So, are you facing Windows Defender Blocked By Group Policy error? Windows operating system’s own security and anti-virus application has changed a lot over the years. From being heavily unwanted by many users, due to lack of many features that third-party paid or subscription requiring anti-virus programs.
Had, to now being recognized as good enough protection so that users don’t feel the need to install any other anti-virus software with the Windows Defender installed is a big win for Microsoft, the developers of the Windows Operating System.
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Windows defender gets regular virus definition updates, monitors the device all the time and has some useful and necessary features. Although it lacks some of the features provided by third-party antivirus software like McAfee and Quick Heal, it is still preferred by many users because of being more than useful; at the same time having no need to pay any subscription fee.
Sometimes, what happens is, due to the installation and uninstallation of some app or the other, some configuration files get mismatched or have wrong settings. This can cause the Windows Defender to stop, and the user cannot enable the Windows Defender manually because of the well-known Windows Defender blocked by group policy error.
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Table of Contents
How to Fix Windows Defender Blocked by Group Policy
In this article, we will take a deeper look into some of the reasons why we can get windows defender blocked by group policy error and how to resolve it. This will definitely help you in resolving the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error and avoiding any possible contingencies that might happen due to malware and the virus affected programs and applications.
Method #1 Restart the Computer
This is one of the most common measures you can try to get rid of Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error leading to Windows Defender not working as expected or not launching at all.
If you have just uninstalled any security-related application or finished updating some apps or the Windows operating system itself, a simple reboot can solve this issue.
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To restart your Windows PC or laptop,
- Click on the start menu icon on the taskbar or press the Windows key on the keyboard to open the start menu.
2. Click on the Power icon and then from the menu that expands, click on reboot. Do not turn off the power of the machine or hold down the power button now.
3. When the machine starts up, try opening the Windows Defender from the Settings app or the control panel and see if you still get the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error.
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Method #2 Uninstall Other Third-Party Anti-Virus or Security Software
Installing other third-party anti-virus or security software will disable the built-in security app Windows Defender for sure. If you want to use Windows Defender as your primary security application, then you need to uninstall the other anti-virus program first.
- Go to settings app by clicking the gear icon in the start menu.
2. Go to the Apps option on the card menu, and click on it to open it. Scroll down till you see the third-party application installed on your system. Click on it to open the menu with uninstall option.
3. Click on uninstall and complete the uninstall procedure through the dialogue box that might pop up. If there is any option regarding if we want to keep any files, deny that and delete all the related files of the software to resolve any conflicts.
4. After successful uninstallation, reboot your system.
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5. Now open the Windows Defender. Go to settings, then last option Updates and Security. In the left navigation pane, select Windows Security and then open the Windows Defender by clicking on Open Windows Security option. Try enabling the Windows Defender and see if you can enable it without the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error.
Method #3 Uninstall Possible Malware That you May Have Recently Installed
If you have recently installed any software or run any executable file that was not downloaded or copied from a reliable source; the malicious code of that program might be preventing you to run the Windows Defender and exploiting the threats.
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- Open up the task manager of Windows. To do that, either right click on the taskbar and click on Task manager in the menu that pops up. Alternatively, you can press the key combination of Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select the last option of Task manager to open it.
Task Manager - In the processes tab of the task manager, look for any suspiciously named processes that might be using some network data resources or CPU and hard disk/SSD storage resources.
- If you find something here, kill that process by clicking on the process name to select it; then clicking on the end task button at the bottom right corner of the task manager window.
- Also, find the source program of that process and delete the executable file completely.
- If you are not finding anything there but have installed some app or software from unofficial sources, go to the Settings app and open up installed apps. Uninstall all such apps and perform a full reboot of the machine.
- Upon reboot, try enabling the Windows Defender and see if you still get the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error.
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Method #4 Edit the Group Policy Itself
You can get rid of the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error while enabling Windows Defender by editing the group policy.
Open the Run… Dialogue box by pressing the key combination Windows + R.
2. In the dialogue box that opens, type in gpedit.msc which means the group policy editor and click on the OK button.
gpedit.msc3. In the Group Policy editor Window, navigate through the following using the cascading explorer on the left pane of the window.
Local Computer Policy
Computer Configuration
Administrative Templates
Windows Components
Windows Defender Antivirus.
4. Double click on Turn Off Windows Defender option to open the settings for that option.
Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus5. In the pop-up window that opens, choose the option to disable and save and exit.
Windows Defender group policy6. Reboot the machine and see if you can now enable the Windows Defender from the settings app.
Method #5 Edit the Registry Using RegEdit
Another thing you can try to get rid of the Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error is by changing the registry entry in the Windows Operating system configuration registry files.
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- Open the run dialogue box by pressing the key combination of Windows key + R.
Run Box
2. In the Run dialogue box that opens, type the following without the quotes and then click on the OK option “regedit”.
3. In the Registry Editor for Windows, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then to SOFTWARE, followed by Policies, Microsoft and then Windows Defender.
4. Once you have navigated to this option, you will see a Disable Anti-Virus option on the right pane. Delete the row so that it would clear its value. Now close the register and do a proper reboot of the system.
5. If you do these steps correctly, then you have now enabled the option to enable the Windows Defender Anti-virus that comes built-in in Windows Operating System.
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Conclusion
These are the 5 of the Best ways you can remove of the notorious Windows Defender blocked by Group policy error. It prohibits users from enabling the Windows Defender Anti-virus program on their machine.
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Although the Windows Defender Anti-virus program comes free with the Windows 10. The Operating System, whether it is Home or Professional package. It is useful from time to time and due to the regular updates that update the virus definitions. Allowing the Windows Defender app to detect even the latest viruses and malware; having almost all the necessary features of any anti-virus program.4
Gravit Sinha: Founder of ValidEdge, a problem-solving website, driven by his lifelong passion for fixing issues.
