laptop is missing "scan with windows defender" context menu entry

So this is an old laptop. We're talking core2duo old. Its running the 20H2 build of windows 19041.153.

(so are all my pc's at this point)

for some reason it doesnt have the context menu entry for scan with windows defender. The other pc's do.

All settings are 1:1 as far as how windows defender is set up. Only things disabled are realtime & tamper. It still runs if i scan manually. still runs during maintenance etc.

I'm trying to simply get the context menu entry back.

Now i DO potentially recall visiting this in the past. WAY in the past and im old, so i could be purely imagining things. At that time, i vaguely remember something like it not being supported on my laptop/configuration for some particular reason hence its absence?

Either way, I cant find a trace of information like that now. It would have to be some kinda hardware limitation anyhow i imagine since again - same windows versions.

Either way, how can I get this sorted? What are the reg keys I want to look at perhaps? Anyone seen anything like this?

yep, nothing 3rd party. I very rarely run the ESET online scanner or housecall online scanner, but thats the same on all pc's.

Will take a look at that and let ya know how it goes. never ending gratitude it seems :)

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anything else you can think of that would cause this behavior? some kind of limitation from a hardware perspective?

I cross checked all locations in your reg file you linked to that of my main pc's, and outside of the version number (which i imagine is probably irrelevant and i updated it anyhow) they all match.

Still no context menu item.

it is on yes. I opened it just now and its all green checkmarks across the board, it just ran a scan this morning at 7am.

It is weird. Dunno if its not there cause im on MBR/BIOS and its an old pc. Or if its not there due to being tied to something else i have off.

Its making me bonkers though. I cant understand how its working in all aspects except showing up in the context menu.

I have real time off, but I do on all my pc's - hence part of my reasoning for wanting the option to scan a file in my context menu.

Brink said:

Well, you could always do a repair install that should restore it without losing anything.

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

been there, done that. still no context menu entry. Perplexed yet? :P

Brink said:

Oh yes.

Clean install time?

Not a chance. defender itself is working, something is preventing it from showing in the context menu is all! :P and its my laptop. I'd go without it before i vomited all over a year(s) worth of customization/updating to bring it up to par with my desktops :P

gonna try to look into shellexview tomorrow and see if anything looks amiss.

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Callender said:

Maybe replace shellext.dll?

worth a try for certain. operating under the assumption it can just be copied from another pc and replace the old/restart and hold my breath? :P