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#220
Can anybody confirm if this still works? The reg file only works temporarily now
Yes, that's the first thing I did after a clean install of Windows 10. After turning off tamper protection, I used the .reg file to turn off Microsoft Defender, then I restarted my computer to check. I went to settings > Windows Security and it says 'Virus & threat protection is managed by your organization' which is what I've always expected since I've done this numerous times before. The problem is, now on version 2004, it turns back on after several minutes. I repeated the process of using the .reg file and restarting again for like 3 or 4 times but it just keeps turning back on.... until now. Weirdly, it seems to be off for good now. I have no idea what happened differently.
I’m also having an issue trying to permanently disable Windows Defender Antivirus on Windows 10 Pro Version 2004. Strangely, disabling through Group Policy worked three weeks ago (when I clean installed the OS). Today, I reenabled Windows Defender, performed definition update and full scan, and installed KB4562899. After I restarted my computer, I tried to disable Windows Defender through Group Policy but it reverts back from “Enabled” to “Not Configured”.
So I tried using Registry Editor to add a new key “DisableAntiSpyware = 0” and restarted the computer. It worked but only for about 5 minutes before Windows Defender reenabled itself and deleted the registry key I created. This looks to me like Tamper Protection is the culprit here but the strange thing is that I already turned that off.
I checked the registry key for Tamper Protection and noticed that the value is set to 4. This is odd because normally 0 = Off, and 5 = On. I switched Tamper Protection back on and the value changes to 5 (ok, that’s normal). Then I switched Tamper Protection off and the value went back to 4. Perhaps the value set to disable Tamper Protection is incorrect?
I tried to manually change the Tamper Protection registry value to 0 (after taking ownership) but failed with “Cannot edit TamperProtection: Error writing the value’s new contents” error message.
I suspect that something changed after the latest Windows Defender definition update was installed which messed up the Tamper Protection off value.
Last edited by Sequinoz; 07 Aug 2020 at 00:41.
Hello Sequinoz, and welcome to Ten Forums.
Tamper Protection can only be permanently turned off via Settings instead for security reasons.
Turn On or Off Tamper Protection for Microsoft Defender Antivirus