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 Windows OS Hub / Questions and Answers / Windows Defender Threat Service has stopped. Restart it now

July 20, 2018 Questions and Answers

Windows Defender Threat Service has stopped. Restart it now

Hi, admin! I’m trying to turn on Windows Defender on Windows 10, but at the “Windows Defender Security Center”, the “Virus & threat protection” component has the message: “Threat service has been stopped. Restart it now“. If I try to restart Windows Defender using the appropriate button an unknown error appears: “Unexpected error. Sorry, we ran into a problem. Please try again”. How do I fix Windows Defender? Thank you in advance!


windows defender - Threat Service has stopped. Restart it now

Answer

Let’s take a look at the typical reasons for which the viruses and threats protection feature (Windows Defender’s built-in antivirus) may not work in Windows 10. Sequentially check all items.

Contents:
  • Disable third-party antivirus
  • Enable Windows Defender Services
  • Enable Windows Defender using Registry Editor in Windows 10
  • Check the Windows Defender in the Group Policy Editor
  • Re-Registering Windows Defender DLLs

Disable third-party antivirus

Check if you have installed a third-party antivirus on your computer that prevents Windows Defender from working properly or conflicts with it. Try to temporarily disable (or remove) it.

Enable Windows Defender Services

Open the Services console (services.msc) and verify that there are the following items in the services list:

  • Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service (Sense);
  • Windows Defender Antivirus Network Inspection Service (WdNisSvc);
  • Windows Defender Antivirus Service (WinDefend);
  • Windows Defender Security Center Service (SecurityHealthService).

Verify that the startup type for all services is set to Automatic. If a service is stopped, start it manually.

restart Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection

Enable Windows Defender using Registry Editor in Windows 10

In some cases, it may be that the Windows is disabled by using the registry (the registry setting may be set by a third-party antivirus application).

Run Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to the registry key HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender. If the DisableAntiVirus and DisableAntiSpyware dword parameters are present in the right pane (at least one), delete them or change the value to 0.

DisableAntiVirus registry parameter to disable defender windows 10

In some cases, when you change or delete these registry parameters, you may receive an error:

Cannot edit DisableAntiSpyware. Error writing the value’s new contents.

The fact is that Windows Defender has a kernel-mode driver (wdfilter.sys) that registers a Registry callback filter which protects Defender’s registry keys.

Try stopping all Windows Defender related services before changing the registry.

Also try to take Ownership of a registry key HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender and grant yourself Full Control permissions.

After that, try restarting the Virus and Threat Protection using the “Restart now” button. The service must start correctly.

Check the Windows Defender in the Group Policy Editor

Open the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) and verify that Windows Defender is not disabled by using Group Policy. To do this, go to the section Computer Configuration -> Administrator Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Defender Antivirus Verify that the Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus policy is Not configured or Disabled.

Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus - group policy

Re-Registering Windows Defender DLLs

Try to reregister the Windows Defender libraries. To do this, open a command prompt as administrator and execute the following commands:

regsvr32 atl.dll
regsvr32 wuapi.dll
regsvr32 softpub.dll
regsvr32 mssip32.dll

reregistering windows defender dlls

Restart Windows Defender and check if the problem is fixed.

I hope this brief guide will help you solve the problem if you unable to start (stop) the threat service.

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10 comments

sandeep February 15, 2020 - 7:16 am

Worked for me thank you so much …

Reply
Kumba February 25, 2020 - 3:12 pm

Man, ur post solved something that I have been cracking my head off! Bravo!

Reply
Shan April 16, 2020 - 12:05 pm

Thanks, my problem also solved…. 🙂

Reply
Robert April 16, 2020 - 3:31 pm

I got an error when using cmd with regsvr32 wuapi.dll. It says this:
The module “wuapi.dll” was loaded but the call to
DLLRegisterServer failed with error code 0x8002801c.

Reply
Abael April 17, 2020 - 5:44 am

I also got this error, can anyone help?!

Reply
da boi April 16, 2020 - 3:32 pm

Restarting Windows Defender Antivirus Service fixed it, thank you!!!!!!

Reply
Matthew Robbins April 16, 2020 - 4:52 pm

Hi guys, I’m missing the ‘Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service’ and the ‘Windows Defender Security Center Service’ files from my services, can anyone help as I’ve just reinstalled my Windows and my virus and threat protection is down! Any help would be much appreciated!! 😀

Reply
moo September 19, 2020 - 8:57 pm

Windows+X -> Command Prompt (Admin)

Reply
yonas September 30, 2020 - 9:33 am

bro when I try to enable or make it manual on the services it won’t let me, I mean I can’t click on it so what can I do? and also in my services, I only have Windows Defender Antivirus Network Inspection Service (WdNisSvc); and windows defender firewall

Reply
Kinan January 26, 2021 - 5:39 am

thanks, it was fixed using the last four commands, but can anyone tell me what caused the problem in the first place?

Reply

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