You may need to install any third-party software that the Defender is blocking, or use other antivirus software and no longer need Windows Defender. For any reason, Windows Defender can be disabled both permanently and temporarily. This post discusses how you can disable Windows Defender Antivirus on Windows 11 both temporarily and permanently while discussing other myths that are said to work in disabling Defender, but do not.
Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11 Temporarily
Our first step will be to temporarily disable Defender. Here’s how you can do it on Windows 11:
Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11 Temporarily Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11 Permanently Step 1: Boot into Safe Mode Step 2: Take Ownership Step 3: Remove Permissions Step 4: Reboot Normally Closing Words
This will temporarily disable only the real-time protection component from your Windows Defender, which means that you should be able to install any app or program that was being prevented by it. If prompted with a UAC, click Yes. However, Windows Defender will re-enable itself the next time the device is restarted.
Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11 Permanently
There is a Group Policy Object (GPO) in Windows 11 by the name “Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus” which is supposed to turn off the Defender once enabled. However, this GPO is also reset when the Windows 11 device is restarted. Therefore, it is not a means to disable Windows Defender permanently. I have tested most of the methods available on the Internet, including Windows Registry manipulation, disabling services, and removal of the Wdboot driver. However, none of these have worked for us so far. However, there seems to be a method that does the trick of taking ownership of Windows Defender files and folders, and then removing all permissions. We have divided these methods into different parts so that you can keep track of the activity while performing it. Before you begin, make sure that you have access to an administrator account.
Step 1: Boot into Safe Mode
The purpose of booting into Safe Mode is to avoid the running of unnecessary apps, programs, and services that may hinder the process. Here’s how to boot into Safe Mode in Windows 11: Your device will now restart and boot into Safe Mode. Log in to the administrator account and continue to the next phase.
Step 2: Take Ownership
You must now take complete ownership of the Windows Defender executable files to permanently disable it. Here is how: Your user account has now taken ownership of the Windows Defender files. It’s time to move on to the next phase of the process. You can also navigate to this path using the GUI after unhiding the “ProgramData” folder. Enter “Administrator” in the text field below the “Enter the object name to select” section. Then click “Check Names.” When the field displays the complete name of the user group as in the image above, click OK. Do not close the Advanced Security Settings window.
Step 3: Remove Permissions
Now that you have the ownership, it is time to remove the permissions of the other users and groups. Here is how: The permissions have now been removed successfully. If prompted for a confirmation, click Yes.
Step 4: Reboot Normally
Now all you need to do is reboot the computer normally (Without Safe Mode). Here is how: The computer will now reboot into normal mode. When it does, you can check and confirm that Windows Defender has been permanently disabled by verifying that the Virus & Threat Protection option in Windows Security has disappeared.
Closing Words
Once Windows Defender has been deactivated, your device becomes vulnerable if you do not have another antivirus to protect it. Therefore, if you do intend to keep it disabled, we suggest that you consider these 17 aspects before making an antivirus purchase.
