Defender Tamper Protection/1903

Crizal · 26 May 2019

Moderators: This thread deals with Defender Tamper Protection setting and 1903. If this would be better served in a different location, please feel free to move the post.

Just wondering if anyone who installed 1903 is having any unusual issue with Defender's Tamper Protection.
Here's the blow-by-blow.....

1. Friend and I were running 1809 and installed 1903 via Update Assistant on Tuesday, May 21st. No issues and Defender Tamper Protection was on (default setting).
2. Two days later, the 23rd, friend gets alert that Tamper Protection is off. She turned it on and it seems to be holding.
3. Today, I get the alert Tamper Protection is off and I turned it on. So far, it's holding.

I have no idea why Tamper Protection would turn off. Both computers are clean -- no viruses, trojans, malware or adware. We do not mess around in the registry and there is absolutely no third-party antivirus on either machine.

For now, I'm taking a wait-and-see if Tamper Protection turns off again. I don't know if it's a 1903 bug or not. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

eLPuSHeR · 27 May 2019

I am having the same issue. Tamper protection gets disabled automagically. It's been two days now since it has behaved.

Crizal · 27 May 2019

eLPuSHeR said:

I am having the same issue. Tamper protection gets disabled automagically. It's been two days now since it has behaved.

It might be a one-time issue with 1903 but I'm not sure. Ever since my friend turned Tamper Protection back on last Thursday, it has not turned itself off again. And so far, mine is staying on since re-enabling it a day ago.

eLPuSHeR · 27 May 2019

Same here. Fingers crossed.

coch · 27 May 2019

For me, Tamper protection consistently turns off when installing Windows Defender updates (KB2267602). Immediately after updating if you check tamper protection it is off, when it was on before.

I thought perhaps the update required a reboot (even if it didn't warn me of this) to re-enable Tamper protection, so I rebooted to test it out, but it was still off after reboot

This happens whether I use offline updates downloaded from Microsoft, or automatic updates from Windows Updates.

Win10 1903 x64

Crizal · 27 May 2019

Certainly starting to look like a Windows bug. I'm going to submit feedback via the Windows Security interface but I don't have a Microsoft account so I won't be able to follow-up. Hopefully, there'll be other reports coming in.

eLPuSHeR · 28 May 2019

The same issue has appeared for me on another PC updated recently to v1903. It definitely sounds like a minor glitch/bug.

Crizal · 28 May 2019

As stated in post #6, I gave the feedback. A few other people I know told me last night that the same issue has appeared on their recently updated 1903 machines. Seems in most cases, it doesn't happen immediately.

eLPuSHeR · 29 May 2019

The issue appeared for me again yesterday. I was burning an ISO and I had disabled Defender's Real Time Protection temporarily. After rebooting it complained again about Tamper Protection being disabled.

Crizal · 29 May 2019

Anyone who has issues with Tamper Protection should send feedback via the Windows Security interface. With a Microsoft Account, you can follow the issue on the Feedback Hub -- with a local account you can't. This issue does need to be corrected.