yet available for Microsoft Intune.

All of the uninstall of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS require the following:

1. Create a device tag, and name the tag decommissioned and assign it to the macOS where Microsoft Defender for macOS is being uninstalled.

2. Create a Device group and name it (e.g. Decommissioned macOS) and assign a user group that should be able to see them.

   Note: Steps 1 and 2 are optional if you do not want to see these devices that are retired in the "Device inventory" for 180 days.

3. Remove the "Set Preferences" policies that contain Tamper Protection or through the manual configuration.

4. Offboard each device per Offboard non-Windows devices.

5. Uninstall the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOS apps

6. Remove the device from the group for system extension policies if an MDM was used to set them.

Interactive uninstallation

• Open Finder > Applications. Right click on Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and then select Move to Trash.

From the command line

• sudo '/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/uninstall/uninstall'

Using JAMF Pro

To uninstall Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS using JAMF Pro upload the offboarding profile.

The offboarding profile should be uploaded without any modifications, and with Preference Domain name set to com.microsoft.wdav.atp.offboarding, as shown in the following image:

Note

If you have trouble uninstalling Defender for Endpoint on Mac, and you see in your reports an item for Microsoft Defender Endpoint Security Extension, follow these steps:

1. Reinstall the Microsoft Defender app.
2. Drag Microsoft Defender.app to Trash.
3. Run this command: sudo /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/uninstall/install_helper execute --path '/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Defender/uninstall/uninstall' --args --post-uninstall-hook.
4. Restart the device.

The Microsoft Defender portal

When threats are detected, your security team can view detections and if necessary, take response actions on a device in the Microsoft Defender portal (https://security.microsoft.com). The Microsoft Defender combines protection, detection, investigation, and response to threats in a central location. For more information, see the following resources:

• Overview of endpoint detection and response
• Tech Community blog: EDR capabilities for macOS have now arrived
• Microsoft Defender portal overview

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Do you want to learn more? Engage with the Microsoft Security community in our Tech Community: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tech Community.