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I am searching for a command to temporarily turn off Windows Defender.

Any suggestions?

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
13

Using PowerShell (as an administrator) in Windows 10, use the following command:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true

To re-enable it:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $false

Source

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  • Readers should note that one must be running powershell "as administrator" for that to work. Similarly, for the sc commands in the other answers here, one must be running the command line as admin for those to work. While Powershell's error makes that clear, at the command line, one would just get "Access is denied", which is not at all obvious.
    – charlie arehart
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 14:20
  • 3
    I don't think this method work anymore for 1903...
    – navossoc
    Commented Jul 12, 2019 at 3:17
  • @navossoc Confirmed, ps command is still available but does not work on 1903, hmmmm.
    – Moab
    Commented Jul 13, 2019 at 16:46
  • @Moab Yeah, the last time I used this command was in version 1803 and I'm sure it worked. The 1809 version I skipped, so I can not tell for sure if it started in 1809 or 1903.
    – navossoc
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:28
  • @Moab just for the sake of completeness, the command works on 1809 too...
    – navossoc
    Commented Jul 17, 2019 at 22:29
12

I am searching for a command to turn off Windows Defender

You can use sc (Service Control) to stop and start Windows Defender:

sc stop WinDefend

And:

sc start WinDefend

Example output:

F:\test>sc stop WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

F:\test>sc query WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

F:\test>sc start WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 2  START_PENDING
                                (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x7d0
        PID                : 6304
        FLAGS              :

F:\test>sc query WinDefend

SERVICE_NAME: WinDefend
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Further Reading

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  • 7
    OpenService FAILED 5: Access Denied. (In Admin CMD)
    – darkore0
    Commented Feb 28, 2016 at 23:07
  • @darkore0 Running which command? What is the output from sc query WinDefend?
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Feb 29, 2016 at 8:43
  • Same here. couldn't stop it.
    – alpha_989
    Commented Apr 16, 2018 at 0:43
  • 1
    It could be stopped/started by the commands via PowerRun v1.3 (sordum.org/9416).
    – Matthew Wai
    Commented Nov 26, 2018 at 12:10
  • 2
    Running as admin and still got Access is denied error.
    – Salman Arshad
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 10:51
4

To disable:

sc config WinDefend start= disabled
sc stop WinDefend

To re-enable:

sc config WinDefend start= auto
sc start WinDefend

Don't forget about the space after "start=" or the command will not work.

PS. You can get further description of these commands by typing:

sc /?
sc config /?
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0

Run cmd as administrator for elevated privileges,

type the command to turn off windows defender firewall

netsh advfirewall set all state off

type the command to turn on windows defender firewall

netsh advfirewall set all state on

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    – Community Bot
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 12:01

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