Windows Defender Error Code: 0x80073afc

Hi Robynn:

I am an engineer in the Windows Defender team. If you could get us some logs, we could investigate the issue and report back any findings on this thread.

• From an elevated command prompt, change directory to “%programfiles%\Windows Defender” (eg: c:\Program Files\Windows Defender)
• In the command prompt, run:       MpCmdRun.exe -GetFiles
• The output in the command prompt will show the path to a cab file. Please share the resultant cab with us by uploading the file to your OneDrive and sharing a link to the file.

Thank you.

Hi, I receive this error code when i try to open Windows Defender and it says: An error as occurred, in the program during initialization. If this problem continues, please contact your system administrator. Error code 0x80073afc. And in the Action Center it says that Windows Defender is turned off.

Please help!

Norton was installed but it has since been removed. And McAfee was preinstalled  on the computer when I bought it.

@Robynn J only =>

Had your Norton subscription or free-trial period already expired by the time you removed it?

Have you ever run the Norton Removal Tool and/or or the McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool?

Hi Michael,

Thank you for the update, glad that system restore helped. Please do visit the forum, if you face any issues in future.

Have a great day!

I didn't have any third party antivirus application installed, but the system restore appears to have solved the problem for me.

Thanks.

Hi Robynn,

Thank you for visiting Microsoft Community. Third party antivirus applications may conflict and stop the Defender and it could also be caused because of virus infection.

Perform a full scan using Microsoft Safety Scanner insafe mode with networking and boot to the normal mode and check if Defender starts.

Microsoft Safety Scanner

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Note: Any data files that are infected may only be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

If the issue still persists, try to perform a system restore to earlier date (probably 3 days) check if that helps.

• Press ‘Windows Key + R key’
• In the run window type ‘rstrui.exe’ and click on OK
• Click on next in the System Restore window.
• Now choose the restore point of your choice, and try to restore your computer back to earlier state.

System Restore disclaimer: When you use System Restore to restore the computer to a previous state, programs and updates that you installed are removed.

If the system restore gets the Windows Defender back in the Control panel, try to start it. If Windows Defender fails to start, use the following McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool (MCPR), try to remove McAfee from your computer.

Note: Before you remove, please make sure you have the McAfee activation key handy, so that you can reinstall it after you check the issue.

https://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS101331

I would suggest you to remove all the third party antivirus applications using the following link.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/program_install_and_uninstall?wa=wsignin1.0

While you reply with the status of the issue, please do let us know the results of SFC Scan performed.