There is no doubt that more or less every PC user is aware of the importance of Antivirus. It protects the system from various malware and suspicious attacks and thereby securing your files and personal data. However, most of the Antiviruses are not available for free. You have to buy the premium versions to get the best of the antiviruses. 

Apart from that, antiviruses need access to some of your privacy options to work properly and also consumes a lot of CPU usage, thus making the PC slower for some time. Therefore, Windows has provided a solution for this by introducing the Windows Defender. This is equivalent to an Antivirus as it protects the system from various malware attacks as well as suspicious attacks.

Instead of this, Windows Defender does not affect the performance of your PC. In addition to that, being a Windows user, if you don’t want to opt for any third-party antivirus, then Windows Defender is a great choice.

Sometimes the users have reported that there are times when the Windows Defender fails to work. This can be due to many reasons, one of the most common oneS be the Group Policy. So, if you are here with the same issue and want to fix this, then you would be looking out for solutions. 

Not to worry, as here we have the solutions to fix the Windows Defender blocked by Group Policy. Go through the below solutions to fix this issue at the earliest.

Effective Solutions to Fix Windows Defender Turned off by Group Policy:

The only possible cause of the error message is the presence of another antivirus application or any anti-hacking tool in the system which is not compatible with Microsoft’s built-in antivirus. Follow the given below solutions to fix windows defender blocked by group policy.

Fix 1: Use Regedit

  • Press and hold Windows + R key to open the Run dialog box. Now, in the box, type “regedit” and then tap on the Enter button.
  • Once the window open, navigate to the following address

              HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender.

  • Now, you have to delete the value which is in the DisableAntiSpyware key.

However, if you can see these two options:

  • Under type, it says – REG – DWORD
  • Under Data, it says – (invalid DWORD(32-bit) value)

In that case, you have to double-click on the REG- DWORD. After doing this, a small window will appear. There you have to change the value or set it to zero. Although if you cannot change the value, then just simply delete the whole key.

Apart from that, deleting the DisableRealTimeMonitoring DWORD fixes the problem, according to many users. So you can opt for this too. If you are unable to find the location, then check out here to find it.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsDefender\Real-Time Protection key. 

Fix 2: Use Group Policy

  • Press and hold Windows + R key to open the Run dialog box. Now, in the box, type “gpedit.msc” and then hit the Enter button.
  • After that, you have to go to the Local Computer Policy, then to the Administrative Templates. From there, navigate to Windows Components and then to Windows Defender Antivirus. 
  • Then from the right-hand panel, you will be able to see the Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus. Now, double-click on that to open it.
  • When the new windows appear, click on the Disable option. Now, to save the settings, you have to click on Ok.

Fix 3: From the Settings, Turn on Windows Defender

  • Press and hold Windows key + I to open the Settings. 
  • Once the Settings window opens, locate and click on the Update & Security option.
  • Now, from the left menu, select the Windows Defender. Now, from there, open the Windows Defender Security center which is located in the right panel.
  • After that, click on the Virus & Threat protection. Once the window opens, locate and select the Virus & Threat Protection Settings.
  • Lastly, find the Real-Time Protection and toggle it on.

Once you do that the Windows Defender will be enabled, thereby protecting your PC.

Fix 4: Use Command Line

To avail of this option and to make changes, you have to be an advanced user. And to do this, you have to make changes in the command line. This is a faster method and allows you to turn on the Windows Defender in seconds. Here ‘s how you can do it.

  • Press and hold the Windows key + S to open the Quick Link menu, then enter Powershell. Locate and right-click on the Windows PowerShell and then click on Run As Administrator.
  • Once the PowerShell opens, now you have to type Set-MpPreferanceDisableRealtimMonitoring 0 and continue by hitting the Enter button.

Once you complete the above process correctly, Windows Defender is turned on and the issue will be solved. 

Fix 5: Check if the Windows Defender is Running

  • Press and hold Windows + R key to open the Run dialog box. Now, in the box, type “services.msc” and then tap on the Enter button or click Ok.
  • After that, a list of settings will pop up. There you have to scroll down and find the Windows Defender Antivirus Service. Then click on it to open the Properties.
  • There you have to change the Startup type of the service to Automatic. Then click on the Start button so that the service can run. Lastly, click on Apply followed by OK to save the changes.

Once you enable this service, the issue should be fixed and Windows Defender will start to protect the system from various malware attacks.

Fix 6: Check the Windows for Malware

Another possible reason for the issue is due to infection of the malware in the system. If you are thinking about why? This is because sometimes malware infects the Administrative Privileges and thereby disable the Windows Defender from Group Policy.

Therefore, you can simply run a test to scan the malware. Moreover, you can use any third-party application or anti-malware software to scan the system. However, there is a lot of third-party software available to check the malware in the system. 

After the scan is complete, if you find any malware, then remove it. Once the removal is done, you can now enable the Windows Defender with no more issues.

Fix 7: Remove the Third-Party Antivirus Tools

You might not know but the Windows Defender is designed to turn off by itself after you have installed any other antivirus tools. So if there is a third-party antivirus in your system, then it can be a possible reason to turn the Windows Defender off. Therefore, you have to remove the antivirus completely from the system.

However, sometimes there are few leftovers or registry entries that interfere with the Windows Defender. Thus, this error message appears on your Windows system. So you can use a third-party application or tools that will completely remove all the leftovers from the system.

Once you are done with removing the leftovers, you can now enable the Windows Defender without any issue, thus protecting your system from malware attacks.

Summing Up

That’s all with how to fix Windows Defender turned off by Group Policy issue. You can go through all the solutions and carry out the process. However, for Windows Defender blocked by Group Policy Windows 7, users can check the first 3 solutions to carry out the process.