Windows Defender Offline scan won't work

Anonymous
2021-03-08T22:48:02+00:00

Hi, I've been having a lot of trouble trying to get Windows Defender to run an offline scan. It restarts the computer and I see the blue screen that says Windows Defender but it never runs the scan and the computer starts up after that. When I checked the Event Viewer it said nothing about Defender finishing the scan and just a lot of events that say that Windows Defender configuration was changed and if this was unexpected that it might be malware. Because of this I reset the laptop and that didn't fix the issue. I ran sfc /scannow plus dism and that didn't fix the issue. I then started running every scan I could using programs like Malwarebytes, rkill, Microsoft malicious software remover tool(I think that's what it's called) and a usb bootable scanner from Kaspersky. None of them found anything that was bad. I read online that if I did a Windows 10 repair upgrade then this fixes the problem most of the time, so that's what I did. After all of this I still can't get Windows Defender offline scan to work. Does anyone know what the issue is?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-16T00:13:40+00:00

    Yeah, the second repair install I decided to stop updates and also only keep personal files but delete apps and settings hoping that would fix it but it didn't. I'm still installing all updates now though so maybe one of them will fix it but I doubt it at this point. I've been working on this machine for three weeks now....two weeks before I even posted in this forum and I'm really hoping to be done because nothing else seems to be wrong with the machine except the defender offline scan....I've read from lots of people that it's not too unusual for it to not work??? But I don't know. 

    Im not sure about secure boot? I've heard of it but didn't know what it did. I will look up how to find out if that is on or not...thanks!

    Im also running more scans now to check for malware just in case but so far nothing. 

    I think I can access Reg Query HKLM\SYSTEM because I did what you said and went into the recovery environment and it listed all those entries like you listed...except for those five that I didn't have that you did.Is that what you meant?

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-03-16T00:46:21+00:00

    (1) Ah, you could omit settings in a repair-install too. OK, that ices it.

    (2) OK, you didn't say last time Reg Query was run in the recovery environment. Well, that isn't the problem, then. And I guess we can presume your recovery environment matches the version of your Windows owing to the reset & repair-install's.

    (3) Actually, MSInfo32 (type into Search) will say whether Secure Boot is on. "Secure Boot State: On". mine says. If off, you'll have to go into BIOS Setup to turn it on. The F-key to press to get there is likely in here...

    https://www.sysnative.com/forums/threads/get-access-to-bios-settings-boot-menu-f-keys-hotkeys-by-system-manufacturer-oem.23010/

    Get access to BIOS settings & Boot Menu: F-keys/Hotkeys by System Manufacturer (OEM) You would press & hold it at the Manufacturer's logo (or at the black screen just before it appears) during boot. Or press/releease it frantically at that logo, some say.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-03-16T01:01:08+00:00

    Oh sorry I should have clarified that I did that in the recovery environment like you said. 

    Awesome I will check on that and see if it's on. I've been in the bios a few times so if it's off I shouldn't have any issues turning that on... especially with the instructions you gave. Thanks! 

    I really wish we could figure out what's going on with defenders offline scan but as this point Ive put in so much time on it and it's such a odd thing that it won't work after everything we've tried. I really appreciate all of your help with this! If you think of anything else please let me know. Thanks again!

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-03-16T01:15:08+00:00

    You are welcome.

    OK, I'll let you know if I ever run into a fix. Check it again after a few/so quality updates, & you may be surprised. I know, a few Windows versions ago, it would occasionally happen to me, but a retry immediately worked.

    Sorry I couldn't get to the bottom of it. Good luck,& keep us informed.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-03-16T01:49:52+00:00

    Thank you, I really appreciate all your help! I will definitely keep my eye on it and check again after future updates. Hopefully it will start working one day. Thanks again for the help and I hope you have a great rest of your week!

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